The Monk with the Sweaty Hands

There was once a Buddhist monk who was considered as spiritually quite advanced. He spent most of his time in meditation, only occasionally performing a pooja ceremony for his local community.

One day a famous politician was coming through the town and when our monk performed the pooja in front of him he realized that he had sweaty hands. "What's up with that?" he asked himself. "Why am I intimidated just because someone important comes for a visit?" He decided to give himself a sabbatical and went back into the forest to continue the Conversation with God that he started decades ago.

I am working in the financial industry and have a foot in both worlds, the spiritual and the so called "real" world. While living this split life certainly brings its own challenges and frustrations, there is also something very clean about it: you kind of know that you are not "it" because the real world is way to complicated to always be at ease about everything. Similarly, I would recommend absolute honesty for everyone else in our spiritual community, just like our Buddhist monk did. Every irritation, every negative feeling needs to be accepted and owned and not just brushed off as the mistakes of the "not-so-enlightened folks".

Every imbalance  and irritation is yet another invite to connect with the Way! Use your opportunity to take a sabbatical and start your Conversation with God.