November 5, 2007

• So I had a pretty interesting moment today. I was at my office and decided to go have some lunch, but I wasn't quite sure where I wanted to go. So I just walked to the end of the hall. In this building there are little nooks hidden away to the side of the elevators on the ends of every floor, and I saw that someone had left a chair at this one today. So I decided to just sit down there for a second and think about what I might want to eat. It was a really striking view today for some reason. I was up on the third floor, surrounded by glass looking right out on campus corner. It was such a beautiful day - totally blue sky. 72 degrees. People going about their business below me. It was just a really unusually restful moment.

  Then I noticed this buzzing sound. I looked down and saw a wasp on the floor flying around right at my feet, bashing into the windows. I am really uneasy around wasps and bees (I've never been stung). My first impulse was to either just leave or smash it. It would have been easy to kill. But I've been feeling really kind-hearted torwards insects over the past year or so, and I really hate to kill anything anymore (stupid? maybe).

  So I was in this weird position of conflicting feelings - the really peaceful and relaxing view, the possibility of getting stung at any second, and compassion for this wasp that was stuck inside. I just sat there as long as I could (a minute or two) and tried to just distance myself from the situation and meditate in a way. Be perfectly calm and still enjoy the view and it's peace, even with this wasp flying all around my bare ankles. It was such a transcendent moment.

  • 2:38 pm
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