Challenges

I am so very grateful for all of the challenges which this life has brought me! Without each and every one of them, I would not be the person I am today, living an amazing, fulfilling life, caring for a blessed group of innocent, needful creatures, and growing in patience, love, and wonder each day.

As an adult lately diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome (high-functioning autism), I have lived my life in an alien world, one in which I existed on the periphery of society, unable to form meaningful connections with others or improve my life-condition. While at first glance this might be seen as negative, in my case it has been an amazing gift. My solitude and lack of connection have allowed me the time to grow into my self, to discover the myriad facets of my wonderful mind, and to determine how I can best serve the world and all of its inhabitants, in small ways or large.

At this point in my blossoming life, I am a first-year college student achieving high grades, have become a member of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, received a student achievement award from my college, and have had a poem published in the school literary journal. Not bad for someone who two years ago was too frightened of new places and strange people to even set foot on a college campus!

Several years ago I volunteered to move my home to a remote rural location and serve as caretaker for a feral cat sanctuary. This unpaid position has provided a wealth of satisfaction and reward, allowing me to care for unwanted animals who would otherwise have lost their lives. This work gives me a soul-deep sense of satisfaction and joy. Simply knowing that my time and effort allows the wee beasties a second chance is all the thanks I need, and when I look into their feral eyes I know that it's all worthwhile.

But the most amazing change in my life has been the wealth of joy and blessings which arose when this "Closet Buddhist" came out and began practicing Buddhism openly, and the glorious array of very precious and sparkling people who have flooded into my life as a result. I never dreamed that this child, the one who hid behind trees rather than speak to a stranger, would stand up in front of two hundred fellow Buddhists at a New Year's Day meeting and speak about the blessings of my practice. It was inconceivable that the child who preferred to hide under her bed reading by the dull beam of a flashlight would share her joy in life with fellow members at a discussion meeting, joy which arose from accepting the rightness of Dharma in her life. How incredible that the woman who resented and despised all of the people who caused her pain and difficulty throughout her life would forgive all of them, and pray earnestly for their happiness and that of everyone in the entire world.

This is my life now. A feral-sanctuary caretaking college student Buddhist, who awakens each day eager to share the joy of learning, loving, and living in this beautiful world, with all of its flaws and foibles and challenges - can you believe it? This is my life!