Free The Lotus Still Blooms by Joan Gattuso

but to the deceased, as well.
    When my beloved father passed on, I requested that we wait a week before my father’s remains were cremated (in order to give the more subtle energies all the time necessary to exit the body). Joe not only understood but he lovingly agreed. He then went into the room where my father’s body was being kept and spent an hour praying and meditating each day for my father on his journey through the Bardo (the Buddhist in-between state).
     
 
ONE THING of utmost importance I have learned in life is to be able to laugh at myself. If we step back and look at ourselves, we at times are very comedic in our thoughts and actions. Every summer I return to the coast of Massachusetts to the small fishing village where my family once lived. It is a place of refuge, the happy home of my childhood. It has a quieter pace than the city in which I now reside. I am inspired there, and I spend two to four weeks each year there writing. Most of the time I am alone.
    One particular sunny afternoon I pulled into a gas station and began to look for a credit card when I became aware of someone staring at me. Looking at the driver’s-side window there was a large, greasy young man peering in. I was startled. There was no one else around, and this fellow continued to stare at me, not going away. With fear gripping me around the throat, I reluctantly lowered the window one inch. “Yes?” I timidly croaked.
    “Can I help you?” the rough-looking young man asked.
    I temporarily screwed up my courage and queried in a stern voice, “With what?”
    “With pumping your gas,” he responded to this apparently daft woman. “Which grade?” he asked.
    As the light slowly dawned, and before I could answer, I started laughing uncontrollably. It had been such a long time since I had been to a full-service gas station that I had thought this fellow was some type of marauder rather than a hardworking employee attempting to pump my gas for no extra charge.
    I simply could not stop laughing at myself. When I finally gained control and explained my gales of laughter, he started to laugh, too. As we chatted, he told me how much he loved fixing cars, had left college early and was slowly buying this station from his uncle.
    This young mechanic whom I had initially feared without cause was engaged, not only in mindful service, but in Right Livelihood.
    Living consciously through one’s life’s work is to be a blessing to all whom you serve or who work for you. When one’s work is not aligned with Right Livelihood, it will have far-reaching karmic consequences. We cannot live outside the law of Right Livelihood and long prosper. We may continue to make money, but we will not prosper in the truest sense of the word.
    There is a function God has for each of us. And when we are living our holy function, we tremendously alleviate our suffering and are bringing about happiness in our lives and into the lives of all we touch.
    “A noble person plans only noble things” (Isaiah 32:8). Living in accord with Right Livelihood results in one truly becoming a noble being. We all must endeavor to find that noble purpose and then live our lives prosperously in accord with love and compassion and understanding.
    Right Livelihood is all of this and even more. It is enjoying your work and being fulfilled at the end of the day, rather than being on the verge of a stroke! It is bringing consciousness to every decision, answering yes to “Is this beneficial?” and no to “Is this harmful?”
    Meditation is an important key to reach inspiration as to what career path conforms to Right Livelihood. If we are currently engaged in work that clearly is not Right Livelihood, then through meditation and prayer we can be shown how to change our course. We can find livelihood in a way that brings not only success to us but peace, as well, and plenty to all concerned.
    Wrong livelihood pollutes the individual’s consciousness, and that pollution in turn