RANDOM ACTS

This morning I had the most delightful experience one can have on a day like today. Heavy rains are falling, the sniper is still on the loose somewhere and I have to get to work. An old man who couldn't have been more than five feet tall, wearing thick glasses and a yellow slicker, stood next to the full service aisle at the gas station, watching me as I pulled in to the self service aisle. Just as I slipped my ATM card into the slot and prepared to fill up, he walked over, pointed to the hood of my car and asked "Got anything underneath there you need checked out?" "Oh, no, I don't think so. I think everything is fine under there, but I do really appreciate you asking." "Okay," he replied. And then he looked at me, with the warmest eyes, and added "you have yourself a good day." Now, I know this doesn't sound like a big deal, but it was the way he said it and the way he looked at me with those warm, caring old eyes. And in that moment, that quick fleeting moment, it was as if our spirits had exchanged something very gentle, very kind and warm. And I smiled at him and he smiled back. We waved at each other as I left. As I drove, I thought to myself that that is what the world needs so desperately right now: random acts of compassion. The world does not need a hero or a new leader or tougher laws .... what we need is collective compassion. And it's simple. A call to my girlfried R a few weeks ago when her body was doing very ill-natured things, just to say hello and I'm thinking of you today and sending up prayers for your healing. Something as simple as that, knowing that though I don't hold the power to heal her body, I can influence her state of mind by telling her that she is loved and cared for. COMPASSION.

So much of what is spoken about these days, so much of what is written is without, what the Buddhists call, MINDFULNESS. Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgementally. This kind of attention nurtures greater awareness, clarity and acceptance of present-moment reality. As my teacher John Kabat-Zinn writes, "It wakes us up to the fact that our lives unfold only in moments. If we are not fully present for many of those moments, we may not only miss what is most valuable in our lives but also fail to realize the richness and the depth of our possibilities for growth and transformation."
Mindfulness is the high road to PEACE. Only when we are mindful of ourselves and our own importance in the Grand Scheme, can we be mindful of others. And only through mindfulness can we find COMPASSION. As it pertains to artists, I would say that mindfulness is about writing your truth, designing your truth, singing your truth with the knowlege that everything that is sent into the Universe has a ricochet effect. Our media operates completely without mindfulness. Much of the music is not mindful. How can you be practicing mindfulness and come up with a lyric about shooting your jism all over some girl's face ???
Anyway, I just believe that as we approach war, which seems just about inevitable due to the cowardly, sheepish behavior of many of the politicians who only signed onto the bill b/c they are afraid of election backlash .... as we approach the killing of thousands and thousands of innocent women and children.....the best that we can do, on the day to day, is find every opportunity we can to receive and give compassion.

Be well. Be Love(d).
angel