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Getting to the True Self

My client was worried. Her mother, a widow of about sixty, had become ill quite suddenly. My client was the only available relative and thus responsible for her mother's care.

When she came in for her weekly session, my client's main concern was about the surgeon who was to operate on her mother. When she tried to make an appointment with this doctor to learn about the procedure, this is what she experienced: It was difficult to get to the doctor; he had gatekeepers with endless excuses. But he also had a reputation of being a good surgeon.

When she did finally get a moment of his time, she experienced him as impatient, stressed, self-impressed, and not at all relaxed. His smile was forced, too quick, and seemed insincere. He didn't look her in the eye while speaking to her, and he had to check his notes for her mother's name and condition.

My client went home and spent about an hour in quiet reflection. Then she called the surgeon and declined his service.

“I can't believe I did that!” was her comment, “but he just didn't seem present to the moment at all. I felt he was always putting his attention somewhere else, not on me, nor on my mother. I just didn't sense he cared.”

The doctor's too-stressed life—and whatever else—did not allow him a tranquil and wholly relaxed mind and thus he did not access what Indira Gandhi calls his own “true image.” My client wanted someone who was wholly present to himself to operate on her mother. So would I.

The-mind can only reflect the true image of the Self when it is tranquil and wholly relaxed.

—Indira Gandhi

No matter how busy you are, spend relaxing time today to give life to your true self.