I had an epiphany in the shower from having shampoo sting my eyes tonight. As my eyes burned unbearably, I only shut it tighter until I realized the cool water finding its way through the tiny openings on the side was only serving to heal it and dilute the irritant out of my eyes. It took me a few seconds to realize I was actually better off letting the water in rather than shutting my eyes shut. Duh! Strange somehow, that in theory I've known this all along, but everytime something falls in my eye, my first instinct is to shut it tight. And make things worse for myself.

And how true that is of learning and growing in general. Tough situations make us, or me, at first want to crawl inside and retreat and wish the problem away. Being open to fresh insight and accepting wisdom, be that from any source, is the the real solution and true cure. And as I reap of that understanding, my willingness to open up and receive the knowledge being shared all around increases rapidly. Well, not really an epiphany, but a reiteration of a basic tenet I suppose, but I thought I'd share. With it, an adage in Tamil that sums this up nicely.

'பாட பாடத்தான் ராகம்; மூட மூடத்தான் ரோகம்.'

(pAda pAdatthAn rAgam; mUda mUdatthAn rOgam)

It roughly translates to, practice makes perfect and denial impedes healing; it is only by repeatedly singing and elaborating on a raag does one appreciate its nuances, and a melody born of it. Conversely, it is by concealing a problem and pretending it doesn't exist that an illness grows and worsens irreversibly.