The Upside of Irritation

Admit it! At times, we all can be a bit like The Princess and the Pea. Life can offer us so much goodness, but all we sometimes do is get irritated by the few small things that don’t go smoothly.

We’ve all been there. We find ourselves so bothered by some experience in our day: like when we get stuck in traffic or deal with an irritating coworker (again). Argh! If this rings true for you too, you are definitely not alone.

No matter how good we are at controlling our circumstances, there will always be factors and people that we cannot control. How we respond to these experiences to a great degree determines the quality of our lives.

There are many stories of spiritual masters embracing the presence of an annoying student in their community. There’s even one story that documents a teacher paying an irritating person to live among his students!

From our everyday perspective, this may be difficult to comprehend. We generally work hard to avoid people and things that we find annoying so that they don’t bother us.

From a deeper spiritual perspective, however, irritation can be an important teacher and an indicator that we are making progress on our path.

 

Think of the pearl.

A mollusk gets this annoying little piece of sand in its soft and tender flesh. That speck of sand grates the interior lining of the mollusk and then a coating is produced to cover the irritating intrusion.

The mollusk adapts to this new irritation instead of trying to get rid of it or expel it.

In time, exquisitely beautiful, iridescent pearls are formed.

We have the opportunity to cultivate beauty from irritation as well.

We can become aware of irritating situations as they come up and notice how we react to these situations. Then like the mollusk, we can use that irritation as an opportunity for something worthwhile to grow.

• When we take the time to stop and listen to what is causing us to feel ill at ease;
• when we allow for that irritation to speak to us and teach us;
• when we decide to stop running from it or trying to hide it or disguise it;

then we have a chance at turning a simple irritation into something quite rewarding.

Remember the mantra,

The only way out is through!

 

For most of us, our lives offer us an abundance of opportunities, of grains of sand!

Which ones have you turned into pearls?