A Whole Lotta Cup Washing

What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step. It is always the same step, but you have to take it. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery in the Zen Calendar (September 28, 2007).

Day 112. As ridiculous as this sounds, I cannot get the phrase made famous (infamous?) by Larry the Cable Guy, "Get 'er done!" out of my head. It's not a sophisticated mantra, but it has proven to be incredibly helpful to me over the past several days. I'm pretty sure the quote hasn't made it to the Zen Calendar yet, but watch for it in 2011. I may submit it myself.

I knew it! I just KNEW it! And I just confirmed it on the trusty internet: Mercury has been retrograde (from April 17th through May 11th); there were an exceptionally high number of "Red Letter Days" (when Mercury is moving extremely slowly); we are still in the midst of "Gray Shadow Days" which mark the end of Mercury's influence. Those of you who are uninitiated to the Mercury Retrograde Effect just need to Google it. I am an absolute believer. Ask any mental health professional, E.R. doctor, paramedic, vet, crisis line volunteer or police officer and they will tell you: in addition to the full moon wrecking havoc upon human behavior, Mercury has a profound and formidable influence.

I have learned to respect the position of Mercury. I intentionally don't look up the yearly dates when this irksome planet appears to move backward, but I usually sense it has occurred from the escalating disorder in my life and in the lives of my clients. Without fail, when I get a strong sense of "Blame it on Mercury" and Google its position - KAZZAM! That little sucker has gone retrograde. Unlike Saturn, Mercury doesn't usually influence catastrophic events - just major and minor inconveniences involving communication, travel, mechanical failure and the like.

Alrighty, then. I hadn't planned on digressing into an astrological debriefing, but there it is. My actual point had more to do with tapping into my zazen practice to stay steady and focused through the fray (which we now know can be attributed to Mercury!) The past three weeks have been resplendent with car repairs, client crises, college administrators with Little Man Syndrome, scheduling conundrums, traffic jams, voice mailbox "black holes," deadlines approaching with the speed of sound, overdue visits from Roto Rooter, financial meltdown, and all manner of additional impediments that rendered me desirous of taking to my bed and self-inflicting a protracted state of incommunicado. It didn't feel the least bit personal, as I was surrounded by others who were similarly afflicted. Noone escapes Mercury unscathed. When retrograde, the planet is merciless.

I credit my practice with surviving another bout of planetary misalignment. Each time I began to spin out through analyzing, personalizing, hunkering down in martyrdom, or writing extensive fantasy blogs on the decline of the human race, I tried to stay in the here-and-now and not let the Monkeys get a word in edgewise. I would say to myself things like, "Just return the call. Be patient while you are on hold. And hold. And more hold. Just meet the Roto Rooter guy. Go without the car for another couple of days; you can walk. Just transfer the money to the debit card to pay the plumber and the car mechanic. Just provide that extra 12 pages of documentation required by the Vice President of Such-and-Such with the little penis (okay, that one wasn't too Zen-like). Clean the sink, sweep the floor, disinfect the drain. Drag the recycling to the curb. Take whatever died out of the freezer and put it in the trash. Put the tick medicine on the dog. Inch along I-35 with the rest of the frustrated commuters."

The point is that I focused on responding to each mundane, irritating task with the straightforward mantra of, "Get 'er done." Like learning to "just sit," I intentionally tried not to complicate or clutter things with extra thought, opinion, and emotion. I probably won't be voting in the same direction as Larry the Cable guy - EVER - but I have to hand it to him: he doesn't get sidetracked by the Monkeys. In an increasingly demanding and inefficient world, this is a useful way of operating.

I believe there is a time and place for contemplation, discussion, and speculation. Big Mind allows for it, and a certain portion of humankind thrives on exercising thought for thought's sake. More often, however, it feels right and good to just wash the cup when it is dirty. Especially during those three or four times a year when Mercury changes direction in its dance with the sun.

Gassho,
CycleBuddhaDoc