"If you pour a handful of salt into a cup of water, the water becomes undrinkable. But if you pour the salt into a river, people can continue to draw the water to cook, wash, and drink..." - Thich Nhat Han
Ever since I've started practicing Zazen, I feel that my mind is slowly growing from a cup into a small river. I'm less likely to react to thoughts that used to consume me. My relationship with my thoughts seems to have changed. In the past, I often became my thoughts. Nowadays I'm able to watch them come and go from a distance much like how a bird soaring in the sky might look at the passage of land and animals below. Whether they're positive or negative thoughts, I have the ability to look at them when I want to and for as long as I want to.
This freedom from the bondage to my own thoughts seems to also be slowly transforming my relationships with people for the better. I don't react out of anger as often. This doesn't mean I don't feel anger. I'm still human. I'm just not consumed by it as often. What that means is that I can still think clearly because anger is like the salt that is being poured into a river. Having this power over my thoughts - especially negative thoughts - has helped me handle conflicts with people much more skillfully because I can stay calm enough to understand the many elements in a complex situation rather than getting worked up in my own thoughts.
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