Chul-Soo Park / Business Owner
I have been working in the restaurant business for nearly 30 years. I started when I graduated from high school and began working as a kitchen assistant at a Japanese restaurant that one of my relatives owned. We worked hard and eventually built his business into a large-scale, luxury Japanese restaurant right in the center of Seoul, Korea. But once we started to grow popular, the landlord told us he wanted us out because we had done some remodeling to his building. We had to relocate. This caused the restaurant business to fail.
Everything in my world was a disappointment; the only thing I could rely on was alcohol.
My new restaurant space was too small compared to the older location, and it was not a good time to move. To make things even worse we had a recession hit our economy. What was going on in my life did not fit my ideas of how I wanted things to go and everything was becoming a disappointment. One day, I actually jumped out of a lower-level window because I was intoxicated and thought suicide was the answer. Obviously, I didn’t die. I just injured myself. But now my actions had caused my wife to suffer. My son, who had just entered high school was also having a hard time because of my behavior.
At that time one of my son’s teachers was a regular in my restaurant. He must have really understood my pain because one day, he wanted me to go with him to this meditation center and told me I should try meditating. I went with him, reluctantly, and began studying this meditation. The meditation guide helped me understand the principles and the method of subtraction. Honestly, I thought that paying for meditation classes was a waste of money at first, but I decided to try it for a month. It was only after a few days of meditating that I could see how difficult my life had become.
As my mind became cleaner, I realized that I was truly enlightening from within and that my consciousness was growing. Because I’d been trapped in my old self, I’d created a very tough life for myself. I could see how I made my family’s life so hard as well. As soon as I realized that this was all coming from my own self-centered thinking and always trying to be right, tears came to my eyes. I even saw how judgmental I was toward my customers.
After crying for a long time, I felt something comforting and clear. I was always angry and blamed others for my faults. I’d also made my family life difficult with the amount of alcohol I was drinking. The more I continued to discard the old thoughts in my mind, the more I could see the inferiority that was so deep in my heart. I had two minds that showed themselves: Inferiority and superiority. I felt ashamed of my life of having to work hard and live in hard conditions. On the other hand, I became so superior when my restaurant was going well. I immediately began letting go of all of this thinking.
I also realized that when I was younger, when I was being taught certain skills in my line of work, those who taught me tended to hit me and swear at me until I learned things properly. While meditating, I could see a time when I had been badly beaten by an older man while I was working in the kitchen. That caused me to treat those younger than me the same way. I judged my customers by how much money that had to spend at my restaurant. I’d think, “this guest is poor,” or “this guest is generous.” As I began to throw away all of these remembered thoughts and stories of the past, my life began to change.
I Now Know How to Live Well Together. Thank You for Changing My Heart.
When I have a drink now, it’s finally enjoyable. I feel relaxed because I can just have a drink with a comfortable and pleasant atmosphere and enjoy the company of friends and relatives. Even with my wife, I can enjoy a simple snack and share a friendly talk.
Now I’ve thrown away all of my minds that were obsessed only with being the most competent chef; always trying to teach my assistants. In the past, I lived only speaking swears to others, now I speak only praise. This life is meant to be lived well together, but I was too embarrassed of my money problems before to take a good look at how much I really had.
By living for others and doing my best not to judge or discriminate others, I found that my restaurant’s income increased naturally. It is a great blessing to me to be able to train my employees. I’m blessed with my customers, my family, and the realization that we’re all working hard to live well together. I am grateful for the change in the way I see the world through this meditation.
Source: www.meditationlife.org
