I talk about the train a lot. I am always on the train, on my way to school, to teach yoga, to take yoga. On the train is where a lot of my teachers randomly pop up to teach me something (homeless people, newspaper people, rude people), where I give away most of my money, where I study for school. Well, last week, I encountered my deepest experience on a NYC train. I got puked on by a random stranger. The best part was that I didn't see him coming towards me (puking) because I was reading the His Holiness The Dalai Lama website on my phone. Funny.
As I sat stood there on the train full of puke, I looked around me, and I felt embarrassed, felt gross, felt stupid. But then random people began to give me tissues, then they began to calm me down and tell me it was gonna be ok. Thus, comes the point of my story. As I sat there and looked at my puked coat, I thought to myself - hey! this is my cheap forever 21 coat, yes! So I took it off and threw it on the floor so I could throw it out once I reached the platform of my stop, that was that. I also realized that I was only one stop away from my stop, which meant that the embarrassment/grossness would last for just one tiny bit. So I got off the train, laughing, threw away the Forever 21 coat and walked home coatless, realizing that it was 52 degrees and I was not freezing. I smiled to myself and felt lucky to be so positive. The experience made me realize that any disaster can be seen in a different point of view if you apply your mind to it.
As I woke up the day after, I immediately thought to post on facebook what had happened to me. Then I read about Japan. Suddenly, my coat story was stupid.
Today, as we begin our practice or our day, let's dedicate it to those who are experiencing a disaster and are having a hard time looking at the positive side of the coin. It could be someone who recently "got puked on", or someone who's home is gone in Japan.
Dedicate the goodness.
