Possibly Cont’d from Trappist monk helps veteran ‘awaken’ me 

Buddha came in the shape of a dark-haired, dark-skinned attractive yoga-practicing woman, smiling upon me in a dream.

In my vision of Feb. 16, 2010, she had already given me the lap top computer I am now using to decipher the dream. An HP computer complete with Office 2007 (the latest), as well as a one year warranty and a carrying case  for my “conscious” endeavors.

This Buddha, the second I’ve seen this day,went by the name of Marisa.  She told me how she used meditation in a very practical way — while “killing time.”

“I meditate right after starting the car,” she says, while sitting behind a large desk, a “desk top” computer in front and below her and and a 19-inch monitor at the side. The word “Psychology” appears on several plaques or degrees hanging on the wall behind her. A mug of hot beverage rests on the desk, as steam escapes in the space separating me from her.

Marissa  tells me she closes her eyes, rests in silence with the car radio shut off and engine running, patiently waiting to warm up the car and her inner Self. She focuses on her breathing, letting thoughts drift away with no lasting distractions, and gains a “calm” while losing all concerns to start the day. It’s a small practice, one done every day she goes to work at the Veterans Administration regional headquarters along Philadelphia’s Wissahickon Avenue. Started about a year ago.

Her job. Or was that her meditation practice? Dreams are funny, you know. We all have ’em. Several per night. No kidding. Most go unnoticed, unless we make it a point to focus on recalling them. Dreams, that is.

I saw myself making new friends in the dream Marisa helped to come true. I met people of all walks of live: artists, computer geeks, students, as well as a supermarket  manager and a beautician, not to mention another lawyer and a lay monk, all with the potential to become lasting friends.

They came true to life after gaining access to the Internet via this VA-provided computer to help with “independent living,” that is, to aid a veteran with PTSD to end a solitary life, hidden away from crowds and public places, and to “enrich” himself with the contact of others through “Meet-Up” programs generated over the ‘Net.

As a result of this approach, I have been able to join a weekly spiritual group, while attending a day long retreat once, and a purely social outing another time. I helped celebrate the Tibetan New Years, Feb. 14, 2010. I’ve made a dozen new friends, and have even written about our contacts. See Mary, Flowers, and of course the Gratitude story, in which I felt I had to seek public forgiveness (See My ‘Right Speech’ May Have Wronged You) after revealing the name of someone who suffered from PTSD, thereby violating their privacy.

Meet-Up helped introduce me to another set of friends in Ambler, PA, where we gather Tuesday mornings and Thursday evenings to meditate and discuss progress along our paths of mindfulness. I also attended a “Soma” therapy session, as well as joined a group of Highly Sensitive Persons (HSP) and continue to practice EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique,” or “tapping,” all part of  scheduled Meet-Ups over the Internet.

I could not have done it without a “nudge,” without the guidance, without the help of my Buddha lap-top computer-provider and her encouragement.

Marisa  even helped me with 30 — count ’em — 30 PTSD problems I had created, but I’ll tell you more about that miraculous intervention at another time.