Mountains crumble to the sea, there will still be you and me

I was at the Registry of Deeds in Lowell this afternoon and the clerk recording my documents was crotchety the second she came to the counter. Her mood was not brightened by the documents I presented her with. I had an understanding why; most of them were uncommon and fraught with subtle traps. And because I was recording in Registered Land, that meant she had to get everything exactly right, no fucking mistakes. It's a much stricter procedure than what they do in Recorded Land, where the only real requirements are that the documents need to be signed and notarized and money needs to be given for services rendered.

Anyway

So, yeah, she was in a foul mood and not happy about having to deal with this potential ball of thorns. I silently chanted Om Mani Padme Hum and hoped it would have a soothing effect on her. We've all been where she was; I tried not to be offended by her foul mood.

It wasn't easy. There were a few moments when the urge to tell her to get a hold of herself and stop bitching was palpable. She was presented with a task she didn't want to perform and was acting like a baby about it. I didn't have time for that, son! I had to be assertive with her once when she got flustered about one of the documents not making sense. She was looking to me for help, but I informed her that I wasn't an attorney and had a limited familiarity with the documents. "I'm not an attorney,either", she said in a a tone more pleading than bitchy. In the interest of getting on with it I said, "I need you to explain what doesn't make sense to you so I can convey it to the attorney that prepared the documents."  This had the effect of a zen slap and calmed her down a bit.

Anyway

Everything worked out fine and I went back to work. At the office, my mood darkened. I found myself entertaining self-defeating and paranoid thoughts. My mind was like the nightly news: one negative story after another for no good reason. Fucking hell, what was going on?

Well, I had just downed a sizable cup of coffee which I'm as sure as sure can be contributed to my malaise. Also, there was that bitchy lady at the Registry of deeds; she infected me with her crummy attitude, I bet. And I didn't like the way Marcy seemed a bit curt with me on the phone when I called her with recording information.

For a while, but not too long, I was a gloomy chap, but I got through it, son, so no need to take fright. I observed it all happening, calmed my mind, and woke from the spell, just like happened with the ROD clerk I so vividly described above. When you shake a glass of water with sediment at its base, everything gets cloudy and chaotic. In order to restore balance, you've got to stop shaking the glass and let things settle. That's what I did, and it worked. The thing is, though, that sediment is still there. Gotta empty the glass, no other way around it.

One thing at a time.

The sun came out this afternoon and when I got home from work, I walked into Davis Square after dinner. It was good to be outside, revivifying. I chanted Om Mani Padme Hum and strolled merrily along, not a care in the world.