​Times of crisis 15 - Inner and outer practice

At a time of stress there can be different skilful attitudes or reflections for our active mode on one hand, and for moments where we let go and rest on the other. We have a great opportunity during our active time to help out, especially if we are part of essential service provision. At this time we can find a lot of joy in simple acts of kindness and in taking care to prevent the spread of the disease. 

We can use a mantra like,
“May you be well and happy,” to keep us going.

When we have done what we can, we can rest back into a mantra such as,
“I have done my best, now it’s time to rest.”

And the bottom line, where we can find most peace if we reflect in the right way may be,
“At the end of the day, we all have to go sometime.”

We can all need someone in our lives who can manage to say this with an accepting smile. Often that is the job of the monk or nun, we train for that. As Ajahn Chah says, 
“If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will have complete peace.”

Actually the ideal is that we maintain both these attitudes, the active externally and the restive internally. We are the nurse outwardly and keep a little bit of monk or nun inside; or we are the monk or nun inside and keep a little bit of nurse outside. This will come naturally if we are training ourselves both ways.

If we can thus keep our refuge during times of stress we will have it always with us. 

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I offer this for your reflection

Ajahn Kalyāno
http://www.openthesky.co.uk