This morning during my nature meditation, my attention was drawn toward the mountains. They were white again, unveiled when the clouds lifted after the spring snow. Against the clear, pale coral sky, they looked so pure! Looking at these mountains had the potential to bring my mind to pure silence.

At the same time, the blaring of a car radio was disturbing my peace. A neighbor had started her car with her remote, forgetting that she had had the radio on very loud the night before (our neighborhood is “always” quiet). The blaring music was a disturbance to me, and my mind kept going to the source of its annoyance.

My mind went back and forth between the annoyance and the peace; the annoyance really wanted to win the contest!

Then I realized, “This is a test.” Could I maintain the feeling of purity the mountains gave me despite the irritating sound? To do so took effort on my part. I tried to maintain the singular focus on the peaceful mountains. I was not totally successful in my prescribed time period, but I learned a valuable lesson.

Only I can decide how much I wish my mind to become silent despite the inevitable challenges. Only I can make it happen. And I also know, from the teachings and my own experience, that even the annoyance is perfect and pure. It is my reaction that makes it seem otherwise.

To be flawless, see flawless.