These are the days ….

As the second wave of the pandemic hits Europe harder and faster than we expected, that is the normal folks like me who prefer to engage in the hope that things will turn out ok, lockdowns are coming back.

It is a difficult journey. We had learned to deal with some elements of the situation and settled into semi-freedom. Moving back into lockdown the hope that it will be short is frail. It’s hard to imagine how people will live through it and keep their emotional fluidity.

Watching a TEDx presentation from Master Shi Heng Yi felt as timely as it could be. His invitation to learn self-mastery resonated. The five hindrances he describes feel powerful.

More impacting today was his invitation to let it rain.

No path is without obstacle. There will be rain on the way. Let it be.

But he doesn’t stay with that. Just letting it rain and suffering through the rain doesn’t help.

There is a practice to self-mastery. One that is applicable in every situation. Including when it rains.

The four steps he describes are: Recognize, Accept, Investigate and Non-Identify

By recognizing that it rains, or by recognizing in what state of mind we are, we can address it. We can see what is within our control.

When moving into acceptance we can let the situation be as it is. We can let the other person as he is. It creates peace of mind as we’ve identified what we can’t change in that moment.

It’s the doorway to investigating our emotional state. To look into why the emotion is coming up, is it because it’s cold rain, or is it because of something else? And once that becomes visible, what are the consequences of staying in that state? Are we getting a cold or are we missing out on connecting with nature to resource ourselves?

Once we’ve seen the situation, the other, and ourselves the next step is to remember the practice. As he describes it, we are not our body, we are not our mind, we are not our emotions. They are aspects of ourselves. They are not us. We don’t need to identify ourselves with them.

We can let it rain. We don’t need to focus on the rain.