WEEKLY CONTEMPLATION: TRUE FAITH & TRUST
This week during your daily meditation, contemplate the following:
This week during your daily meditation, contemplate the following:
"You can be my horse if you never win a race."
Dear Friends,
I had a dear friend of mine, some years ago, that I admired very much. Although he had an unpredictable and quirky nature, he nevertheless elicited a level of wisdom and compassion that never failed to uplift me and give new meaning to my life.
He seemed to always know how to reach people, especially us kids, since he was our basketball coach and teacher. He had the amazing ability to invariably get us out of our insecurities, depressions and feelings of unworthiness. Sometimes it was just a word, a look, the wink of an eye, or putting his arm over your shoulder at just the precise moment you needed that reassurance.
It wasn't so much what he did, as much as when he did it and how he did it. He always seemed so tuned into what was going on inside us and had that special gift of getting us to open up, even if we tried so hard to hide it. The truth was we wanted desperately for someone to recognize that we were hurting but our pride and our feelings of shame always got in the way.
Later on in my life, I began to realize, at a very deep level, that spirituality was not limited to the scriptures, to books or even liberated Masters, that we could receive blessings from the most mundane and subtle situations. In fact, I began to see that it wasn't until we could see the Divine presence in everything, from these so-called "non-spiritual" circumstances, to the highest levels of wisdom, that we could ever attain the greatest prize of all--Enlightenment, total Freedom.
One day, I remember being in the team's huddle at a high school basketball game when we were losing badly. One of the players, a really sweet kid, was having a horrible day on the court and you could see clearly that it was affecting him, as well as the team, profoundly. As we formed a circle around the coach, I could see that the kid was on the verge of tears. He was obviously blaming himself for the team's demise and it was tearing him apart inside.
Under most circumstances, the move that most coaches would make in that kind of situation would be to take the young man out and let him sit for a while so that he could regain his composure. But instead, coach sat there very quietly until the eyes of the entire team were on him, including the young man, and simply said to him--"You can be my horse if you never win a race." The coach then stood, nodded to everyone, then sat down as the team ran back onto the court. It was thrilling.
In that moment, I experienced what my meditation teacher has always referred to as "True Faith and Trust." It was obvious to all of us there that day that the coach was not acting from a textbook or a rigid set of coaching rules. Not at all. He was totally connected to his heart, and from that place he was able to touch the hearts of every one of us there that day, and especially that young man.
Love and Blessings,
Alan
PS I am learning how to "blog" and hope that you will take advantage of the opportunity to comment on this contemplation. (Click here to read my blog) You may leave your comments at the end of each entry. Note: You may need to sign up for a gmail user ID. If you have any questions, please call Lorena or April at 901-483-5968 or click here to e-mail her. They will help you get started.
He seemed to always know how to reach people, especially us kids, since he was our basketball coach and teacher. He had the amazing ability to invariably get us out of our insecurities, depressions and feelings of unworthiness. Sometimes it was just a word, a look, the wink of an eye, or putting his arm over your shoulder at just the precise moment you needed that reassurance.
It wasn't so much what he did, as much as when he did it and how he did it. He always seemed so tuned into what was going on inside us and had that special gift of getting us to open up, even if we tried so hard to hide it. The truth was we wanted desperately for someone to recognize that we were hurting but our pride and our feelings of shame always got in the way.
Later on in my life, I began to realize, at a very deep level, that spirituality was not limited to the scriptures, to books or even liberated Masters, that we could receive blessings from the most mundane and subtle situations. In fact, I began to see that it wasn't until we could see the Divine presence in everything, from these so-called "non-spiritual" circumstances, to the highest levels of wisdom, that we could ever attain the greatest prize of all--Enlightenment, total Freedom.
One day, I remember being in the team's huddle at a high school basketball game when we were losing badly. One of the players, a really sweet kid, was having a horrible day on the court and you could see clearly that it was affecting him, as well as the team, profoundly. As we formed a circle around the coach, I could see that the kid was on the verge of tears. He was obviously blaming himself for the team's demise and it was tearing him apart inside.
Under most circumstances, the move that most coaches would make in that kind of situation would be to take the young man out and let him sit for a while so that he could regain his composure. But instead, coach sat there very quietly until the eyes of the entire team were on him, including the young man, and simply said to him--"You can be my horse if you never win a race." The coach then stood, nodded to everyone, then sat down as the team ran back onto the court. It was thrilling.
In that moment, I experienced what my meditation teacher has always referred to as "True Faith and Trust." It was obvious to all of us there that day that the coach was not acting from a textbook or a rigid set of coaching rules. Not at all. He was totally connected to his heart, and from that place he was able to touch the hearts of every one of us there that day, and especially that young man.
Love and Blessings,
Alan
PS I am learning how to "blog" and hope that you will take advantage of the opportunity to comment on this contemplation. (Click here to read my blog) You may leave your comments at the end of each entry. Note: You may need to sign up for a gmail user ID. If you have any questions, please call Lorena or April at 901-483-5968 or click here to e-mail her. They will help you get started.
