A Wider Focus
Feb. 20th, 2011 12:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cedar_groveFrom The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.
In actuality, misery is a moment of suffering allowed to become everything. So, when feeling miserable, we must look wider than what hurts. When feeling a splinter, we must, while trying to remove it, remember there is a body that is not splinter, and a spirit that is not splinter and a world that is not splinter.
Easier said than done, no?
For a long time, I feel as if I've been surviving on trying to do this, to look beyond the 'hurting;' to find the silver lining to the cloud, and it's difficult. After a while I can't help but get to the end of my rope. At such times it's not so easy to remember that exists a world outside my own personal pain, whether that pain is physical, emotional or spiritual.
Today, however, I feel able to do that. Here is a thought that is running through my head (and through my heart) as I read the words of today's meditation:
The backs of my hands hurt.
They hurt because one of the rats, (Beckett), when being fed tries to keep hold of your hand that had the food in it, and ratties have sharp little nails. So I have lots of scratches on the backs of my hand, and they hurt. But... the hurt is because I'm here with the rats. I can play with them, love on them... interact with them. This is a good thing. When I'm not here, I miss them. So yeah, my hands hurt, but I'm here with them at least. It's a chain of cause and effect and wider effect.
That's a simple example, there are others I could have given: saying goodnight on the telephone, for example. The world outside me goes on, and will bring another day when I am able to speak with the woman I love... the goodnight is only a temporary separation... within a greater separation, but even that will end.
My glass has to be half full, or else I'd not be able to cope, but that... sometimes, is a heavy burden. A glass is much lighter when it's half empty - which is a bit of a paradox really, because you'd think things were easier to deal with with a light, and not a heavy heart, wouldn't you?
If peace comes from seeing the whole,
then misery stems from a loss of perspective.
In actuality, misery is a moment of suffering allowed to become everything. So, when feeling miserable, we must look wider than what hurts. When feeling a splinter, we must, while trying to remove it, remember there is a body that is not splinter, and a spirit that is not splinter and a world that is not splinter.
Easier said than done, no?
For a long time, I feel as if I've been surviving on trying to do this, to look beyond the 'hurting;' to find the silver lining to the cloud, and it's difficult. After a while I can't help but get to the end of my rope. At such times it's not so easy to remember that exists a world outside my own personal pain, whether that pain is physical, emotional or spiritual.
Today, however, I feel able to do that. Here is a thought that is running through my head (and through my heart) as I read the words of today's meditation:
The backs of my hands hurt.
They hurt because one of the rats, (Beckett), when being fed tries to keep hold of your hand that had the food in it, and ratties have sharp little nails. So I have lots of scratches on the backs of my hand, and they hurt. But... the hurt is because I'm here with the rats. I can play with them, love on them... interact with them. This is a good thing. When I'm not here, I miss them. So yeah, my hands hurt, but I'm here with them at least. It's a chain of cause and effect and wider effect.
That's a simple example, there are others I could have given: saying goodnight on the telephone, for example. The world outside me goes on, and will bring another day when I am able to speak with the woman I love... the goodnight is only a temporary separation... within a greater separation, but even that will end.
My glass has to be half full, or else I'd not be able to cope, but that... sometimes, is a heavy burden. A glass is much lighter when it's half empty - which is a bit of a paradox really, because you'd think things were easier to deal with with a light, and not a heavy heart, wouldn't you?
