Hyunghwan Lee / Housing Manager
In November of 2006, I had been an apartment building manager for about 4 years. Right around that time, I found out about this meditation through a booklet I’d received. At the time, I was looking for stability in my career and was about to finish up some courses I was taking to get certifications for my job as building manager. After I read the meditation booklet, over the next few days, I decided to give it a try. I figured, if this meditation didn’t meet my expectations, I could always quit at any time. So, there was no risk as far as I was concerned.
I Challenged Myself to Clean My Mind That Found Life Difficult
I’ve always had religion in my life and I definitely wanted to clean up my mind to have a better understanding of the mind, but I realized that it was harder than it seemed. My life was quite comfortable and initially, it seemed that I might not have the passion or desire to really clean my mind. I knew that I liked the meditation and was definitely grateful to meditate. Also, the meditation center wasn’t far from my home and I could do it every day.
So, I started meditation by letting go of all the remembered thoughts of the past that I didn’t want to live with any longer: The trauma that I suffered in my childhood. I had a lot of resentment toward my parents. I had a lot of guilt that I wasn’t doing my best to help my family economically because I changed my job so often.
After meditating for about 2 months, all of these burdens that were weighing me down started to disappear all at once. I felt like I was given the whole world. I realized that all of the remembered thoughts or “pictures” I had in my mind were just fake and illusionary. Still, I’d lived with the burdens and stress of all of those things. When I enlightened that all of my old thinking was false, I immediately felt cooler and lighter.
Meditating Has Helped My Life a Lot
As I continued to meditate, whenever I had friction or disagreements with residents and employees at my apartment building, I would look back on myself a lot. And every day, I tried to apply this meditation’s teachings as a daily practice in real life. Before this meditation, I had never yielded my opinion to whomever had a disagreement with me. But now I had no reason to act that way since I know that my old mind doesn’t exist.
Things started to change, little by little. If a person is angry with me, but sees that I am calm and at peace, I noticed he would immediately soften his voice. It’s because I don’t have hatred in my heart. I never have a negative vibe with others. Even if the other person is aggressive with me, I just don’t have any hatred or anger in my mind, so the situation calms down.
Through this meditation, I was able to work more effectively in the apartment building where things can sometimes be difficult or complicated to solve. It’s now been about 7 months since I started meditating. My second oldest daughter just returned home after being in Japan for a year. After being back home for a few days, she told me that I changed but she couldn’t really see what it was. When I told her that I’d been meditating, she started reading all about it. She hasn’t started meditating yet, but I know she will begin soon.
This Meditation Has Made My Life Rewarding and Joyful
Even if I don’t tell the people around me that I practice meditation, they can feel that I’m different. I’m probably one of the most comfortable people among all the managers. Many people start working as managers after they have obtained a license as a building manager, but not all of them can survive.
The reality is that the majority of them quit because they can’t overcome the heavy responsibility and stress. It is not easy to solve the needs and complaints of the many residents of various inclinations, and sometimes there are arguments and disagreements. I feel so much gratitude to the meditation for relieving my stress and making me more professional. I wonder sometimes, if I had not done this meditation, would I be able to deal with all of these things as wisely?
I now feel more in control over the many conflicts that arise in my mind and because of me. I also have the ability to look at myself more objectively – even in difficult situations. Just because I meditate, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t hardships in my job. But, as long as I have the wisdom to overcome these things, it doesn’t matter to me any longer. It’s so rewarding to realize the things that I still have in my mind – one by one – and to apply my understanding to the world around me. I want everyone – my co-workers and my family – to enjoy a happy life and meditate. Life is really good.
Source: www.meditationlife.org
