Be a....

...Tree.

Before he left for Peru, my teacher gave me homework, most of which I've been doing very consistently.  I've been breathing, thinking, journalling, going to my yoga classes.... and being a tree.

My office is in the midst of moving from a 46 year old facility to a new building and today was the last day in the old digs.  Boxes are packed, desks moving out, computers going down, the normal chaos of moving a staff of 35 people, and all the gear that goes along with a health care practice.   The new building still is not ready, the punch list is miles long and by this afternoon, we still didn't have full electrical power.

At our last session, my teacher told me about this teaching from Thich Nhat Hanh... and of course, I had to find it on the internet.....

A strong emotion is like a storm. If you look at a tree in a storm, the top of the tree seems fragile, like it might break at any moment. You are afraid the storm might uproot the tree. But if you turn your attention to the trunk of the tree, you realize that its roots are deeply anchored in the ground, and you see that the tree will be able to hold.

You too are a tree. During a storm of emotion, you should not stay at the level of the head or the heart, which are like the top of the tree. You have to leave the heart, the eye of the storm and come back to the trunk of the tree. Your trunk is one centimeter below your navel. Focus there, parying attention only to the movement of your abdomen, and continue to breathe. Then you will survive the storm of strong emotion.

It is essential to understand that an emotion is merely something that arises, remains, and then goes away. A storm comes, it stays a while, and then it moves away. At the critical moment, remember that you are much more than your emotions. This is a simple thing that everybody knows, but you may need to be reminded of it: you are much more than your emotions.  ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

The storm was raging around me all week... packing, trying to see students and patients, numerous people being upset for this reason or that.  I was able to stay fairly focused, calm, and productive.  Even our manager asked me why I looked so calm (meditating at lunch might have a lot to do with it).

The anxiety in the building got pretty thick.... but I kept focusing on being a tree.  Somehow it will all work out!