Processing

I was recently angry that I had a dental issue with significant expenses ahead of me.

I headed to a sandwich shop to mope a bit. I tried to use my spiffy smart watch to pay, and it didn’t work. I pulled out my card. I tapped it, and the little screen flashed back at me unapologetically: 

“Processing” ... it blinked a few times, and the moment got awkward a bit, as I waited before my sandwich artist, hoping it would all turn out ok.

...

“Approved” 

I commented to the worker behind the counter, gotta love the machine, it has no problem telling us it’s processing. I need to do that too! Just put my hand up and let everyone know… I’m processing. I can’t do anything else right now.”  I delivered as if I were a stand-up comedian. She laughed and said she’d never thought of it like that. 

The machine quickly taught me something: It’s ok to simply say, “I’m processing”.  It is ok to process the difficulty undistracted and just sit with it. It's ok to take one or two breaths to process before moving along to the next thing. Contemplation and presence do not require a monastery or an extensive library. Let’s just take a moment to process.