One of the things we learn through meditation is how to sit with change. Thoughts arise and float away. Aches and pains arise, and then disappear when we release the discomfort and come back to the breath. Nothing is permanent.
Accepting impermanence, off the cushion, we're able to step back from conversations (with ourselves or others) and situations and breathe into the fact that they aren't permanent either. Even if you're stuck in traffic on I-4 at rush hour and it feels that way. We come back to the breath, and observe as the emotions we're holding release, and the situation becomes fluid. It does that, even if we try to hold on to it.
Accepting impermanence off the cushion—that is, that impermanence is the state whether we're meditating or not—we then can recognize that uncertainty is a part of impermanence.
Accepting that uncertainty is part of impermanence, we can accept it as part of the dharma—the practice off the cushion—and we can ease into NOT having to have a road map for every thing we're doing. We can accept that there's this "yes, do this" from Divine Source, and that we may not know every bit of how it's going to play out just now.
Showing posts with label practice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label practice. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Accepting Power
So what happens when we are told we CAN do something?
A lot of people react more positively to negative attention: that is, tell them they cannot do something and they'll try everything they can think of, and then invent more ways, to prove you wrong. Right now, that's not who (or what) I'm talking about. I'm talking about those times you, in meditation, contemplation, or prayer, get a resounding "yes," and then proceed to prove the Divine wrong.
This happens less when we're looking for an answer to a question we can—and probably already have—logically answer, and more when we're being asked to break out of our current paradigm and shift into someone we don't think we've ever been before: a healer, a leader, a teacher (without a lesson plan), an artist (a writer!) who changes lives and changes reality. It's not necessarily a question of self-esteem, although it certainly can be. I think it's deeper than that: it's the idea that we don't think we're anyone special or significant and that making those kinds of changes requires that we be so.
Again, this may not be an issue of self-esteem: you may consider yourself absolutely brilliant at any number of things except this one thing you've been called to. So when you feel that yearning to do something, you reject the first things that come to mind because they're not practical, or you think you're not psychic enough, or trained enough, or have enough training, or enough spiritual practice, or whatever. And when you meditate, you hear "this is right," and then immediately react with "I'm making this up." (I am the queen of thinking I've made stuff up, so I know whereof I write.)
But this week, we're practicing acceptance. Don't bother trying to talk yourself into it. Just accept it. Now what?
A lot of people react more positively to negative attention: that is, tell them they cannot do something and they'll try everything they can think of, and then invent more ways, to prove you wrong. Right now, that's not who (or what) I'm talking about. I'm talking about those times you, in meditation, contemplation, or prayer, get a resounding "yes," and then proceed to prove the Divine wrong.
This happens less when we're looking for an answer to a question we can—and probably already have—logically answer, and more when we're being asked to break out of our current paradigm and shift into someone we don't think we've ever been before: a healer, a leader, a teacher (without a lesson plan), an artist (a writer!) who changes lives and changes reality. It's not necessarily a question of self-esteem, although it certainly can be. I think it's deeper than that: it's the idea that we don't think we're anyone special or significant and that making those kinds of changes requires that we be so.
Again, this may not be an issue of self-esteem: you may consider yourself absolutely brilliant at any number of things except this one thing you've been called to. So when you feel that yearning to do something, you reject the first things that come to mind because they're not practical, or you think you're not psychic enough, or trained enough, or have enough training, or enough spiritual practice, or whatever. And when you meditate, you hear "this is right," and then immediately react with "I'm making this up." (I am the queen of thinking I've made stuff up, so I know whereof I write.)
But this week, we're practicing acceptance. Don't bother trying to talk yourself into it. Just accept it. Now what?
Monday, September 5, 2011
This week's practice: acceptance
Note: scroll down to Sept. 2 post for upcoming events
It seems like a lot of the discussion around the idea of "acceptance" focuses on accepting the negative: obstacles, "no," etc. The idea in most people's minds seems to be that we need help going with the flow when it (the flow) isn't going the way of our expectations. Which is often true.
But that's not what I'm talking about here—or at least, not entirely.
What about accepting what we say we want, but aren't at all sure we can have (or deserve to have)?
When I was teaching Practical Magic (visualization class), I would tell my students that my first rule of manifestation was to be careful what you ask for, because you ARE going to get it. The tricky part is recognizing it.
One of the challenges with accepting a "yes" is that it doesn't always fit our expectations, although that's not always because we made assumptions that didn't play out. More often, I think, it's because we never really thought it would happen, and we aren't prepared.
This week's posts will all be about acceptance, so feel free to weigh in with comments here or on the Facebook page whenever you like (www.facebook.com/ConsciousSanity).
It seems like a lot of the discussion around the idea of "acceptance" focuses on accepting the negative: obstacles, "no," etc. The idea in most people's minds seems to be that we need help going with the flow when it (the flow) isn't going the way of our expectations. Which is often true.
But that's not what I'm talking about here—or at least, not entirely.
What about accepting what we say we want, but aren't at all sure we can have (or deserve to have)?
When I was teaching Practical Magic (visualization class), I would tell my students that my first rule of manifestation was to be careful what you ask for, because you ARE going to get it. The tricky part is recognizing it.
One of the challenges with accepting a "yes" is that it doesn't always fit our expectations, although that's not always because we made assumptions that didn't play out. More often, I think, it's because we never really thought it would happen, and we aren't prepared.
This week's posts will all be about acceptance, so feel free to weigh in with comments here or on the Facebook page whenever you like (www.facebook.com/ConsciousSanity).
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