Zen Salad (Chop lettuce / Serve Salads)
Story
by Christopher Girard
It's amazing how all the lessons that take place in my life are
opposite of what I have learned. In any given situation, where I am
convinced, that I must make something happen, through effort, the exact
opposite is usually true. It seems it is more a process of letting go,
being still, accepting and being in a receptive state than one of force
or getting. Relax. Breathe. Be. Be still and know that I am God.
Tuesday as I drove my car to work, I felt an inner itchiness, an
inner resistance. There was a little voice in me that didn't want to go
to work. A little voice that resisted the idea of working that day,
for I had it all played out. In my mind I had the whole work day,
planned and played. I knew exactly how it was going to go. It was going to
be boring and tedious. Every step of the way. I just flat out didn't want to go. Resistance plagued me every step of the way.
Truth be told, I really wanted to go to the beach. Not so much to
play in the surf and sun, (well maybe a little), but mainly I wanted to
go to the beach to meditate, to find God so to speak. To sit quietly
among the waves and sand and contemplate God's beauty and expression. I
sure as heck didn't want to go to work. I didn't want to go to a
closed in restaurant and hectic kitchen and do tedious ordinary everyday
work. No way. No thank you.
You see, I had big aspirations, I had lofty spiritual ideals. God
sure as heck wasn't to be found in a closed in restaurant. God, my God,
is found on Mountain Tops, Tibetan Monasteries, Quiet Beautiful Lit
Gardens, on Majestic Sunset Beaches, not in busy, closed in restaurants.
No...not my God.
But off to work I went anyway. Grudgingly, resistant I went.
After all, there were bills to pay, bills from the physical realm.
Landlords and Car Dealerships for some odd reason don't take spiritual
insights and enlightened dharmas as payments, go figure.
So there I was, at work, and today it was my turn to make the
salads for the upcoming lunch. So off I set to make the salads. Many,
many salads. As I was making the salads, in a mindful sort of nature, I
had a funny thought about the Garbanzo Beans I was putting on each
salad. Some salads ended up with a lot of Beans, some with just a few
Beans, and some with no Beans at all. I thought about the person or
persons, who might receive these particular salads. What if someone who
hated Beans ended up with the one with a lot of Beans? Well, this might
happen because that particular person needed to practice acceptance that
day. Garbanzo Bean Acceptance. Maybe someone with only a few beans,
needed to practice being open minded and could gingerly try them out for
the first time. I slowly began to realize that maybe, just maybe
there was something larger occurring here. That maybe each salad would end
up exactly where it was suppose to go in order that each person could
learn something valuable that day. That there was no randomness to the
universe and that each salad was being carefully and directly
orchestrated by a higher consciousness. Each salad was going exactly where it
was suppose to go.
As I continued to put together each salad, I was then struck by
the idea that I was just wastefully throwing too many round little
tomatoes on each salad. What did I care, these were not my tomatoes. I
didn't have to pay for them . But then it kind of hit me. I remembered
reading something about the art of doing a job well. I remember
something about integrity and about being true to oneself. I also, strongly
remembered, something about being a good steward with things that God
entrusts to me. Whether it is a lot of money, love or truth, I should
practice being a good steward. Not to waste or squander God's gifts. I
realized that it didn't matter what the product, it's about the
intent, and what I do with the product. Whether its little round
tomatoes that have been entrusted to me or God's truth. I should disperse it
wisely and with care. I began putting the right amount on each salad,
two tomatoes, two for each salad. I began practicing good stewardship.
I began remembering God.
Next, I began to notice the pretty colors of the salads. Greens,
oranges, reds. All sorts of colors. I began to enjoy the process of
creating the salads and admiring all their different colors. I thought
about how each color or each vegetable, although different, were each
uniquely contributing to the whole. How no one vegetable was more
important than the other, how they all came together to form this whole
beautiful salad. How they were all needed and how each ingredient was
there with only one purpose, to nourish and nurture the recipient. Pretty
big stuff for a salad huh!
As I mindfully handled the tortilla shells that the salads were to
go in, I noticed how fragile and delicate they were. I noticed how
they had to be handled gently and with care. How they held the whole
together and were beautifully crafted. I was reminded of a certain woman
in my life and how she also held the whole together and needed to be
handled tenderly and with care.
Finally, as I was finishing, I dropped a salad plate on to the
floor. Before I admonished myself, I remembered that I am not perfect and
that I should be gentle and patient with myself. I remembered that it
was okay to make a mistake.
All these wonderful ideas ran through my mind as I walked out to
the ice machine to get ice. I saw how the ice machine had backed up.
How it was full of old ice, frozen in place. How no new ice could flow
into the machine unless it was emptied. It reminded me, of me, and the
work that I needed to do on myself. How maybe, I too was clogged, how
maybe I too had some frozen ideas and concepts. That maybe I needed to
do a little emptying of my own. How God could not put anything new
into me until I got rid of some of the old frozen stuff.
Toward the end, I was setting up the dining room. I was putting
out our battery operated table lamps. While doing this, I dropped a
little light bulb on the ground and could not find it. I was searching
for a little light and just couldn't find it. The harder I looked the
more frustrated I became. I realized that I could spend all day looking
for the light but that I would become neglectful of the work that still
needed to be done. The work that was right in front of me. I stopped
looking and went about completing the set up of the dining room. As I
was doing this I saw the bulb lying on the floor. I found the light.
When I stopped looking so hard and just relaxed and went about the work
that God had put right in front of me I found what I had been searching
for all along. Funny how that works.
When I had finished setting up. I relaxed a moment, I paused and
I began to see all the beautiful lessons that had taken place. You
see, I had wanted to go to the beach and meditate. I knew where God and
Spiritual Truth could be found. But the whole time, God had placed me
right where I needed to be. Learning exactly what I was needed to
learn. All my answers are right here in the present. They are not over
there or when that happens. They are right here, right now. They are
right in front of me.
If I can slow down just a little and pay attention. God shows
me and provides me exactly what I need. Truth.
Here's the amazing thing, that this morning, in a busy, closed in
restaurant, I got to learn some enlightening truths. I got to learn
about Acceptance. I got to learn about having an Open Mind. I also got
to learn a little about God's Diversity and Creativity, how we are all
important and unique. I got to learn about Love and being Gentle. I
was reminded about good Stewardship and Integrity. I understood the
need for Self-Acceptance and Forgiveness. Furthermore I was taught about
Letting Go of old patterns and fixed ideas. I especially learned about
not trying to hard to find the light. To relax and do the work put in
front of me, and the light just seems to come. That if I stay open and
aware, God will guide me.
It seems you can learn a lot by making salads. That spiritual
truth is not limited to or found on a Sandy Sunset Beach. That true
spirituality or truth is present everywhere, all the time. The secret seems
to be to quit resisting, or thinking it's somewhere else, and to be
present. Everything I ever needed to learn is right here right now.
To think I would have missed all this if I hadn't gone to work.
My little, self mind was resistant and wanted to go it's own course. I
knew better than God. But by showing up and doing my duty, the right
thing, the thing that was put in front of me, God taught me and showed
me some beautiful lessons. It seems that when I trust in God, and try
to do his Will I am blessed and awakened. That maybe, just maybe this
God guy knows what he is doing. I think he does. I think I will trust
him.
Maybe I won't be so resistant when going to work tomorrow.
Maybe.
Zen Salad (Chop lettuce / Serve Salads) © COPYRIGHT 2005 Christopher Girard.
Reproduction prohibited without permission from the author.
09/21/05
