As my heart aches in this moment, it’s an invitation to strengthen my compassion muscles- for myself and others; my patience muscles; my faith muscles; my mindfulness muscles; my forgiveness muscles. To re-remember there is an Awareness that can hold all my suffering and all my joys. That I can rest in this Awareness, feel my breath here, Love and be Loved here regardless of what is going on or how skillful I am in any given moment.
This practice of Loving fully requires me to be with my pain and suffering. To tend to it. To ride the waves of discomfort and uncertainty without panicking. To open to it, get know its texture, its stories, the ways it triggers more suffering. To meet it with compassion until space around it opens up and I can let the experience tenderize me, and burn off my attachments to ways of being in the world that are no longer useful, allow insight and wisdom to emerge.
The fruits of practice continue to be feeling this undercurrent of joy and well-being, even on my worst days. I walk this path not just for me, but for my elders, teachers, ancestors. In some way my commitment to Love, to not be defined by my pain and fears or the fears of others, even my Joy is a way I can honor their lives, struggles, impact,and sacrifices. Maybe it’s even redemptive. At the very least it’s my deepest expression of gratitude.
~Sharon Shelton
nobody knows…..and that is the only truth…..except for your own deeply unearthed potential……..
inquiry for today~ may you live from your wise self today…..your reckless love….your uninhabited heartspace……
Here’s the truth: You are exactly what God had in mind when God made you, oh nobly born.
~Father Greg Boyle
