Skating on Thin Ice

 This evening, I felt that the sidewalks had suddenly turned into skating rinks, as the deep freeze of snow and ice started to thaw out in an unexpected rain downpour. I almost got caught in it, and did struggle a bit to mobilize myself. All the while, I hearkened back to my recent foot injury,and told myself to really take it easy, even hopping on the snowy patches if need be. And my experience narrowed into something like "pure survival" in those moments. I felt somewhat dreary but at the same time very much alive to what was happening inside me and around me. How can something so constraining be such a source of aliveness, then?
   I of course have my theories about such experiences (as have others), but I do believe it has something to do with mindfulness. When we are in situations that call for us to be extraordinarily attentive to our surroundings, we are in an environment where we need to clear our mind of all the frivolous thoughts, and be very present with our steps. Even though there were moments when I simply could not walk at all, or had to stand on a bare patch of ground, I was very much in that moment of appreciating the ability to stand. And each patch of ground became like a kind of paradise of sorts. The second effect that these situations entail is that there is a clear awareness of what needs to be done in that moment. If it's about getting indoors and letting the ice thaw out, then my mind becomes determined to achieve that goal. Being very alert of what is necessary in the moment often puts us in a place that is much more resolved and peaceful than, say, the idle or scattered thoughts which often arise when things are not so pressing.
   Meditation is one way to sharpen the attention so that a person can see their life with this attitude of care. But in a sense, I am especially interested in the metaphor of "skating on thin ice", because, to me, it signifies the fragility of conditions. One careless word is just like a careless slip on the ice. Whenever a person does things without a sense of their feet being carefully planted on the ground, they might often be swept away in the torrential rush of emotions and fleeting dreams. As soon as things become "safe" again, people often go back to the old mentality of "everything's okay, so I can coast for now", until they once again fall into a risky or dangerous situation. But if we can adopt an approach of care, then we can also feel the joy of knowing one's conditions, whether they are pleasant or unpleasant, and to be familiar with oneself and one's limitations and abilities. This clear understanding of how one functions in the world is often an unexpected source of joy, because it takes a person out of the suffering of lax and wandering thoughts which ultimately aren't of much value.