Accepting the natural unfolding of life, we learn to be present with what is, to let go of our innumerable agendas, & to relinquish our determination that life conform to our will. Changing our relationship to the attachments we accumulate in life, & modifying the habits of resistance we meet in the processs, are formidable challenges, but the insight we gain in the effort can be transformative. We have no control over the way life unfolds. When we accept life as it is, with an open gentle spirit, we are able to taste what Pema Chodron calls ‘the wisom of no escape.’……..John Greer
this is why we pray & meditate…to create space for the light to sift through…to ease the grasping….to unravel possibilities never before thought of…to coax open instead of hammering open….to find what you love & then to really know it & then to allow it to be there for you….for me, it’s the sea…the place to be when there’s no escape….to fill the well & remember expansiveness….
If God is the sculptor, our practice is like a chisel that works effectively & patiently to remove stone. Just as the progress of chiseling, brushing, & blowing away debris & dust is not by way of acquisition, the way an assembly of bricks & mortar acquires us a building, so the practice of contemplation does not acquire for us some thing. Contemplative practice proceeds by way of the engaged receptivity of release, of prying loose, of letting go of the need to have our life circumstances be a certain way in order for us to live or pray or be deeply happy……Martin Laird
challenges show us new ways of being….our brains become a little looser after being undone by fear & resistance if we just say, ‘ok, I have had enough’….the clinging eases…the inexplicable mysteries all seem to carry ripe & raw paradoxes….use them…
The mind of no clinging is open & vast.
It is receptive to everything,
but holds on to nothing.
……Joseph Goldstein
I stand beneath the sky and realize – I am the moon, I am the sun, I am the stars. I am not apart from them, they are a part of all That I am…
Beauteous…..you just succeeded in softening boundaries made through eons of time….a gift….thank you g.f.s…
My life just turned on it’s head and the only way I have stayed calm is to openly accept and graciously roll through. The opportunities that are now presenting themselves, I would not have thought of before…everything is exactly as it is meant…thanks for this post. Very timely in my case IB x
Wishing you the courage to lift you out to the beauty…..love your grace shining through…..Many Blessings Jane…..
And so we swing back and forth, which is necessary to keep the momentum of our lives going forward, I think.
Astute reflection……something about the ‘prying loose’ that speaks to cycles…..thanks granbee….love & grace…..