Small Transformations

Small Transformations

In the Christian monastic tradition, writers sometimes refer to living your life as “making your prayer.” Going shopping or baking bread; helping your child get to school whether they want to or not; watering the garden carefully in hot weather; smiling at the postal clerk — all these are “making the prayer” and the process of transforming an ordinary life. As stated in the movie, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, “There is no present like the time.” So why not give this gift of time with presence rather than giving your time willy-nilly?

There’s no part of life that cannot be welcomed with presence, however messy or uncomfortable it might be: life may be used to enhance presence. This realization leads to more careful examination of everyday reactions and habits. What pulls me under? Or instead, what draws back the veil of sleep? One key, recommended by my Teacher, is to avoid being swept away by excessive reactions, minimizing categorization of liking or not liking.

Have you noticed that we judge others almost constantly? Some character inside makes persistent comments, “that one talks mostly nonsense;” or “last time I helped him, he didn’t even say thanks.” When you or I resist habits of judgment, or block small comfort-habits however tiny (like letting your spouse have “my” favorite mug), this is being true to your Third Eye — to the inheritance as a human being of the capability of being aware in the moment. It transforms something tiny and mechanical into food for the stellar world inside.

Woman Baking Bread, Jean-François Millet, 1854

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