Staying Curious
Because I have been writing about my “saga” — my situation with the fact that my mother is literally on her deathbed and how I’m trying to get to Japan to see her for the last time, I feel obligated to update. Unfortunately, there’s no update as of this moment. It’s been 2 weeks since I submitted my application for the special visa to enter Japan, and I am still waiting to hear from the Consulate General of Japan. Even though they discourage you to call for status, I did call today and asked. I believe it was the same lady who received my application and was sympathetic to learn of my circumstance. She even checked into it for me to learn there was no new word on the status of my visa.
While the U.S. State Department just tightened the international travels a couple of days ago, more than a few cities in Japan are on the verge of “state of emergency” again. Based on the information I read on various sources on the Internet, Japan has stopped issuing visas for the foreign nationals for anything other than “exceptional circumstances.” Certainly, my situation would meet the criteria to be in that category. So it is a matter of time that they would give me the visa. Yet, the longer it takes, the more complicated my situation gets as I have all the things in life piling up. AND I know too well the more I try to control or managed, the worse everything will be.
In the recovery programs we learn about what we cannot change and what we can change. We talk about how we turn our life over to the care of the power greater than ourselves. In the mindfulness practice, we learn to take what is in each moment without judging, resisting or clinging. Also Buddha talked about how we’re all subject to aging, getting sick, dying AND losing all that are dear to us, and taught us to face these facts of life honestly and sincerely (my interpretation.) I must say I am extremely fortunate to have all these tools to navigate life, especially in a time like this. Because if I were up to me to make plans for my life, I wouldn’t have made all these things happen all at once, would you? So I am choosing to stay curious to see how everything unfolds in the next weeks and months with all the conflicting events in my life. I say “conflicting” as my mother’s condition and the visa situation are indeed sad, frustrating, scary at the same time others are actually new, exciting and even joyful. Obviously, I’m not in charge to design my life in this juncture other than to take the next right action with faith that everything will work out exactly how they are supposed to.
#YouCanSitWithUs