Note from Louisa

​Last week, I had a chance to talk with a colleague with whom I occasionally discuss clinical ethical dilemmas. She is particularly gifted in this arena, having done this work professionally for years. Our calls always begin with a brief catch up before launching into the issue at hand.
 
This time, when I asked her how she had been doing and how she liked being more rooted after recently deciding to buy her first home, she told me that she had been living in Asheville, NC when Hurricane Milton hit and that her new home and her possessions were all destroyed.
 
“Everything is just gone” she said. I was taken aback a bit, not sure what to say, imagining the enormous grief she must be feeling at having her new life upended in a matter of hours. I finally managed “How are you?” I was not prepared for her response.
 
“It was a gift.”  She went on to add “our family and our dogs all got out safely. We were lucky.” 
 
Knowing that my friend has a robust mediation practice, and I asked her how sitting is helping her to manage, and she responded easily “This is what we practice for. Everything changes. Nothing is guaranteed or owed us. I feel like I am grateful.”
 
There is so much to complain about. So many conditions of the world are beyond our understanding, much less our liking. When we set aside the time to meditate, we are literally practicing for the unwelcomed events that will 100% happen as we move through life. 
 
We will all lose “everything” in the end. We will all, if we are fortunate, grow old and, along the way, we will all have to say goodbye to those we love. What a gift to have some “practice” in managing our attachments so we do not live lives of fear in anticipation of what is undoubtedly to come.
 
How can we orient ourselves toward gratitude rather than all that disappoints, scares, or irritates us? How can we practice letting go and losing everything?
 
Blessings on your journey, 
Louisa