A friend reached out to check in on me, and I confessed I'd been having stress dreams for the first time in many months due to the pandemic.
He invited me to nightly online meditation he leads. I've never participated in anything like this, but I know and trust this friend, so I accepted his generous offer.
There was a moment in the process of growing aware, breathing deeply and allowing thoughts to pass "like clouds" through my mind.
In it I caught a note from son, singing in the shower outside my office.
Being a novice to meditation, there was a moment where I was overcome with emotion rather than equanimity.
I will deeply miss the music of my children; I fear I've started to take for granted that I'll hear it every day.
There was another wonderful moment at the end of the session, involving accepting the suffering of others to lighten their load; the idea that through a collective unburdening, the world is alleviated of suffering.
It was a deeply needed, rather stirring experience.
It knocked me out of my head and back into the world as experienced by others who are suffering. It was a good lesson. Instead of self-pity, outreach. Instead of seeking personal respite through escape, there is relief to be found in service to others.
Right message, right messenger, right timing.