Forgiving life, and ourselves

london tree

The fundamental prejudice is some form of “This shouldn’t be happening”. This rejection of circumstances can be anything from “He shouldn’t have left me” to “Nobody loves me” to “I’m doomed. Even meditation doesn’t work for me”….. Eventually we just start to accept. Not only do we not dislike our circumstances, we don’t dislike our own states of mind, which is the key thing. We begin to think,  “Fortunately I don’t get it yet”. And if we forgive life for not being what we told it to be, or expected, or wished, or longed for it to be, we forgive ourselves for not being what we might have been also. And then we can be what we are, which is boundless.

John Tarrant, No. Nay. Never.

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Just three breaths

The simple practice of just three breaths can come as a relief. We ask the mind to rest a bit, to be completely still, just for three breaths. Because we do not have to count three breaths, we can enjoy them. When the three breaths are done, let the mind loose for a bit, then turn its full attention again to just three breaths. As the mind rests more and more in the present moment, it will naturally settle. Then, without effort,  we can be present for a few more, and then just a few more breaths, until we are able to sit in relaxed, open awareness.

Jan Chozen Bays, How to Train a Wild Elephant

Image taken from Earthways Yoga

Acknowledging gently

Most of us experience a life full of wonderful moments and difficult moments. But for many of us, even when we are most joyful, there is fear behind our joy. We fear that this moment will end, that we won’t get what we need, that we will lose what we love, or that we will not be safe.  We may think that if we ignore our fears, they’ll go away. But if we bury worries and anxieties in our consciousness, they continue to affect us and bring us more sorrow. We are very afraid of being powerless. But we have the power to look deeply at our fears, and then fear cannot control us. We can transform our fear. Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay. The first part of looking at our fear is just inviting it into our awareness without judgment. We just acknowledge gently that it is there. This brings a lot of relief already. Then, once our fear has calmed down, we can embrace it tenderly and look deeply into its roots, its sources. Understanding the origins of our anxieties and fears will help us let go of them. Is our fear coming from something that is happening right now or is it an old fear, a fear from when we were small that we’ve kept inside?   If you can look deep into your fear and have a clear vision of it, then you really can live a life that is worthwhile.

Thich Nhat Hahn

Curious at the moment of difficulty

CuriousCatThe meditation orientation is not about fixing pain or making it better. It’s about looking deeply into the nature of pain — making use of it in certain ways that might allow us to grow. In that growing, things will change, and we have the potential to make choices that will move us toward greater wisdom and compassion, including self-compassion, and thus toward freedom from suffering.

Jon Kabat Zinn, At Home in our Bodies

Beginning a journey

There are journeys we have begun that have brought us great inner riches and refinement; but we had to travel through dark valleys of difficulty and suffering. Had we known at the beginning what the journey would demand of us, we might never have set out. Yet the rewards and gifts became vital to who we are. Through the innocence of beginning we are often seduced into growth.… When the heart is ready for a fresh beginning, unforeseen things can emerge. And in a sense, this is exactly what a beginning does. It is an opening for surprises. Surrounding the intention and the act of beginning, there are always exciting possibilities. … beginnings have their own mind, and they invite and unveil new gifts and arrivals in one’s life. Beginnings are new horizons that want to be seen; … What is the new horizon in you that wants to be seen?

John O Donohue

Sunday Quote: Doing and Non-Doing

 

This thing we tell of can never be found by seeking,

yet only seekers find it.

Abu Yazid Al-Bistami