Patience, Resilience and a lesson from Buddhism

A few weeks ago I was preparing an assembly on the value of “patience” and I was looking for a different approach. I had a quick look on the internet and found an article about a situation someone had experienced when travelling through London. What particularly struck me was that their experience was almost identical with one I had had a month ago when returning from a meeting in London. I found myself angry and frustrated at people I did not know who were in my way as I was rushing to Waterloo Station. The article took a Buddhist slant on the experience and referenced the work of Shantideva, an 8^th century Indian Buddhist monk. I went looking for this book and found a free download of it (“Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life” translated by Stephen Batchelor). Using the original article and bits of Shantideva’s work I then reflected on my experience. I can take no credit for what follows, it really is the product of another (unfortunately I cannot find the original website and give the credit deserved), but there are 6 points that should be considered when reflecting on my frustration with those anonymous victims of my anger:

• Don’t try to change the world, change yourself first.

• Even if someone is annoying you, you are allowing it to bother you. How you are affects how you see things.

• You don’t know their whole story.

• You are not the centre of the Universe, you are not the only person who matters. To the other person (the one annoying you) they are probably the centre of the Universe, and you don’t matter!

• Your enemy is your greatest teacher. Without being challenged you don’t have to think about yourself and try to become a better and more understanding and tolerant person.

• Situations like this are good for us. We only reflect on things when they are not right and we work out ways of dealing with them.

Now what has this to do with teacher mental health? My last posting was on resilience and I would suggest that this Buddhist analysis (especially the last 3 points) are pertinent to the development of resilience.

My suggestion to you is simple. Think about a problem that is currently causing you stress and just try to see it through this lens.