Bigger Than Our Problems

Over the weekend, a friend told me a story that has stuck with me since he told it. Thomas related how he has a grandson that it 14 years old, that he took camping. After they got there, they went out on the dock which was a little slippery. His grandson slipped and fell in the water. Instantly his grandson started to panic, since he didn't know how to swim.

Thomas' daughter who was there too, ran to the dock. She yelled to Thomas to go in and get him out of the water, as he seemed to just be looking on at his grandson's trouble. Thomas jumped in to the water. As got over to his grandson, the child flailed in the water with what Thomas described as "fear" and "panic" in his eyes. Once Thomas got close to him, he said, "Son... why don't you just stand up? You are much bigger than your problem. The waters not deep as you think."

His grandson, stopped, touched his feet down and realized that the water was only about 3 feet deep. Thomas said the boy instantly laughed, in relief. He also told me, the 5 foot 11 inch teenager also learned how to swim, during the trip.

The day after Thomas told me his latest story, I sat down in Zazen and reflected on his words, "We are much bigger than our problems." I had to admit to myself that having been a child, teenager and now an adult, it doesn't always feel that way. It's usually that our mind can project and over complicate circumstances and situations to the point where everything that we encounter looks like Mount Everest and overwhelming. Our mind and assumptions can play tricks on us.

After getting up from Zazen, there was something that I remembered. It was the fact that though I've faced many, many, many challenges in my life... moments that at the time felt really though... perhaps undoable... there was always reaching the other shore... making to the other side... and it wasn't just surviving the moments, but actually living through them and learning about myself.

Thomas is very correct. We are bigger than our problems. We are gifted with having a human life, so that we can wake up! Wake up to something that is much bigger than what our day-to-day distractions would lead us to believe.

May We Practice Our Life Well,

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
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