compassion and wisdom...

as a buddhist, i am always striving to reach a balance between compassion and wisdom. i learned at a retreat that each of us is strong in one or the other. really? i was not humble. my inner voice told me that i was secretly much closer to balance than most.

oh brother, thank goodness i never verbalized such hooey. i do, after reflection, think that i am a little heavy on the compassion wing. i say wing because we were told to think of compassion and wisdom as two wings of a bird. if one is heavy, the bird cannot fly, thus the balance we strive to achieve.

so it follows that daily i struggle for balance, and on some days, i'm closer than others. today was not one of those days. today was full of challenges--heavy turbulence, if you will.

all day i could hear my inner voice reminding me to breathe, reminding me that this person who is bugging me is struggling through his day just like me, reminding me to be patient, be mindful, be compassionate.

it is more difficult than i thought--to fly.