So, like many of you, I am consumed with what is going on in Japan, leaving me unbalanced, unsteady. Living in California, this tragedy has hit so close to home in so many ways. We have been shaken up, exposing lots of tenderness and rawness.
Instead of being in that rawness, that exposed feeling, we often work to hide or cover the sensation. This time, I am trying to remember the words of Pema Chödrön, and her talks about how this moment is the perfect teacher.
"Rather than indulge or reject our experience, we can somehow let the energy of emotion, the quality of what we're feeling, pierce us to the heart. This is easier said than done, but it's a noble way to live. It's definitely the path of compassion-- the path of cultivating human bravery and kindheartedness."
-- Pema Chödrön,
And that is just it. Moving "beyond hope and fear" (as she puts it) takes us on a trajectory right to the heart. And not just to our own hearts, but the heart of the matter. We uncover the roots of things.
It is uncomfortable, and yet it is the essence of dukkha, that sense of dissatisfaction with the way things are. Here is where the gifts of practice get you through. Our practice is our space to breathe into change, discord, uneasiness, and pain. It is a space held for us and our experience.
Our practice helps us become familiar with the rawness, and makes it okay for us to be tender in this moment.
Remembering that this moment is all we really have.

