Cultivating Patience

Oh,

Hello there.

Hi,

This is davidji.

And I've been diving into the Dao Te Ching today.

And verse 15,

Which it's not all verse 15,

But it's so powerful.

Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?

And it follows that up with,

Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?

Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?

So this doesn't mean just sit on the couch and wait.

This means when you sense a calling,

When you hear the invitation from something bigger than you,

Can you lean into that?

Can you be fully present with the invitation?

Can you prepare,

Right?

Prep.

Prep is so core and critical to this.

So can you remain unmoving essentially means can you not doom scroll?

Can you not suddenly react to something?

Can you allow single mindedness of intention to guide you to this thing?

And as long as you show up and you have that intention embedded,

Etched inside of you,

Then you will move more closely,

More closely,

Closer,

Closer,

Closer to that thing.

Now the first part of it sets us up.

Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?

Not so easy.

Patience is a virtue.

It needs to be tested and it needs to be cultivated.

It's so easy to be patient when no one's tapping you on the shoulder.

But if suddenly there is something going on that's pulling you or pushing you with there's emotional charge inside of you,

Then your water is going to be disturbed.

So think of this as if you just took a glass and put some mud into it and then shook it up.

You would have to wait for a while.

You'd have to truly let that settle.

Here's an example.

I just happened to have a little Buddha snow globe.

So let's see.

I can sort of kind of see what the Buddha looks like inside of there,

But can I truly wait till my mud settles without wanting to pick up my phone,

Wanting to be distracted,

Wanting to make a call,

Wanting to go on social media?

All these things,

They're perhaps desires.

They're not needs.

But here now we can fully see there's still some stuff going on,

Right?

I'm sorry about that reflection in there,

But I'm just trying to really demonstrate this.

It takes some time.

And this is a particularly quick settling of the mud.

Sometimes our mud,

Because it's been shaken up,

Shaken,

Not stirred,

For so long,

For so many years,

And in so many different types of situations,

It's a little bit harder.

Now as taters,

As meditators,

We have a superpower that we show up.

We give ourselves permission to truly take a few deep breaths and then settle in.

Remember,

Comfort is queen.

And then we allow the mud to settle,

Perhaps,

Perhaps.

But it's so easy to say,

Oh,

Oh,

Oh,

That show is on right now,

Or,

Oh,

Let me get there early.

Let me leave this moment.

So my invitation to all of us today,

Including me,

Is can we give ourselves permission to be with what is right here?

And if we're like,

Well,

I'd be more comfortable over there.

And then you go over there.

And then after a while,

You'd be like,

Well,

Now I'd actually be more comfortable over there.

Then you're not allowing it to settle.

So you can be comfortable no matter where you are.

As long as you remember,

Comfort is queen.

And you surrender.

If you have an itch,

You scratch it.

If your back hurts or your shoulders are tight or your neck hurts,

Feel free to rub it and then stay in that space without being pulled.

There's so many things.

What we really designed to be watching TV,

What we really designed to be getting so many invitations by social media to pull us here,

To pull us there,

What we really designed to have an algorithm telling us what information should be fed to us.

And of course,

We live in the real world.

So there's all that stuff.

But we also live in the real world where there's a sky outside and at night there are stars and planets and the moon.

And during the day,

There's clouds and maybe there's no clouds.

Maybe it's hazy.

Can we sit with that and say,

Wow,

Isn't it just amazing to be in nature?

Can we sit outside and not be disturbed because some animal or bird keeps squawking or making a noise?

Can we actually be with that?

There are so many times when we're like,

Ah,

Ah,

Ah.

And that's all about our own perception.

Technically,

There's no difference between a baby giggling and a jackhammer.

It's just,

Do we have emotional charge?

I think we'd all would rather be hanging out with a baby giggling than a jackhammer banging outside.

But if it is outside,

Shall we run away from it?

As Pema Chodron says,

Shall we put leather over every single surface that possibly might disturb us?

Or shall we get to that space inside of us where we can accept that this moment is perfect?

This moment is pure.

This moment is whole.

This moment has everything.

And you,

In this moment,

Are perfect and pure and whole.

Can we accept that?

Can we celebrate that?

Can we enjoy that?

Can we just be in that space?

So from the sweet spot of the universe,

This is my invitation to you.

Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?

Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?

It's a cultivation.

So let's see if we can do it.

Maybe take five minutes a day and just say,

Well,

I could have been doing something else or I would have been doing something else or even I feel like doing something else.

Let me just regulate my nervous system,

Close my eyes and breathe.

Let me just unfold a gratitude practice right here.

And just let all the things,

All the people,

All the animals,

All the stuff that I'm grateful for to just unfold in my mind's eye.

Can we just be with what is?

From the sweet spot of the universe,

Wishing you love,

Wishing you the patience to wait until your mud settles and the strength to remain or the surrender to remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself.

Namaste.