“Instead of getting better and better at avoiding, learn to accept the present moment as if you had invited it. And work with it instead of against it. And making it your ally rather than your enemy.”
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I LOVE this quote. It perfectly fits my new blog http://freeandeasy.typepad.com. I hope you don’t mind if I use it? I’m also going to google this guy who I have never heard of.
I can see how it fits with getting ones life sorted in general, and if you add the possibility of karma that makes a lot of things easier to cope with, but how do you think it fits with issues like your newly acquired heart ache?
Sage
Well, the instruction suggests that the present is a doorway to enlightenment. Strong emotions that we tend to try to avoid are important opportunities for self-insight, growth and understanding the true nature of reality. So, what I was practicing this morning was trying to fully experience the heartache, feel it pulsating. taste its bittter sweetness, even hear it ring in my ears. Basically, find a way to move toward it versus away from it. What I gained this morning first was an understanding that it was indeed heartache versus a dozen other emotions that I nearly mistook it for. I also learned that I have to honor this pain as unique and another relationship can’t “make up” for it. I can find comfort from caring others but it can’t make up for that sense of loss. That’s what I took away from moving closer to my heartache.
I’ll also add that the above is really how Pema Chodron talks about abiding in the present moment and strong emotions. Also, I feel like I didn’t dwell in the heartache as long as I might have. I managed to have a great afternoon with my kids whereas it would have been just as easy for me to have sat and stewed for the rest of the day.