Every Thought You Polish Becomes Your Mirror
This year, my birthday felt a little different. Because of a medical condition called aspiration , I live with a disability that makes swallowing difficult. Anything I eat risks going into my lungs instead of my stomach, so I depend on a tube attached to my stomach to take in liquid food like milk. I can’t eat the way others do, no birthday cake, no shared meals, only a quiet awareness of what can no longer be. At first, my mind clung to the cake, its scent, its texture, the memory of its significance on birthday occasion. I don’t even like cake that much, nor do I crave its taste. But the thought of not being able to do something so simple, so ordinary, weighed on me. The more I focused on it, the heavier my heart became. The mirror of my mind reflected only disappointment and quiet sadness. But then, as I emerged from meditation, I remembered the Buddha’s teaching on Right Concentration , one of the steps on the Noble Eightfold Path, and why meditation holds such deep importance. W...
