When the student is ready, the teacher appears.......

Monday morning I have my appointment with a fertility specialist. Big G and I are trying to get pregnant, which may prove challenging given both our ages. The statistics, so I'm constantly told, are not promising for us over-40s. Still, we are determined to try. The Good Doctor has discovered a fibroid that needs removing that is hampering our chance for success. He asks me what I'm doing this Wednesday. Its a little sooner than I'd planned for. Isnt there waiting lists for hospitals? Arent they a mile long? Apparently not in my case. I'm startled into saying yes, that's fine thank you. Big G is away for the week. He is working and cant come back. This bothers him a great deal more than it bothers me. I'm a bit cavalier about it all. My mother is here for support and its not a major procedure. How hard can it be? The Good Doctor is encouraging. So far he is the only medical professional we've seen that is! He is head of the local IVF program so I'm taking his encouragement quite seriously. I'm a woman of practical action so having a solid plan works for me. Here's a Doctor who not only can provide me with a plan, he can make it happen quickly. I leave his office feeling optimistic and a little disheveled. I have 2 days to organise time off work and get my head in the right space. I'm confident I can do this. Its going to be okay.

Tuesday morning: work is in chaos. A restructure has been announced in my organisation and the panic is palpable. No one is going to lose their jobs so there really isnt a need to panic. I'm nominated to represent on a couple of working groups to design the new organisational structure. Its here the rubber hits the road and the race is on for resources and power. Lots of lovely empire building is underway. The competition is fierce. I find myself questioning my opinions, changing my opinions and the vacillation goes on daily. I need to find Right View in this situation. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to navigate this obstacle course, the obstacles being constructed from my own confusion. Tomorrow is my surgery....I've got enough to think about already.....

The Right View

Right View is traditionally held to be the first principle of the eightfold path. What is Right View? Its all about the way we see the world.

By attaching expectations to outcomes/things/people we court disappointment and unhappiness. There is an easy test you can do to see if you have been attaching expectations to situations and people in your life. If you take a moment to reflect on the last time you were angry or annoyed I'll wager it had to do with something - or someone - not turning out the way it "should" or "is supposed to". This is an indication that you've attached an expectation - that the View-According-to-Me was not fulfilled by everyone else. This is also known as Wrong View.

So what's Right View then? Right View is about seeing things as they really are, rather than how we would like them to be. This may not be as easy as it first appears. Often we overlay our lives, relationships, and our behaviour with narratives that support our View-According-to-Me. It takes careful self reflection to detect these narratives and remove them. Sometimes Right View shows us things that we really dont want to see. By surrendering to the truth of the situation we release ourselves from disappointment, anger and frustration. Things are as they are.

My task this month is to surrender to the truth of things, to the Right View. My focus will be on the process instead of the outcome. Can I disengage attachment to an outcome of a situation? Can I pay attention only to the journey and let the final destination take care of itself? Good question. I've got some pretty big challenges this month. I cant wait to see how I go!

If you would like to explore the principle of Right View further here are some websites to explore:


http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/eightfoldpath.html

http://www.tibetanlama.com/buddhism/The_Eight_Fold_Path.asp

http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma/eightfold.html

There are many books and articles written on the Eightfold Path and Right View. There are some very intense analysis of Right View and what it means spiritually, psychologically and emotionally. I have dealt with Right View with the interpretation that is appropriate for my understanding and where I am in my life right now. You have to start where you are, and I am here.

In the beginning....

After years of stumbling about blindly through life, making all the usual mistakes, I'd managed to find a kind of peaceful equilibrium. In the space of one year I'd gone from lonely single with loser tendancies to happy engaged-person with the kind of dynamic life I'd always dreamt about. It was at this point I thought I could stand a little spiritual growth. My partner, Big G, was unfamiliar with yoga and buddhism. Being the adventurous kind of guy he is, he took the plunge and got to grips with the basics. Here I was, thinking that I'd be the wise-and-knowledgable guide who would shepherd him through and show him the way. What happened instead was a good lesson in ego-awareness.

While I watched Big G discovering the joys of yoga and the buddhist philosophy I became accutely aware of how far I'd drifted from true practice. I'd forgotten what it was all about while thinking I knew it all! It was then I decided to go back to the beginning, to review, refresh, rethink and rediscover what it was that set me on fire in the first place. This year marks the 30th anniversary of my embracing Buddhism as my core tenet of belief. It seemed somewhat fitting to start here, with the principle values for a happy life. The Eight Fold Path describes the core principles to the Buddhist "middle way". By applying these concepts to the way you conduct your life you can manifest the kind of steady peaceful happiness I think we all seek. I decided to spend one month working with dedication on each of the eight principles. The first principle is "Right View"...............,