Team

Bald ist Februar vorbei. Das fällt mir erst heute ein. Ich kann ja wieder eine Rechnung schreiben, etwas Geld für geleistete Arbeit verlangen. Und doch ist das Wesentliche meines Tuns unbezahlbar.

Gestern gab es Stress im Klassenzimmer. Die Leute machen einen Intensivkurz und hocken jeden Tag zusammen-- seit Wochen. Ab und zu stosst jemand dazu, ab und zu verlässt uns einer und zieht weiter. Alles ist im Fluss.

Ein emotioneller Ausbruch zweier Teilnehmende bot die Gelegenheit, den Stress offen anzusprechen.

Es war schön, dass Gefühle mal geluftet werden konnten. Wie leicht Missverständnisse passieren! Na ja, wie lüstig es ist, wenn wir sie mit etwas gutem Willen klären.

Hugs for Haiti!

Two participants had a spat. One participant disagreed with what her small group was doing. I did some mediation in the break and learned some interesting things about how the two women perceived the world--very differently.

We're building a team. That was the way one participant summed up what was happening in class yesterday. It was a perfect sentence from someone who often stumbles over word order and form. My enthusiasm overflowed and stopped further comments. But it was okay.

In the silence that followed, we all felt the truth of what the woman had said. And it was good.

Fatface/ Ins Gesicht

My dental surgeon was under stress. I heard it in his lengthy phone call to the previous patient's dentist. He spent a long time excusing himself for the job he'd done. "You'll say he's a great surgeon, but doesn't know much about casting teeth," he concluded, laughing sheepishly.

His confidence was down. Although he touched my shoulder briefly when he got to me, his mind was on the failure before. A couple times someone came in to ask questions about the pictures and the imprints from the case in question.

"This is going to be hard," he promised himself when he looked at the wisdom tooth he had to extract. And so it was. Unfortunately, my mouth was pinned open and I couldn't tell him we could make it easier if he wanted. He struggled and cursed. And just didn't pull hard enough.

I felt the half-hearted attempts, followed by more drilling and wished I could tell him to relax. It was worse for him than it was for me. If I were a better spiritual person, I would have asked him to meditate for a few breaths before he began. Instead, I took it as it came and have the fatface to prove it.

But that's okay. The swelling will go away. And my mouth will be just fine, despite the dental stress. It was just an interesting lesson in how stress and sickness can spread. And I know somehow, I was the source. I am as grateful to him for that lesson as I am for the work on my mouth.

Der Zahnarzt hatte Stress. Da konnte es nicht gut gehen, da er sich schon eingeredet hatte, es wäre schwierig. Beim ersten mal war es besser. Er war besser drauf, hatte nicht dieses geschlagene Gesicht von vornherein. Und mit geöffnetem Mund und gedecktem Gesicht, konnte ich ihn nicht trösten. Was habe ich wohl dieses Mal falsch gemacht?

Nun, es ist vorbei und meine blutunterlaufene Wange glänzt lila unterm linken Auge. Es sieht abenteuerlich aus. Zum Glück habe ich eine Zeit gewählt, wo ich vor meine Fans und die breitere Öffentlichkeit nicht auftreten muss. Es hat Zeit zu heilen. Ich hoffe, der Zahnarzt auch.