ACCOUNT OF MY DAYS
Sequence: 4
WHILE WAITING FOR THE TEST RESULTS
you can play solitaire
you can check your email or text someone
you can post the update "I am waiting for my test results"
you can listen to the music
in a more than superficial way
to discover if listening deeply makes the music deep
you can put on competing music to see what that's like
periodically you are praised for your patience
but remember that patience like any virtue
must be exercised to be strong
practice your patience till it is in every breath
while waiting for your test results
you can fry an egg but be careful
not only with your hands but with your attention
so that if the voice in your ear
goes live you do not ruin the egg through inattention
you can read a book or as we say now a text
for the thing itself can be presented in many forms
but each manifestation is presumed to be
the same in essence as any other
so we need one word to refer to any manifestation of the thing
remember if this is what you choose to do while waiting
it is better to think of yourself as reading a text
also remember while waiting
that any test result is only a picture of a moment in time
the metaphor we used to use was "snapshot"
you could do better on a later test or worse
and you should think of your results as a guide
to your choices about future behavior
or opportunities or disasters
not as a definition of who you are or what chance you have
they do not confine you to only one future
but they are your results after all
they belong to no one else
they can't be taken from you
once they are given to you after a period of waiting