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In just about every minute of every day you and I are either expanding or contracting. Angry? Contracting. Genuinely forgiving? Expanding. Greedy? Contraction. Generous? Expansion.
As we stumble toward enlightenment it is important to build our 'expansion' muscles. One of the best ways to do this? Practice generosity. Not obvious generosity, though that has its place. Secret generosity. Sort of like practicing random acts of kindness, only without getting caught.
In Asia there is a wonderful tradition of practicing secret good deeds. Monks mending other monks' robes. Nuns doing other nuns' chores. When I was in Korea on a pilgrimage it sometimes felt like I was surrounded by secret Santas, each one watching for an opportunity to pounce. At the top of a huge mountain (think Alps) after obsessing about cheese for days I woke up to a piece of cheese next to my breakfast rice. Someone must have helicoptered it up. On other mornings someone had scrubbed my pathetically filthy sneakers clean. Or I would look into my backpack and there would be a clean pair of socks. Days after I left my Swiss Army knife in a bathroom in a tiny nuns' hermitage it showed up in my teacher's hands.
And last week it happened here - right at Still Point. When several of us showed up early to prepare the meditation hall for Sunday services there was a box from Federal Express waiting at our front door. In it a huge bouquet of flowers. No card. Wow, wow, wow.
The Buddha taught that the first real step on a spiritual path is to be generous. Why? Because it helps us to get up and out of our obsession with ourselves. He wasn't talking about quid pro quo generosity where I do something for you so you'll do something for me later. He was talking about genuine spontaneous heart driven acts. Like secret flowers at the door.
If you aren't already an everyday secret Santa I encourage you to take a taste of this way of living. There is something completely fun about doing a good deed that nobody knows about but you. Plus every act counts -- from cleaning up after someone in the bathroom to replacing a broken window at the women's shelter to calling a complete stranger to say that their voicemail message landed in the wrong box. P.S. to whoever you are: Thank you for the flowers. They were perfect.
