Creative Tensions in Daily Life

  On the way to group meditation practice tonight, I had dozed off before my appointed stop, and ended up at Steeles Avenue. As luck wouldn't have it, I missed the bus along Steeles, so I ended up grabbing a very quick dinner and walking to the center amidst quite heavy snow. I was in quite a bit of a rush to get to the center, but upon arriving there, a sense of calm fell over me as I started to see the Chinese red lanterns creating a mellow glow in the Chan Hall. Even while we were doing the exercises, I could feel something beautiful and dreamlike about this red glow, providing a sense of comfort to the meditation practice.
    I started to reflect: although the travel to and from the meditation is tight and at times full of tension, there is what Parker Palmer would perhaps call 'creative tension' in all of this (Palmer, 2011, p.14-15), which is the ability to hold my frustration or tension as part of an overall creative process. The best way to describe this creative tension would be to suggest that whenever there is an action or a feeling, it is part of a spectrum which includes its opposite or contrasting tones. Whenever there is tension, there is also somewhere in that tension a sense of peace. After all, why else would I be going to group meditation practice except to somehow cultivate a wholesome space of peace for all?  But before I get to that place, I have to navigate other, equally valid spaces. Does it make sense? If a person is rushing frantically to get to the meditation cushion to escape those uncomfortable feelings, then they are missing out on a chance to see the tension as equally valid as the lack of tension. It's also an energy of mind, the same way in which meditation has its own energy. The key is that I look upon the tension with the same even-minded awareness as I would while in sitting meditation. I sort of enjoy that tension by immersing myself in it and fully acknowledging why it's there and why it even should be there for that matter.
    After all, tension is partly chosen, but it's partly based on the conditions as well. In looking at these tensions, could we not also cultivate a spacious awareness, perhaps even a joy in the moment?