Lessons...

You know that annoying habit radio stations have of playing the same song over and over and over and over?  It feels like the song, however good it might be, is being shoved down your throat.

Well, a few weeks ago, I spent a long time in the car, listening to the radio.

This song appeared to be on repeat.



Every time I switched stations, this song was on.  Usually it was in the middle of the song. I had never heard it before.

And instead of feeling like something was being shoved down my throat uncomfortably, I kept hoping to catch it from the beginning.

I am not sure if it resonated because it is such a great song.

It's a nice song.  It's a pop song with people singing with lovely voices.  But it is just a song.

But something about the words struck a chord -- rather I felt they were stroking a chord I heard Jack Kornfield strike at a Monday night dharma talk just a few days before my long car ride.

I can't remember his exact words, but he said something about what if we answered all the inconveniences with love.

Whenever I repeat things he says, the words seem trite, threadbare and slight.

The signs are every where... LOVE!

But when he said it, with all the examples (poems, stories, quotes) he gave, it felt like a symphony.

The threads, woven together brilliantly, created a tapestry that felt like the richest, yet most simple, panorama.

Love.

What if you met all unpleasantness (from yourself or others) with love?

This song seems like it is exhorting the same kind of loving -- imagining that love can hold unpleasant.

Especially as a "reaction," love can keep unpleasant from causing more pain, more damage and more suffering.

I know ... what if we met with physical harm, should we bring love there, too?

Well, sometime between the Jack class, the day in the car, and today, the attacks in Beirut and Paris (and...and...and...) happened.

Then I saw the video with the father giving his son a way to meet terror without giving into fear.

That clinched it.

I knew Jack was right.  Meet it with love. 

The father told his son that we had weapons greater than guns: we have flowers and candles.  The subtext: we have love.  We can meet terror with love and remembrance.  What he said stroked that same chord and the symphony started up again.

If we can meet terror with love, we can certainly meet our inconvenience, challenge, unease, suffering with love.

May you all find love, especially in times of distress... it's right there, in your heart.

These are some of my favorite parts (see, it's almost all of it):

...And I realized
No, we're not promised tomorrow

So I'm gonna love you
Like I'm gonna lose you
I'm gonna hold you
Like I'm saying goodbye wherever we're standing
I won't take you for granted 'cause we'll never know when
When we'll run out of time so I'm gonna love you
Like I'm gonna lose you
I'm gonna love you like I'm gonna lose you

In the blink of an eye
Just a whisper of smoke
You could lose everything
The truth is you never know
...
I'll make the most of the minutes and love with no regrets