Thanks

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”
~ Buddha

Another Ctrain story. Life has a way of making itself transparent in a sardine packed train after an exhausting day at work.

They have closed the station closest to my work for renovations and so I have to walk an additional 4 blocks to get to a Ctrain platform. I usually wait a train so that I can be at the front to get a seat. It’s always a waiting game for attaining a seat and seriously, someone could write a book and it would be a best seller here in Calgary. Strategy is the key and today the karma fell in my favour and apparently not for the women behind me.

She clearly was not pleased and then proceeded to make it known. The Ctrain is generally very full and personal space is at a premium but she decided that she was going to make the ride miserable for everyone around her. She nearly sat in my lap and then pulled out the largest book I have ever seen. She laid her elbow and her body against the pole that people generally use to stabilize themselves and she wasn’t moving to share it.

When an older gentleman asked her if he could grasp the pole she pointed to the straps on the upper bars and told him that was what they were for. Her cell phone rang and it was one of her kids who she them proceeded to YELL at to get the friends out of her house until she got home. We all became part of the call.

Stop after stop; as more people got in, she became more and more angry and it was making everyone so uncomfortable. I use this time to meditate and pray and that was impossible as the spirit this lady was expelling was in no way conducive to any pray or meditation.

I looked up at her, she had turned her back on me in anger as I am sure she felt I had robbed her of her seat and then it struck me. I used to be that angry. I used to feel just like that, like the world was out to get me. It scared me to realize that that was once me.

It was then that I started to feel sorry for her and wondered what chaos is in her life that would hurt her so deeply to make this kind of karma be what she portrays. I wanted to just hug her or at least say something or even offer her my seat but there was no way, she would not have had it.

So it was then that, in spite of it all, I bowed my head and thanked the Big Guy for healing and for letting go! I am so grateful for how much pain and anger and frustration is gone from my life and for being able to feel such Joy now.

This is where I just say thanks!