Space

 

I don't have a source, but Pema Chödrön has given talks on that topic.

We don't know anything.

"Letting there be room for Not Knowing is the most important thing of all. When there’s a big disappointment, we don’t know if that’s the end of the story. It may just be the beginning of a great adventure. Life is like that. We don’t know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don’t know."  ~Pema Chödrön

On the other hand…

"On the other hand, you could just relax and realize that, behind all the worry, complaint and disapproval that goes on in your mind, the sun is always coming up in the morning, moving across the sky, and going down in the evening. The birds are always out there collecting their food and making their nests and flying across the sky. The grass is always being blown by the wind or standing still. Food and flowers and trees are growing out of the earth. There’s enormous richness. You could envelop your passion for life and your curiosity and your interest. You could connect with your joyfulness. You could start right now."  ~Pema Chodron, excerpted from The Wisdom of No Escape ©2017

Forever In Flux

"As human beings we share a tendency to scramble for certainty whenever we realize that everything around us is in flux. In difficult times the stress of trying to find solid ground-- something predictable to stand on-- seems to intensify. But in truth, the very nature of our existence is forever in flux. Everything keeps changing, whether we’re aware of it or not."  ~Pema Chödron

There's a popular political movement based on recreating the past.  They want to bring back 20^th century jobs, 20^th century industries, 20^th centuries systems and mores.

I understand the appeal.

But it won't work.

Two Quotes about Circles

"People often say, ‘Meditation is all very well, but what does it have to do with my life?’ What it has to do with your life is that perhaps through this simple practice of paying attention – giving loving-kindness to your speech and your actions and the movements of your mind – you begin to realize that you’re always standing in the middle of a sacred circle, and that’s your whole life. This room is not the sacred circle. Wherever you go for the rest of your life, you’re always in the middle of the universe and the circle is always around you. Everyone who walks up to you has entered that sacred space, and it’s not an accident. Whatever comes into the space is there to teach you."  ~Pema Chödron (via)

•

"Remember: no matter where you go, there you are."  ~Buckaroo Banzai (via)

Curiouser

In every issue, the magazine The Lion's Roar asks the question, "What's the most important Buddhist teaching to proclaim in today's troubled world?" I liked this answer:

"Two words, from Pema Chödrön: 'Be Curious.' Rather than being judgemental, fearful, angry, hurt, annoyed, or even complimented, just be curious. Those two words have brought me more peace than pretty much anything." ~Jo Virgil, Austin, Texas

An Open Doorway

Excerpted from the September 2015 issue of Shambhala Sun:

Three Conscious Breaths

Pema Chödrön teaches us a simple technique we can use anytime we need a break from our habitual patterns.

Our habits are strong, so a certain discipline is required to step outside our cocoon and receive the magic of our surroundings.  Pause practice-- taking three conscious breaths at any moment when we notice that we are stuck-- is a simple but powerful practice that each of us can do at any given moment.

Pause practice can transform each day of your life.  It creates an open doorway to the sacredness of the place in which you find yourself.  The vastness, stillness, and magic of the place will dawn upon you, if you let your mind relax and drop for just a few breaths the story line you are working so hard to maintain.  If you pause just long enough, you can reconnect with exactly where you are, with the immediacy of your experience.

When you are waking up in the morning and you aren't even out of bed yet, even if you are running late, you could just look out and drop the story line and take three conscious breaths.  Just be where you are!  When you are washing up, or making your coffee or tea, or brushing your teeth, just create a gap in your discursive mind.  Take three conscious breaths.  Just pause.  Let it be a contrast to being all caught up.  Let it be like popping a bubble.  Let it be just a moment in time, and then go on.

Maybe you are on your way to whatever you need to do for the day.  You are in your car, or on the bus, or standing in line.  But you can still create that gap by taking three conscious breaths and being right there with the immediacy of your experience, right there with whatever you are seeing, with whatever you are doing, with whatever you are feeling.