Standoff on the streets (or dancing on the sidewalks).

Twice in as many weeks I have heard people comment on the standoff that occurs on sidewalks everywhere across the country.  Imagine it: you are walking on the sidewalk and someone is walking towards you, and you are both in the middle. 

Do you move out of their way, or do they move out of yours?

There is a common conception that people feel like they are always the ones to move.  The comments that I have heard is that people experience this as a display of power.  That not moving is a sign,
I am more powerful than you.

This standoff is perceived as a power play, and if you move then you are losing.  But is that true?  Are people on the sidewalks really power walking?

Indefinitely there are a few people out there who treat this confrontation on the sidewalk as a display of power, best of luck to them.  My bet though is that most of the people aren't power walking, they are sleep walking.

Yep.  Sleep walking.

They are caught up in their story lines.  They are habitually driven between point A and point B.  They are not aware of the world around them and they have no concern for the people around them.  They are checking their phones, their senses closed off behind headphones and just trying to make it in their microcosm. 

What about you though?

You're a mover.  You are alert and aware.  You notice the people around you, adapt to a change in their stride.  You're present. 

By moving you lose nothing.  You're not giving anything up.  This sidewalk, it's not yours.  You are being polite, respectful.  You are making a choice and standing up (or moving aside) for what you want to see in the world. 

You can walk with confidence and compassion, which feels like dancing on the sidewalks.  

No one will even notice, but you are being the change you wish to see in the world. 

So next time you are out walking and are conscious enough to be aware of the people around you, make a decision: Do you move or stand your line?

Ask yourself why?  What are you trying to assert?  What are you trying to defend?

Who is making this about a power play?  What if you are establishing a power play against someone who is sleep walking?

Maybe you are still learning what it means to be awake and this person, they are your teacher.

Neurotic.

Oh, how we love distraction.

It makes us feel normal again.  The constant busyness, the doing.  It makes us feel secure, in control, like we run this show.

The compulsion to move- itch that finger or ear, check our email, our phones.  Check Facebook, check the news, watch a show.  Call, text, move, shift, sort.

All this because we are uncomfortable.  Uncomfortable.  We are irritated, this baseline subtle irritation that never really goes away.

But we feel good when we keep moving.

We might complain about always being busy.  All the things we have to do or should do.  But really this is what we want, to keep doing.  Because the opposite is scary.

When we are not doing, all the irritation rises up.  It shows its ugly face. 

When we are not doing, we realize how uncomfortable we are.  We become aware of how painful our life is.  Likely we don't know how to deal with this situation, so we enter flight or fright mode.  And we run.  Or at least we move. 

Our society wonders why we suffer from so much anxiety, depression, loneliness and sadness.  Why are our lives unfulfilling, why do we feel like we are being constantly bombarded from all directions?

Because we are.  And we are running. 

Stop running.  Train your mind.  That is what it means to have a spiritual practice.
Clarify your practice.  Let your practice clarify you.

Commit not a single unwholesome action, 
Cultivate a wealth of virtue,
To tame this mind of ours, 
This is the doctrine of the Buddha.
Buddha Shakyamuni