How often is it that we find ourselves 'spinning' ~ out of control on a path of emotional upset, leading to a place that we know will leave our heart most unsettled.
There is no resolution here.
And, there is no spiritual bliss.
What we've just done is repeated an old habit ~ we have reacted from a space of past hurt, anger, aggression...or general, 'missing-ness'
We have reacted from this place of profound emptiness.
In this way, we believe we are acting justly ~ pushing first, before the hurt settles in.
But, our actions...these reactions...only serve to reinforce those 'pieces of me' we most hope to resolve.
And the cycle goes on...
Unless, we pause...to determine what matters most of all.
Buddhist nun, Pema Chödrön, shared the following most beautiful story, of an American serviceman in Iraq, and the very moment his mind shifted perspective.
"A serviceman in Iraq told this story: He said it happened on a pretty typical day, when he had once again witnessed his fellow soldiers, people he loved, being blown up. And once again he and all the others in his division wanted revenge. When they located some Iraqi men who were possibly responsible for killing their friends, they went into the men’s darkened house, and because of their anger and being in such a claustrophobic situation where violence was the atmosphere they breathed, the soldiers acted out their frustration by beating up the men.
Then when they put a flashlight on their captives’ faces, they saw that one of them was only a young boy who had Down’s syndrome.
This American serviceman had a son with Down’s syndrome.
No need to tell you the rest of that story, is there?"
In the span of that one single moment, and with this simplest shift of perspective ~ even the angriest of hearts may find love.
Namaste, my most beautiful friends...
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