My Left Foot
lobster
Crusty Veteran
There I was running to get to the other side, to beat the waiting traffic. The cars waiting at a just about to turn red traffic light, eager to kill wayward pedestrian lobsters. The cars were ready to zoom forward and rather than waiting patiently for the next lights, I ran a little too enthusiastically. Tore a tendon in the arch of my foot. Ouch!
Karma has hobbled me.
Life is like that. You try to rush and end up being slowed ...
So now I get to send healing metta to my patient foot. Already walking slowly without a limp. Soon I will be skipping about ...
Each of us in a sense has an attachment, to a healed foot, a slim youth, a perfect Bodhi, an idealised meditation or the perfect spaghetti sauce.
Have you left your foot (perhaps in your mouth)? It is gone. There is always something to be left behind ... what have you left/learned is a blessing/teaching?
Comments
I did my lower back in earlier this week chopping wood. That sucked. You know when you have to wake up every time you want to turn in your sleep? It's rubbish. But, being the good Buddhist that I am, I have utilised and transformed the experience to such a degree that I really feel that - through my own suffering - I truly understand what starving children and war zone families are going through. Really. It's a substantial gift.
Get well soon @lobster. Sorry @mindatrisk I was wrong. I cannot stay silent. I must discuss with you. I hope you will find my tone respectful. I challenge anybody to explain how it is earthly possible to truly understand what starving children and war zone families are going through? All because you hurt your back chopping wood????? Are you making this statement in earnest??? Really???
I have a son with cystic fibrosis. The only other people who truly understand what that is like, are other parents of children with cystic fibrosis.
Having a child with CF DOES NOT give me a true understanding of a starving child or a family in a war zone.
If you honestly feel you truly understand what its like to be in those situations I challenge you to explain how that is possible.
Otherwise you cheapen the suffering of starving children and war torn families to say you truly understand how they feel. I could not claim to understand they truly feel. Unless I was in that position myself I could not possibly.
All because you put out your back chopping wood?????
Really????
"I come to teach suffering and the transcendence of suffering." Some guy, 2500 years ago....
Currently reading Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning", AND Palden Gyatso's "Fire Under the Snow".
It's looking like I may well have to consider having my left foot amputated at some point in the coming year or so.
Does it bother me?
Not after reading these two books, no....
I think having my foot amputated in a modern, high-tech state-of-the-art fully equipped hospital, beats having to work on rail lines in the dead of winter, with only a meagre every-other-day supply of a cup of thin gruel and a dry 2oz bread, thin cotton uniform and no shoes, or chained naked to a wall, being prodded with electric rods on my genitals, and suspended from the ceiling by nothing but thumbscrews, any day.
Just my view....
ETA: Photo....
I just wanted to add that I have no real notion what starving children or families in war zones feel like. In fact, the discussion has helped me to realise how little I know about anybody, even my neighbours. I might even say I know nothing, even about my father’s experience, where I am well informed about his medical status and how he sleeps at night, but I know nothing about how it truly feels. But I have respect for his experience.
Everybody suffers/experiences dukkha.
However spirituality is about finding the right footing ...
We don't walk in our neighbours high heels, wheelchair or terrible situations that @federica mentions.
It is our experience of imperfection/illness/ignorance AND more importantly joy, positivity and forbearance that is the way forward.
Interestingly ... painful/difficult/challenging meditation increases our capacity to deal with lifes little or huge ups and downs ...
Will do. It's nothing. Many thanks.
Thank you @lobster and @federica. Gassho. ??
To answer your question, directly, since dedicating myself to regular meditation practice, it has made a tangible difference to my personal attitude during the day, to all I encounter.... my 15-minute practice in the morning, and my 20 minute practice in the evening, have combined to be of great benefit to my mind-set and watching it attentively.
Goodness, that sounds so sanctimonious. I'm sure others can neither perceive or notice the difference. But that's not why I mention it, that's not why I meditate. I am merely answering your question.
What matters, is what a difference it makes to me....
I shall steadily increase the time given.
To add an interesting point, a propos of nothing, but vaguely connected (in my mind, anyway!)...
Humans used to regularly, as a habit, sleep for anything up to around 10 hours a night. Before the advent of electricity.
Given that the only available lights came from candles and oil lamps, in the winter-time, nights would begin at around 4.30pm and last until gone 07.00.... Summer days were longer, sleep time was shorter... Our Circadian rhythms have been sabotaged further by the light given off by electronic/technological accessories.
No wonder the 'good ol' days' were good - they were more 'naturally' lived!
I'm a tad confused because you did an LOL thing on my post, which suggests you saw the humour, but then replied to me as if I was serious. I'll let you figure it out for yourself!
Moderator note:
I'm in at the moment: I am not prepared to permit this to escalate to a disagreeable level.
I think @Hozan was laughing AT your post, not with it, considering the content of his post, @mindatrisk.
To continue (permitting the above to be read and appreciated by all):
I will only add this: WE currently have 4 hidden lurkers reading the forum. They haven't joined yet, but are able to peruse the thread.
I'm merely thinking out loud here, but I wonder if THEY are wondering what on earth they have walked in on, considering the raison d'etre of this forum...
As I have said to all and no-one in particular: Mindful, skilful discussion, put Brain In Gear before engaging mouth....
Ok, carry on.
> As I have said to all and no-one in particular: Mindful, skilful discussion, put Brain In Gear before engaging mouth....
You said that specifically to me! I don't mind that being public knowledge. After all, dear Federica, it is all what your mind infers, no? Hohoho. That deserves a wink thing. Let me see if I can get one...
Is that right? Is that an appropriate emoji to illustrate the humour in my words, Federica? You knew your words would come back to bite you in the butt.
That emoji means I'm proud, apparently. And I do feel quite proud of myself, to be honest, so here's another 
Humour is okay. You said that yourself.
Laughing at absurdity. If you were in fact making a joke at the expense of children starving and war torn families and being ironic then this has decended into a conversation I am not comfortable with
Sorry @federica . Posted before I saw your post
You know what. I'm with Federica here. We spoke in the previous thread and came to an agreement... let's uphold that. I don't mind a joke, and I don't mind disagreement, and so on. But we have a responsibility to these lurking types to make these forums an attractive place to come, so let's maintain some decorum here and behave like gentlemen and women.
I have said it more than once, to more than one person. I wan't singling you out for that, because it wasn't a singular comment...
Where appropriate, of course it is. But it's important to let people know when we are attempting humour... The emoji icon above the comment box is a start. There are other shortcuts here...
Depending on your server and keyboard, you can find and even download emojis onto your top control bar.... I have Google Chrome...
hence, this emoji...
?
Found this one too... Oh my goodness, I'm going to have a field day!
Um...Dukkha ...."Unsatisfactoriness"
Dukkha-dukkha, the dukkha of painful experiences. This includes the physical and mental sufferings of birth, aging, illness, dying; distress from what is not desirable.
Viparinama-dukkha, the dukkha of the changing nature of all things. This includes the frustration of not getting what you want.
Sankhara-dukkha, the dukkha of conditioned experience. This includes "a basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all existence, all forms of life, because all forms of life are changing, impermanent and without any inner core or substance."[web 1] On this level, the term indicates a lack of satisfaction, a sense that things never measure up to our expectations or standards
It would seem that as far as "unsatisfactoriness" is concerned... Dukkha is Dukkha... be it a troubled sleep ... things not going to plan...Illness, pain, hunger, mental afflictions, death...Dukkha in one form or another is Dukkha....And I guess it's a case of who feels it...knows it
We must learn to trust the process and go with the flow.
Happy and speedy recovery, dear @lobster
Go with the flow?
I have learned to be 'stuck with the stoppage' ...
Many thanks for kind wishes ...
Feet are a very good thing to have -- take care, @lobster.
But you'll miss them when they're gone!
Awesome.
In time our outer demeanour is changed too. Bravo. Good luck. Bon Voyage. Or as we meditators say, 'Sit on it'
I don't know...talk about in your face ...
Tee Hee. Thanks guys.
Now that we are taming the pussy tiger or in my case walking comfortably ... perhaps it is time to practice Dhyana ...
Will start a thread on calming the un-mined, becoming a superpower mutant, eating Buddhism or something ... or other ...