musings and adventures along the path
From Pema Chodron’s Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change:
Heartache and Joy
The other morning I woke up worrying about a dear friend’s well-being. I felt it as an ache in my heart. When I got up and looked out my window, I saw such beauty that it stopped my mind. I just stood there with the heartbreak of my friend’s condition and saw trees heavy with fresh snow, a sky that was purple-blue, and a soft mist that covered the valley, turning the world into a vision of the Pure Land. Just then, a flock of yellow birds landed on the fence and looked at me, increasing my wonder further still.
I realized then what it means to hold pain in my heart and simultaneously be deeply touched by the power and magic of the world. Life doesn’t have to be one way or the other. We don’t have to jump back and forth. We can live beautifully with whatever comes—heartache and joy, success and failure, instability and change.
So many of you tuned in to the last post I thought I’d share some of the resources I use and find helpful to remind myself about including all the parts, all the thoughts, all the feels. To get us going, the classic poem by Rumi:
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Resources:
* Jack Kornfield podcast
* Tara Brach podcast
*Pema Chodron podcast
* Eckhart Tolle anything
* Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change, Pema Chodron
* The Gifts of Imperfection, Brene Brown, Ph.D.
* Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha, Tara Brach
And of course anything that helps keep you grounded in the moment. Getting in nature, movement, meditation, breathwork, chanting, art, writing, journaling…….
To our wild magic lives,
Deborah Fay
www.deborah-fay.com
deborahfay6@gmail.com
p.s. Check out the brand new Love Cards available now! Very limited first run, don’t tarry!
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