It’s funny coming back to the world.

It feels delightful to enjoy yoga in person, live music, and even small talk with the barista at the coffee shop.

But there are tough things too.

Balancing personal time and in-person events .. or awkward encounters with people we didn’t expect to run into.

And then .. there’s the reality .. that people have gone through so much.

Last night I was leaving a restaurant, and my purse bumped into a man on my way out. I had no idea, but soon he was yelling at me.

The man I was with turned to face him, ready to fight.

But I smiled at the gentleman who was so upset, and said we had had such a lovely time at the restaurant, and I was so sorry my purse is round and awkwardly shaped, and I had no idea it had struck him, and I was so apologetic.

It was dark and crowded, so in case he couldn’t hear me I pressed my hands into a prayer pose and nodded as a gesture of peacefulness.

The man I was with did a double take. He was ready to defend me. But I said it’s ok, let’s move on with our night. And to the angry gentleman, I said sorry again and that I hoped he had a wonderful evening.

And then we left.

In discussing it afterwards, I realized that we on this path are alchemists. Alchemy is sometimes defined as transforming lead into gold. But it is based on a more general medieval idea of transforming matter.

This is what we are doing when we study and practice mindfulness. We are transforming things. We are choosing - we are taking the power - of transforming anger into, well, either nothing .. or even love.

I don’t know if I made the angry man last night love me.

I do think I diffused his anger. And if the path can transform anger .. into nothing .. well, that is something.

This is not always the right thing to do. As the Buddha says, we always want to balance wisdom with compassion. But last night, there was no benefit to engaging with his anger, so it was wise to simply be compassionate.

And now I turn this over to you. You who are on your path. When do you want to transform someone’s anger or negativity? When do you want to become an alchemist? Because within you, within all of us, we have this power.

Use it when it’s wise — and let me know how it goes.

With love,
Dina

ps. Meditation gives you alchemy superpowers! Learn more about the power of meditation here.