You suppose you are the trouble
But you are the cure
You suppose that you are the lock on the door
But you are the key that opens it
It’s too bad that you want to be someone else
You don’t see your own face, your own beauty
Yet, no face is more beautiful than yours.
~Rumi
Start where you are. How could you start anywhere else?
Don’t worry yourself with sweeping changes. No need to be overwhelmed by all the “work” there is to do.
All we need to do is begin with what is right here, right in this moment. The terror, shame, regret, disappointment. The mess you might be in. A bit of tension somewhere in your chest. Very simple, just start where you are.
Befriend this Moment
Can we make friends with the reality of this moment? Can we let whatever is here drop into the cave of our heart, to be held like a long-lost child. Take the painful feeling, the sad story, the inner fight, and surrender it into the only place of sanity – your precious, loving heart. Your heart is limitless, hugely capable of receiving all of it.
Discover What You Are Resisting
What do you resist? What do you ignore with busyness, drinking, blaming, drama? What arises the moment before you pick up the phone, grab some cookies, or turn on your ipod? What tender feeling is tapping you on the shoulder, begging for your kind embrace, your “yes?” Tell the truth to yourself.
Resistance is a form of inner violence. We make our own experiences an enemy out of pain and fear. We divide ourselves up, then wonder why the anxiety won’t go away, why we live in confusion, why life seems flat.
Look at the suffering in the world! It all originates in the unwillingness to meet ourselves fully. All out war and relationship strife, depleting the earth’s resources and the arrogance of thinking we are right – no difference. My heart breaks over and over as I let it in.
The suffering is even more bittersweet because the solution to problems and dilemmas is closer than close. We heal inner division by allowing everything in. So simple. We stop the effort of pushing away and all is seen effortlessly. The walls we construct fall to pieces, bit by bit. We let ourselves unravel rather than continuing to struggle.
The Search Ends When We Look Within
Finally, with great relief, the insight dawns. You were looking in the wrong place! All answers are revealed when we stop waiting for things to change. We move our attention from the outer to the inner. We welcome fragments of feelings and physical sensations. We willingly create the space for whatever wants to come. We realize the sanity of being a kind and receptive host.
Maybe where you are is: I can’t, it’s too much, I’ll lose it. Then this is your doorway. Welcome in the fear and inflexibility, the “no.” Do not think you need to be different than you are. Whatever is your experience in this moment is the experience to embrace. Nothing to figure out, nothing to do but open with compassion to this that is here right now.
The only moment we concern ourselves with is this one, as there is no other present moment. We simply open to it. Often, we find it’s not nearly as hard as we thought. We might cry or shake, then eventually the energy that has been tied up moves through. We are left peaceful, wondrous, with so much tenderness toward everyone and everything.
Don’t let fear deter you. Right now, in this moment, start where you are. And in the next moment, start again. Simply open lovingly in each moment, and all is revealed.
How do you experience resistance? What happens when you allow yourself to open? I’d love to hear…
image credit:Â tibchris
