Present Still

Have you ever felt thrown off because someone who was warm yesterday sounds completely different today? Or been left baffled when a plan you had already settled was changed, with no discussion?   When this keeps happening, you may find yourself wondering, “Why can’t this person ever be consistent? ” Not long ago, I listened to a Dharma talk by Venerable Jinkyung , in which someone asked how to deal with an unpredictable person.  How should we look at the pain that comes from someone like that? She began with something else: what life is actually like. Photo by the author Unpredictability Isn’t Strange. It’s How Life Works. Before discussing people’s changing moods, she pointed out that life as a whole is unpredictable.  She shared something that had happened close to home. A healthy monk she lives with was walking down the stairs, lost his focus for a moment, and hurt his back. She has been lying in bed for days. Nobody could have guessed that the day b...