This week we proceed to Dr. Wyatt’s* second offering:
Take the highest possible perspective. Remember to have compassion for all points of view, even when they differ from your own. Consider with equal understanding the fear felt by parents who perceive their children to be at risk in our violent society, and the fear felt by gun-owners who cherish their weapons as well as their constitutional right to own them.
What follows is my experience with suggestion two:
Monday morning I sit in front of my laptop. Decide free E-book offer from Tricycle too good to pass up.
Tricycle website requires me to sign in which of course means remembering a user name and password. No clue about password. Click on I forgot, return to inbox, receive email, select new password. Get scolded – password strength is “weak.”
Much to my dismay, signing in is just the first step. A multi-page Tricycle application needs data. It seems never ending.
I derive hope from the Buddhist doctrine of impermanence.
Finally I see flashing on my screen: “Congratulations Nicky – you have purchased a free E-book.”
Unfortunately that’s all. There is no indication how to actually download this suddenly-seeming not-so-free E-book.
Muttering under my breath, “it has to be here somewhere,” the search begins. Where is the phone # that just mere seconds ago was prominently displayed? Several minutes later the 800 number appears. I call the number, remain on hold for several minutes while listening to unsatisfying music, then hear: “Your call did not go through.”
Needless to say – I no longer have the highest possible perspective towards this transaction. My attic perspective is rapidly sliding towards the basement.
My four-year-old self wants to yell and stomp her feet on the way down. My internal twins, self-criticism and harsh judgment, are resuscitated by all the confusion.
The twins are full of complaints and accusations. Neither of them are worried about the highest possible perspective: “Nicky, why are you so computer illiterate?” and “Those darn Buddhists had no intention of giving away an E-book!”
Before my perspective plunges to the root cellar, I walk away. I get ready for Tai Chi class.
Checking email before leaving the house, I find two emails from Tricycle in my inbox.
One graciously thanks me for my purchase.
The other provides a link where I easily download my free E-book.
I wonder what it would take for me to maintain the highest possible perspective in situations like this?
Do you find yourself keeping the highest possible perspective most of the time, some of the time, or occasionally?
Go to the blog and let us know how you keep your perspective at the highest possible perspective. We all need to know!
Thank you for exploring the mystery – Nicky Mendenhall
***Karen Wyatt, MD, is a family physician who has spent much of her twenty-five-year career as a hospice medical director. The author of What Really Matters: 7 Lessons for Living from the Stories of the Dying (Select Books, 2012), Dr. Wyatt has lectured and written extensively on end-of-life issues with an emphasis on the spiritual aspect of illness and dying. To learn more, go to www.karenwyattmd.com.
4 comments
Hi, Nicky, I think you taught us how to find the highest perspective. If it doesn't come to you you have to go out and find it. Getting up from the computer or television sounds like the best plan! (Count to 10? Take deep breaths?)
Thank you fluteyogi! I like your clarification that if the highest perspective doesn't seem to be flowing naturally, you have to search. It may also be true that the search usually seems unrelated to the highest perspective when first initiated. I hope my next search it a more mindful one.
Your comment solidified what I learned! Much appreciated.
Nicky
It is impossible to be serene in the face of maddening answering systems which never ask the questions you want answered, which make you wait interminably, which are determined you will never speak to a real person as long as you live. The Register's site has the most horribly perky, disgusting music imaginable, rapidly interspersed with promotions. And one has to listen for many minutes. This is one tiny example of a wilderness of things designed to send us off the cliff.
And while I can have compassion for those with views other than mine if they are somewhere in the planet, I can't have compassion for some screamer like Rush Limbaugh saying things like if the college student Sandra Fluke testifies before Congress in favor of providing contraception on campuses, it means she is a whore, and she should post her sexual activity on the web for "all of us to watch". Some of the second amendment crazies saying automatic assault weapons and 6000 rounds of ammunition are desirable for anyone who wishes it are in that ballpark, and I can't have "equal understanding" for them.
The Curmudgeon
With permission I divulge that the Curmudgeon is AKA Karen.
Comments are closed.