You’re Already on the Other Side

Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today, I'm going to share a short Zen story with you about finding peace in the present moment. So the story goes that one day, a young Buddhist monk who had been traveling was making his way back to his home village. But on the journey, he came to the banks of a wide river that was blocking his path home. For hours, he tried to figure out how to get across this huge obstacle in his way, but eventually he sat down and just stared hopelessly at the wide chasm in between where he was and where he wanted to be.

He started to feel really tense, sad, and stressed. But then he saw on the other side, a great Zen teacher. The young Buddhist yells over to the teacher, "Oh, Wise one, can you please tell me how to get to the other side of this river?" The teacher ponders for a moment, looks up and down the river and yells back, "My son, you already are on the other side." And in that moment, the young monk was filled with peace again. So this story offers a great metaphor for the mental trap that we often get caught in as human beings. You know, our minds constantly tend to fixate on getting somewhere else, focusing on getting more stuff, you know, getting to the next achievement, or try to change ourselves, or fix ourselves in some way.

It seems like there's really often a mental chasm in between where we are and where we want to be. Our minds are constantly telling us basically right here and now is not enough. So how do I get over there to the other side? And this story can rob us of our ability to enjoy peace and happiness in our daily lives. But the invitation for practice today is to really recognize when those kinds of thoughts arise and smile at them and then let them go. Come back to a sense of letting this moment be enough just as it is, letting yourself be enough just as you are, resting back into the remembrance that there really is nowhere else to get to other than here and now.

Because you already are on the other side. As always, thank you for your practice and your presence here with us. And let's now settle in together for today's meditation.