You know your cultivation is working when . . .
you laugh!
Laughter! Surely, before Buddhism that would not have been your answer.
Imagine the following in your kitchen:
Wanting to add another smidgen of almond milk to a dish, you vigorously shake the bottle. And with that, the lid flies off. You immediately remember that after the last pour you did not cap it properly. The loosely placed cap cannot hold back the excited milk. Liberated at last from its plastic prison, the milk jubilantly makes a run for it! And in the briefest instant of time imaginable, you have almond milk on you, your clothes, the counter, and both upper and lower cabinets. Also, the milk’s mad dash for freedom has landed it on an impressively extensive area of the kitchen floor (washed the day before) and, finally, down the front of the stove across the floor.
Surveying the scene, you do the only logical thing—you laugh. It’s heartening that test moments like these assure us that—yes—those years of cultivation are indeed paying off.