Finding Peace in Chaos

I try to meditate everyday at work. I'll walk out to the park near my office, read a bit from a book, then spend the magic twelve minutes finding peace within.

I walk over to my park today. I read the intro to my new book, Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. It seems pretty awesome and I'm looking forward to getting into it. I then start my meditation timer. Distractions and chaos ensue. 

First, the clouds that were providing me shade vanish, and my neck starts cooking. Then, two police cars pull up and hustle towards the fountains that I like to sit beside and meditate on occasion. I hadn't noticed the serious faced individuals there before, but apparently a quite mentally unbalanced homeless woman had climbed into the underground access area of the fountain and decided it was a nice place to live. This understandably frightened the maintenance guy who went down there to get some things done. My brothers in blue arrive, and she isn't coming out. She makes this abundantly clear with the screaming string of curses that would make a sailor blush. The skinny rookie (poor guy) is sent in to get her. They get her cuffed and out, cussing and screaming the whole time. Then the fire truck and ambulance arrive with sirens blaring. While this drama plays out, the building across the street is under full reconstruction gauging from the myriad of loud sounds coming right into my ears.  Are you kidding me? Is this a joke? Am I getting punked? How can I find my twelve minutes of peace with all the chaos surrounding me?

Then I get it. Is this not a microcosm of life in general? When does anything ever work out as you expect or want? Are we supposed to freak out and run away from these challenges? There is always some obstacle that can get in the way of your life if you allow it. You cannot change this, but you can most certainly decide how you let these obstacles effect you.

I took this to heart and continued my twelve minutes of peace in Chaos Park, Meditation has been described to me as standing in a stream. Thoughts and distractions flow towards you like fallen leaves. Do you stop and hold onto leaves as they come to you? Of course not, you let them flow right by. Even the leaves that have sirens and scream and cuss at policemen (I need to work on my analogies).