“Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both. Appreciating the gloriousness inspires us, encourages us, cheers us up, gives us a bigger perspective, energizes us. We feel connected. But if that's all that's happening, we get arrogant and start to look down on others, and there is a sense of making ourselves a big deal and being really serious about it, wanting it to be like that forever. The gloriousness becomes tinged by craving and addiction. On the other hand, wretchedness--life's painful aspect--softens us up considerably. Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person. When you are feeling a lot of grief, you can look right into somebody's eyes because you feel you haven't got anything to lose--you're just there. The wretchedness humbles us and softens us, but if we were only wretched, we would all just go down the tubes. We'd be so depressed, discouraged, and hopeless that we wouldn't have enough energy to eat an apple. Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us. They go together.”
~ Pema Chödrön
My dears, I must confess I have been just a bit under the weather these past few days ~ my mind distracted into a million swirling paths of 'what ifs' and 'what might have beens.'
I was thinking over my health, and the limitations I am currently experiencing....
I was thinking of my son, who will soon be stepping out into this world, fearless and full of dreams...and praying those dreams shall always be answered.
I was thinking over a few words recently spoken to me, and which had the affect of bringing a profound emptiness...
I was thinking of the pile of dirty dishes, still left towering in my sink...
I was thinking of that pile of dustiness in the farthest corner of the kitchen floor... and all of the clothes still left unfolded.
Our minds are sometimes just this way, engaged in this endless path of conversation bits and leading to nowhere in the end...
And I reached for my very first cup of morning decaf...that's when it happened, as I watched my most favorite mug slip from my hands and shatter to the ground.
Oh, my dears, we all have days just like these...the ones that leave us in a sniffling pile of brokenness, in the dustiest corner of our, as of yet, unswept kitchen floor.
And, as I gathered up these broken pieces...sniffling and carrying on...this most amazing thought washed over me.
That I, this simple fleck of stardust floating about in the vastness of this most amazing universe...had within me, this capacity to feel.
And suddenly, I realized ~ to have this much passion in our hearts, is the most beautiful aspect of our being.
My dears, to have this much passion in our hearts...is what truly makes this life so very much worth living.
In all of its pain and sorrow, and bumps and bruises...there is always a most brilliant magnificence...
That is, to experience this life...in it's most fullest sense... my dears, that is what makes this life so very much worth living.
To be this human, is the best part of our being.
Namaste, my most beautiful friends ~ and, may we all embrace our humanness this day.
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