Today has been an interesting day. I had an hour-long session with MM and learned information that I’m still rolling around in my brain.
As I re-read what I wrote, I was reminded of one of my favorite passages from the book Comfortable with Uncertainty by Pema Chodron, a Buddhist nun:
On the journey of the warrior-bodhisattva, the path goes down, not up, as if the mountain pointed pointed toward the earth instead of the sky. Instead of transcending the suffering of all creatures, we move toward turbulence and doubt whenever we can. We explore the reality and unpredictability of insecurity and pain, and we try not to push it away. If it takes years, if it takes lifetimes, we let it be as it is. At our own pace, without speed of aggression, we move down and down and down. With us move millions of others, our companions in awakening from fear. At the bottom we discover water, the healing water of bodhichitta. Bodhichitta is our heart — our wounded, softened heart. Right down there in the thick of things, we discover the love that will not die. This is the love of bodhichitta. It is gentle and warm; it is clear and sharp; it is open and spacious. The awakened heart of bodhichitta is the basic goodness of all beings.
I need to remember this quote more often, especially when I feel like some are using me as a doormat.
I need to remember this when I am so caught up in reacting to everything rather than letting it roll off me like raindrops. Because when I stop reacting, even if I am the only one who stops, it gives me the space to really look at what is going on and laugh at the hilarity, at the ridiculousness of what I see. It’s almost like being in the eye of a hurricane.
