We are on our way to Zambia. When you read this, we will be there and posting blogs.
Preparing for the trip, I was struck by how everything is truly a team effort—there is no separation! Embarking on the 15,000-mile journey to the project carries with it many details of preparation. While we have quite a good rhythm at this point, it still takes time. There are countless things to attend to and put into place.
We arrived home from the New Year’s Retreat, and I had a long list for the 10 days before departing, ambitious but certainly doable. Forty-eight hours later I fell sick.
The guidance was clear: All energy goes to getting well. I spent those 10 days in bed.
Someone brought me food, someone walked the dog, someone took over my areas of responsibility, and someone attended to pre-trip details. I rested. When I boarded the first flight healthy, I had a tremendous sense of what an accomplishment that was, and it was not “mine.”
A day later I was on the phone with a phone company representative who was patiently walking us through the process of attempting to unlock an old smartphone that we want to make available to Theresa to assist in her duties coordinating the project on the ground. As he waded through details, looking for ways to get around the roadblocks, inspired by where and why we were taking the phone, I realized he is part of the transformation. He, and the person who donated her old phone, and the person who went the extra mile to procure the preventative malaria medication in time for me to leave, and the people who read the blog and who donate financially and who come to the Bridge Walk and who…
I have heard it said in practice, “We each get to play our roles with a sense of nonseparation—this is what I am offering because it is what Life has asked of me; it is how Life is animating me now.”
Our role may be coordinating a project, cooking the meals, staying at home to hold down the fort, reading the blogs, contributing financially, getting well to get on an airplane, guiding the practice…. Each role is crucial. The Buddha shows up in all places equally. We could say each role is a part of the whole, and there is a way in which we could say each role IS the whole. One of the great gifts practice offers is the skill to take joy in wholeheartedly playing the role we are asked to play in any given moment.
Deep Gassho for the role you play.
Jen