Life is Our Spirtual Practice Part 2 ( However, breathing deeply might cause problems---see below.) ...................................................5/17/11

No, this is not a picture of me

    
     Good evening everyone,

How are things going for you?  Monday, was an opportunity to practice patience in my relationship  with others and myself. I felt like I was in a game show that tests your perseverance. I was in one of the least desired places in the world to be stuck in a box----no, not a mortuary, but the box of a building that houses the DMV I visited.  I've been resolving an issue since Friday.

       I spent six hours Friday, and one hour yesterday. I'm hoping everything will be solved, soon. My time at the DMV is my spiritual practice for now. (See this post, for more info.)  It was a Catch 22 situation, with a bit of torture, managerial rudeness, time pressure, frustration, impersonal technology and compassion, all rolled into one experience.

       I was deflated----emotionally----after my trips to this agency. What happens to people who don't speak English as their first language, cannot enunciate clearly, don't have access to the internet, don't have a cell phone and don't have time to spend eight hours to solve a problem regarding registration? 

      Even with all the resources needed to handle this problem, I  was unable to get anything solved. I was the last person in the building yesterday. The security guard stood next to me, seeing to it that I leave;  while a supervisor assisted me as I followed phone prompts about processing my problem on my cell phone.

      I left the building ("Now serving G453, now serving G453, at window number eight. Now serving....") with my problem in the same condition as last Friday.  All these problems were a result because I wasn't allowed to pay a fourteen dollar fee in person at this agency.  I had all the paperwork taken care of.However, I was instructed. I needed to do something that could only be done online or on the phone. At this point my situation deteriorated.

      The phone tree was worse than awful, worse than having a root canal done, worse than being in a psychiatric hospital, worse than being mugged at knife point by three teenage boys, all experiences of mine. (I worked in a sub-acute psychiatric hospital for nine years, as a psychiatric rehab therapist..)  While tackling the perplexing phone promptings, "please state the last five digits of your Vehicle Identifications number or say "I don't have it..."What was that you said? I didn't quite get that?" I took a deep breath. A mistake.

      My breathing strongly caused the call to return  to the beginning of the prompting menu. "If you want to hear your instructions in English, please press one, if in Spanish, please press 2...." At this point, I wanted my car to roll over the phone, and end my misery; but, I remembered it was my cell phone.  As I mentioned yesterday in gratitude number five, my faith was being exercised and I was provided an opportunity to practice patience.

      The pouring rain in the Bay Area, the past few days reflected the chill and bleakness I've encountered with the DMV. Monday, after my visit there, I melted, not in rage but in frustration. That's not a common occurrence. Yes, I was kind to the clerks and supervisors.  I knew it wasn't their fault. But I was spent, emotionally, just the same. 

      So, how was your day?

       Let me know your thoughts.