9/17/2020 0 Comments Bus Ride to SevilleAfter our group descended the mountain from our retreat in the Swiss Alps (see Real Effort #1), about 15 of us continued on our European adventures to France, (Lourdes) and Spain (Pamplona and Madrid). It had been an exhilarating and demanding trip using our Eurail passes. We slept on trains or in expensive hotels and we ate where we could. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip. We tried to live by the motto that the difference between a traveler and a tourist was that the traveler is willing to put up with certain difficulties to discover great things. Our group had planned to travel across hot, very hot southern Spain. We had decided to splurge and take a luxury, air-conditioned bus ride to Seville. We all wanted to see Seville before we traveled to Morocco. It was a lovely bus with comfy seats. For the first half hour of a four- hour trip, the air conditioning was delightful. Suddenly, there was a very loud, clanging noise coming from the engine of the bus. The air-conditioning stopped. The bus driver pulled over, checked the engine, and announced there would be no air-conditioning for the rest of the trip. Catherine and I were sitting in the middle of the bus. She had the window seat and I had the aisle. Our friends were in the rear of the bus and there was a group of older Spanish women in the front. The driver had a tiny electrical fan for himself. The temperature outside was a toasty 110 degrees. The trip continued and within minutes the inside of the bus became unbearably hot, actually stifling. It was hard to talk or breathe. The Spanish women somehow produced little hand fans that they waved around their faces. I wondered if the air-conditioning broke down on a regular basis and everyone knew it but us. The bus was traveling at about 60 miles an hour. Catherine and I thought to open the window and get a breeze. Bad idea. When we pushed the window open, it was like a blast furnace. So, we had a problem. Keeping the window open was worse than keeping it closed and keeping it closed was stifling. There was no way around this one. My thoughts raced. “How will we manage for the next 3 ½ hours?” “Will the heat get worse as we go on?” We had been on a transformative retreat in the Swiss Alps just two-weeks before and the teaching and energy we had absorbed was still vibrating in us. I wondered how I might meet our situation in a useful way. I took some very deep, hot breaths and accepted that what was happening was actually happening. I made no attempt to think how it should be or could be. I simply surrendered to the situation. Something in me let go. My typical identification with my thoughts stopped and that freed my attention. I became aware of what was actually occurring. I noticed the water, the sweat, pouring down from my head over my face, water coming from under my arms flowing down my whole body. That’s all it was, water flowing on my body. I stayed with the experience for a long while. It was possible to bring my attention to different areas of my body – face, back, legs, etc. and simply experience what it felt like. At some point, thoughts started coming again, such as “Boy, it is hot!”. But I was able to let the thoughts be and directly experience the sensation. I discovered that the water that started as sweat eventually cools down. Who knew? This dance went on for the entire ride. The effort, if I could call it that, was simply to notice my actual experience – to bring my attention to what was happening - and stay with it - surrender to the opportunity. This event occurred 45 years ago. It would not be a stretch to say that the liberation of attention from its identification with thought has been a significant part of my inner work for my entire life. As a bonus, I am now open to experiencing heat and cold differently. In many situations, I can often see the thought stream, let it be, and connect with the actual sensation. What a fortunate gift.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
David FeldmanDog walker, Dog Mediator, Father, Husband, Categories |