Learning How to Read

I received an email a few weeks ago inviting me to a Practitioner business meeting at the Centre.  For some reason I'm still trying to fathom why I read 7am instead of 7pm.  I imagine that talk on the past of such meetings being early in the morning primed me to assume that 7am was quite the natural gathering time.

Well, imagine my surprise when I arrived at 6.50am to find the Centre deserted?  I even sent a text message off to enquire if there was a meeting.  Thankfully, I didn't start making calls and waking people up :)

At any rate, as I drove back I had a burning question that went along the lines of, "How could I get the meeting wrong?"  I also had another thought jump in of what I was going to do when I got home and confirmed that I never did get the email cancelling the meeting.

And then a funny thing happened.  I caught myself mid-flow and remembered that meditation would be a good idea.  A technique I've been using recently is to say ''Breathing God..." as I breathe in, and then count on the breath out.  I  noticed that my irritation was such that I struggled at first.  I had to turn off music - it was getting in the way.

But a short while later I began the meditation as I drove.  At some point after that, I don't recall when exactly, I wondered if the email had pm instead of am.  It turns out it did.

At first I thought this was about learning how to read.  And even now, as I read the email from the organizer that the meeting is in fact March 23rd, I celebrate that whilst reading is useful, how we respond and what we first turn to when we're caught off guard is more important.  I might have managed to get both the date and the time wrong, but when in the middle of feeling alone and wondering where everyone else was I turned to spiritual practice.