Three sides of the coin


More and more each day, I realize that every situation and circumstance have two ways in which they can be viewed.
Actually, a more mindful perspective might be that there are three ways; a positive, a negative, and a neutral view.

There are literally millions of examples I could offer you, but let’s just examine a couple of them right now.
Let’s say your refrigerator broke down. You can either see the inconvenience and potential loss of food, or you can see the opportunity to give this food away to others who can benefit from it.
One other possible example is the death of a loved one. We can either suffer the loss of the physical separation and see our own suffering, or we can see that now this person is finally free of suffering and is with us always.
And while these two examples may seem to range from trivial to life changing, I see them as equal examples of mindfulness and Right View.

Every day, I believe that each of us encounters dozens of situations that draw our attention and potential emotions. But if we can just trigger our mindfulness into remembering the three-sided coin, we can bring peace and equanimity to the situation. Remembering that within each situation, there is positive, negative, and neutral characteristics. Neutral being exemplified by Bhante Sujatha’s famous saying of “What to do? Who cares!”.
We can all benefit by becoming aware that not all situations require an action or re-action. Just being aware and accepting can often be quite loving, inspiring and liberating.

I hope that today you will try to use this “three coin” trigger in your mindfulness practice. Use it on the next conversation or situation that stirs any emotional response within the self.
And please share with me what you found from this experience.
May this be of benefit to you, your friends and each of your loved ones.
And may you always be well, happy and peaceful.