'It's All a Dream'

Breathe. Detach. Here's how to stay centered spiritually now that the election is over.

Q.: Dear Lama Surya Das, I'm so stressed out about the election and attached to its outcome, I can't think. We are a nation so deeply divided that my heart aches. What can I do?

A.: Whoever you voted for, whatever you think, feel, believe, celebrate, or worry about--Buddha says, first of all, breathe. One deep liberating breath can begin to alleviate the stress of a long, divisive political season.

To loosen my own attachment to opinions, I remind myself that if I really knew everything there was to know--past, present, and future--about any particular person, subject, or situation, my opinions and feelings about them would be quite different. Since I don't know that much, I have gradually learned to not to be so judgmental and invested in my own views, although I certainly do have them.

The Buddhist teaching on the dreamlike nature of reality comes in handy here. The Buddha said, "Everything is like a dream, a fantasy, a mirage, rainbows in the sky, and a magician's illusion." Therefore it makes sense to be less attached to and invested in our momentary perceptions, interpretations, and projections.

The old nursery rhyme tells us: "Row, row, row your boat...Life is but a dream." We have to keep doing what we can--rowing our boats, working for what we believe in--all the while realizing we ride on a moving stream we don't control. We flow, we float, we paddle, steer, and redirect. But we can't get back upstream however hard we may try. There is little use in always going against the current, resisting, fighting the flow, which can be just another form of clinging and attachment. You may feel "out" of the great flow, but it always flows right through the middle of your life, and through you, too. You may feel far from "It," but rest assured that it is never apart from you.

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