February Blessings
I invite you to take a moment to consider your deepest and most trustworthy beliefs. What can you put your faith in when life gets dark?
I ask this because, life can be hard, things happen. And at one time or another, we may find ourselves living inside a situation where we don't have any answers.
We are lost in the mystery of how things will or will not turn out.
A difficult situation, a health challenge, or a mood grabs hold of us and won't let go, lasting much longer than we feel equipped to cope with, or those moments when we feel we have exhausted all reserves for hope and positivity.
What do you turn to?
Recently in our mindfulness practice group, An Awaken Heart, we have been exploring one of the core understanding in mindfulness - within each human being there is a fundamental goodness.
For some, this may feel like a stretch. With the division and often hatefulness going on in our world, perhaps this idea feels nice, but.....
However, if we dig into the word goodness it begins to point us to a valuable perspective, and that is, it points to a deep sense of belonging to something much greater than the ego's perspective of I, me and mine.
It offers the possibility and courage to open to the darkness and unknown to retrieve a sense of belonging to something much broader, kinder, and more trustworthy.
For many of us, mindfulness is a reliable, trustworthy resource to access this greater sense of belonging. Here's why-
When I am suffering, triggered by this or that, and I feel myself contracted and constricted by the fear of what may be, AND I REMEMBER...
I REMEMBER to turn towards rather than push away by PAUSING, BEING STILL AND BEFRIENDING the discord/discomfort swirling around inside me, awareness widens.
Otherwise, difficult feelings or situations I push away as unwanted or unwelcome tend to get buried OR lead to unhelpful, defensive strategies that tend to create more suffering.They fuel my mind with repetitive circular, often fear based thoughts and conversations.
When I can remember to turn towards not away from this discomfort, reliably I find more space to just BE WITH what is true in the moment. This hurts. This upsets me. I am scared...sad...angry...leaning into whatever is right there.
With this pausing, slowly but surely, I find mindful awareness allows me to be able to acknowledge and appreciate the discomfort as a guide to what needs to be soothed, what needs TLC. A calming presence slowly builds from which I am then able to reconnect to a broader more integrated perspective to move forward, and more often than not, I am restored with a sense of peace, and new resources and next steps are there for me to see.
Whispering THIS BELONGS has been a useful mantra to help me lay out this kind of mindful welcome mat.
Mother Theresa speaks to this idea this way--
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten
that we belong to each other
Carl Jung speaks to it this way
(this tendency we all have of pushing away and burying what feels uncomfortable and unwanted)
Suffering arises from the unseen, unfelt parts of ourselves
And then, there is this from Tara Brach
There is a sacred loving awareness that shines though all of life
Each of us has the potential
to perceive this loving awareness
to discover it from our own beingness
and live by that awareness
I have found mindfulness practice to be a reliable North Star to help me reconnect with a greater good inside and outside of me.
May you always find something valuable to enhance your wellbeing at East and West of the River Wellness.
With grace and gratitude,
Robin
