“Ah, Dr. Meow… Sometimes I feel a profound sense of discouragement. I wonder, will it ever pass? After all, I was doing so well here… But when everything shifts into something else, this anguish takes hold of me.”

“Mita, are you sure you didn’t feel this way before, too?” Dr. Meow asked. “You know, that same search that led you to discover peace? Yet, right at the moment you finally felt at peace, seeing everything around you begin to shift brings on this anguish.”

“I understand, Mita. Do you remember that time on the boat, when I told you about Zangmo? She traveled so much along her path, amidst so many trees and animals… And just when she felt she had found the way, she realized that the path itself didn’t exist. She taught me that, instead of looking only at the boat or the land, one should look beyond.”

“But, Dr. Meow, what did she mean by that?”

“Mita, she taught me that rather than remaining trapped, staring at the boat, the land, or the river, we can learn to see from a perspective outside of where we happen to be.”

“I see, Dr. Meow… Is it like observing life? Creating a bit of space within one’s own being? The ability to view ourselves from the outside?”

“Exactly, Mita. Zangmo taught me that we are not our thoughts. Look at this image, Mita: at the center, there is the serenity of someone meditating in silence. But all around it, notice the many fleeting states that arise… There are moments when an arrogant voice emerges, or a self-centeredness that closes us off, or a deep sensitivity that weeps, or a hungry craving for attention—or even the kind of drama that magnifies everything.”

“And are we all of those things, Dr. Meow?”

“No, Mita. We are the One who sits at the center, eyes gently closed, holding a lotus flower in our hands.” These small aspects appear like soap bubbles across the landscape of the mind. When you learn to simply observe them—without becoming the drama, without identifying with the arrogance or the pain—you discover a sense of separation. You realize that you are the essence that observes, while the emotions merely pass by.

— Ah, Dr. Meow… Indeed, it is time for us to meditate and watch the mind flow.

With love, Dr. Meow.