In several places around my house I have a special intention posted to places that I see everyday: my computer, meditation space, and journal.
“I vow to let life be the vehicle of my awakening.”
What it means is that I use life to teach me lessons about myself that I may be sleepy or closed off to for deeper connection to my essential being.
Translation: a difficult person teaches me what I perhaps am not seeing in myself.
Yesterday afternoon I was working and breaking a serious rule in our house of NO drinking water by the computer. Wouldn’t you know it, I accidentally knocked it over and the computer crashed.
No power, no backup in weeks, no anything!
In the past week, I had spent hours writing, organizing pictures and getting to a project that’s been on my list for months.
As uncertainty grew about the possibility of loosing everything I had worked on, I frantically jumped in the car and headed over to the Apple Store at 8:00 pm just before the store closed.
The man in blue shirt greeted me and I explained my accident and headed over to the Genius counter and waited.
“Let me take a look”, Jonathan said. When he opened it up water was everywhere even after hours post the accident.
“Your computer is beyond repair with the amount of damage,” he said.
I explained that I purchased it just two months ago and had only paid a fraction of it off on my 12-month financing from Best Buy.
He looked at me compassionately and I asked if we could figure out the a cost for a new computer and if there was a payment plan.
I sat and contemplated what lesson I was to learn besides not having water near the computer and wondering for 15 minutes how I could use this as a teaching moment. I didn’t have an answer.
Fifteen minutes later, Jonathan appeared with a new bright white box and started opening it up.
“No charge,” he said.
Tears welled up in my eyes and I knew in that moment that kindness was the lesson to learn.
Kindness and doing the right thing when you don’t have to melts the heart and confirms the deep goodness in people.
Jonathan at the Genius Bar reminded me of this quote by Mother Teresa, “Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.”
