I passed him one morning outside a friend’s apartment. Though I was walking quickly to get to my next appointment, his beautiful appearance didn’t escape me and I felt nourished by it for the rest of the day. My life has been a plateful lately — my ongoing adjustment to living and working in Germany and now also to Berlin’s housing crunch have been doing a bit of a number on me. Practicing mindfulness has been an important part of dealing with my anxious and worried thoughts. Indeed, I sense that any storms blowing through my life are directing me to a deeper practice, a further wakefulness and an inner calm accessible in the present moment.
I am reminded of a dharma talk I once heard about a “Diamond in my Pocket,” the diamond being our ability to instantly drop the story we tell ourselves which causes us to suffer. It takes just one or two breaths, or as the case may be, the sight of a Buddha sitting by the road, to shift attention from our worried thoughts to the sensations of our body, which almost always tell a different story, don’t they? Usually a much less dramatic and less urgent one. Through this shift of attention, we bring mind and body back together, connect with the present moment, and step out of the world constructed by our habitual thoughts, emotions and identifications, into a world of discernment, acceptance, wisdom and greater peace. We all carry this diamond in our pockets. May we remember to pull it out often.