Remembering. I'm deliberating how to begin this post. A beautifully potent topic of emotional and spiritual depth, I think I'll simply plunge into it.
Yesterday I was on the bus, and the gent I sat beside moved away from me, curled into himself. He melted my heart. As a loving person, I know this act was not personal. I sent him love and noticed via peripheral vision that he'd fallen asleep. This is an example of something that happens every day. We encounter strangers and their behaviour provides information that causes the mind to tell a story. I chose to remember who I am and to remember who he is: love. Part of the same human family. Since my experience in the thrift store 2 posts ago I'm practicing this more conscientiously.
What I'm learning is that there are different kinds of remembering. There's physical remembering, of past physical pain and sensation. There's mental remembering which is skewed since it is our personal version of the memory, likely blended with the emotions of the present moment. Then there's embodied remembering, a clear, confident inner knowingness. I'd like to address and explore the latter.
In my previous post, I quoted Mother Teresa, "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to one another." I often find myself wondering, quietly and aloud, but WHY have we forgotten? I look at another human and I see the similarities more than the differences. I step into judgment and cannot fathom why people hate, are unkind, hurt, and do worse than that to one another. How did this happen? How COULD this happen?
Deep breath. Can I let that judgment go instead of energizing it? Yes. And if the judgment resurfaces, can I just let it float without getting involved? Yes. Moving along...
How can I be more compassionate? It's so simple and it's so powerful. Choose to love, love, love, and expand that love. Yes it's on brand for me to say this AND it's true. In my mind, there aren't many things that are truer.
Choosing to operate from a heart-centered space has the potential to heal and dissolve boundaries and fears. It takes courage to surrender to this and yet, being here allows us to stop struggling to understand. What if we don't actually need to understand? What if the statement Marianne Williamson made, "just as we will surely die without oxygen, so shall we die without love" was true?
In a world where we are quick to point fingers and blame others for the "problems" we encounter, what if it wasn't about that? I don't think it's about fault and blame or who's going to clean this up.
This is my life. Is self-righteousness more precious to me than happiness? Absolutely not. True happiness is a state that emanates from within when we are connected, aligned, loving towards ourselves.
Attachment to being correct hurts me so it hurts you. What I do to me impacts others, and this is beautifully illustrated in the phrase from the wisdom tradition of the Maya, In Lak'ech Ala K'in. I am another yourself. In reference to oneness, this also means "I am you and you are me."
It's up to you to choose, and the choice to remember is always there. Always available. Giving the mind less to puzzle over and analyze allows you to instead be in a loving, expansive creative space. How do you want to impact others?
Food for thought, true nourishment. Love sweet love.
