This Mind Storm continued. I called and apologized to my friends. They had arrived with a key and had no trouble getting in. Having read the note I left, they were wondering what had happened.

The new storm of self-blame continued most of Saturday. Sunday I went to teach my class at church where we were studying Boorstin’ s book. As I confessed my lapse from the Buddhist ideal of the peaceful mind, the storm lessened.

Mind States come and go. Sometimes a Mind State turns into a Storm. The challenge of mindfulness is to catch the storm early and stop it. If you can’t stop it then just let it blow itself out. Don’t get caught up in it. Don’t act it out.

I regret to say that I was swept away by a storm that had been brewing in the background all week long. What I thought was a decision made from the frustration of the moment was actually from the frustration of the day and the week. I allowed myself to slip into a Mind Storm and did not realize it until the storm passed. I thought it was about one thing (the key that didn’t fit) when it was about many things. The lesson of the moment was to learn patience but I thought it had to do with bad decisions and bad luck. I missed the lesson of patience that I needed because I left and returned home.