Sansho Shima

May 15th 2008; 12:50 AM

Current mood:determined

Sansho Shima is a Buddhist term. It refers to the forces in life that seem to get in your way when you make a determination to overcome some sort of obstacle in your life. It's like the moment you make a devout vow to change something in your life, acomplish a goal, change a bad situation into a good one, whatever it is you resolve to change...shansho shima is the stuff in life that starts to happen immediately to sort of challenge your resolve to make that really happen. It's like lifes way of saying: "So you say you want that...but how much do you really want that? What are you willing to do to get it? How far are you willing to go? Let's see how long you will stick with it when I put a few more obstacles in your way." Many times when people get these obstacles, they just quit. They give up on their determination. I'm giving this definition at the beginning of this blog because it's relevant to what I am about to say. I have a great example of sansho shima. In fact, my life is filled with them.

I had the lamest call yeterday evening from a collection agency. I had actually paid off the balance in March but there was a series of mistakes made at American Express and it accidentally got sent to collections. The first person I spoke to asked me to call back today with the names, dated, and times that I called Am Ex. Luckily I had them all written down. I just couldn't find them immediately last night when I got that surprise call. :-P But I found them today and called back. The first person I spoke with was really unhelpful she was just sure that I had not made the payment and that was why it got sent to collections. All she wanted was for me to make another payment. I think she just was used to people being jive tukeys...and trying to get out of paying. Which is not what I was trying to do at all. I understand that this is a mistake that rarely happens. But it did happen for me. I was getting no where with her, so I spoke to her supervisor (she didn't want to transfer me, but eventually did when I insisted), her supervisor was very helpful. She told me to call American Express and try to talk to them about it, she also told me to not get discouraged if they wouldn't talk to me about it since they had handed it over to the collecion agency. Then she gave me the fax number to send in my supporting documentation, and said that she would note the file and that I would not be recieving any more phone calls from her agency. It was good.

I called Am Ex and at first had the automated system disconnect me, then I called and just hit 0 about 5 or 6 times until I was connected to a real person, who was so nice and polite. I got great service, he appologised for the mistake. (They really did make 2 big mistakes that led to this whole thing!) And proceeded to correct it. Now there's actually a credit on my account for the overdraft fees (long story...part of how this happened in the first place...and definately their mistake not mine!) So not only do I have a zero ballance, I have a credit of $69.  I'm happy about that.

I have to say...there is such temptation to not deal with things immediately, but dealing immediately with things is the best way to get results. My grandpa used to say "Get on the ball!" It was how he lived his life. I think he had something there.

So....One lame thing is fixed. :-) Life has a way of working out. I'm glad. Things are going to be ok. Now...I have to go get some food, a cold shower, my veggies from the CSA, and then back to painting.

I have to say though...I do wonder about Sansho Shima. I seem to have an inordiante number of challenges always popping up in my life. I am making efforts in my life to make my life what I want it to be. But I seem to consistently (for the last 2 years) be challenged by the most rediculous stuff. I mean..who does this happen to??? The people at the collection agency for the most part had never heard of this ever happening. Only one person said that it rarely happens..but it does happen. I really was the exception to the rule. It got fixed. But I don't know why life is so challenging all the mother fucking time! Sansho Shima is pretty much all that I can think of. (well that and the fact that life is hard for everyone.)