Right Action

Earlier this week, I noticed that one of the big five-gallon water bottles at the yoga center was leaking—there was just a small ring of water underneath as it was sitting on the floor.  I tipped it on its side and put a towel there.  Later, I told one other person about it.  (I’m still unclear why I didn’t put a note on the bottle).  When I came in yesterday, I saw that someone had put the bottle up on the dispenser thing and thought, “Oh great.”  I went over to inspect the situation and it wasn’t spilling over (which is what happens where there is a whole in the bottle and thus no vacuum), so I just went about my business.  This morning, everything was wet and someone had tried to assist by putting a bucket underneath to catch the drip.

What’s interesting to me about this is that I knew that was going to happen, but I didn’t want it to be true, so I just interpreted things as I wanted them to be instead of clearly perceiving them as they were.  I was just talking the other day about dharma in yoga class, using the broad definition of “right action,” and was saying, I think, that our yoga practice helps us develop the clarity to see what the right action in any given moment is, and also the strength to do it.  I said that it seems like often we do know what we should do, but for lots of different reasons, choose something else.  And then I got to see these very things happen with my own self just a couple days later.  Now, obviously, the leaking water bottle is not a big deal, but it pointed out to me internal processes that I know I do in other places in my life.  Sometimes I just see what I want to see.  Sometimes I take the easy way. 

The great thing is that in every moment we have the chance to again choose right action.  I removed the bottle and dumped the bucket and moved things so I could lift the rug so it would get more air and dry.  And although I did have a little frustration with myself that I could have avoided the whole thing, I didn’t say anything mean to myself or “should” on myself.  And that is definitely right action.