alchemy

We have heard it said that one of the benefits of meditation is stress reduction. What does that look like in reality? Here is an example from my life of how meditation has helped me in a stressful situation:

I live a very simple life. I have few possessions, but the few things I own are very important to me. Music has been an important aspect of my life from a young age. My childhood memories are filled with the sounds of my mom and sister’s piano playing, as well as images of my father directing the church choir, practicing his french horn and playing his ukulele.

It was as normal for me to go to piano lessons as it was to go to my baseball practices, it was just what I did.

I played clarinet and saxophone in the school band, and played in a garage band with my friends after school. My first “real” job was rebuilding pianos in a small piano shop. Yes, music was intertwined with every aspect of my life, as integral as eating and breathing.

So, over the years I had built a small collection of musical instruments; an antique clarinet, my tenor saxophone, a ukulele and my favorite; a violin that my grandfather had made. It was a very modest collection, but more valuable than gold to me. I displayed them proudly on a shelf in my humble room.

I will never forget the confusion I felt, the disbelief and the disorientation, as I sat in my room, and looking up at my shelf, realizing that my musical instruments were gone! Someone had come into my house and stolen the most valuable possessions I had! Most disturbing to me was the loss of the violin my grandfather had made for me. Something I could never replace. I was devastated. I felt the anger and sadness welling up within me. It was overwhelming, but what I did next made all the difference.

Breathing deeply, I quieted my mind and looked within myself for the source of my suffering. I saw the objects in my mind; I realized my attachment to them. The attachment to these objects had little to do with the actual physical objects; physical things are temporary after all. Attachment to my grandfather’s violin was much deeper than that. I continued to look deeply at the attachment. I began to see the connection to my grandfather, the things I share with him, the love of music and of making. My grandfather was a craftsman who built many beautiful things in his life, as am I. I saw deeper than ever this connection I had to him. I saw the love he had for his family, his wife, his daughters, his grandchildren. I felt more deeply than ever, the connection that the violin represented to me.

Underneath the physical object was an idea; a memory. This memory, unlike the violin could never be taken from me. The thieves had only taken a physical object; they could never take from me the blessing of my grandfather’s life and memory, his connection to me.

Because of this experience, I saw even more deeply this connection and appreciated it all the more. I ended my meditation feeling thankful for this experience, appreciative of my grandfather and the music that permeated my life. Sure, I still wish I had that violin to hold in my hands, but I do not need it. I was free to let it go. My suffering was transformed into appreciation, my pain to joy. This is one of the many blessings of meditation.