Friday, January 27, 2006

Inner stability

I found myself exploring the Gratefulness.org site again this morning and found something very moving in the questions and answers section. The question had to do with the inner pain a woman was experiencing after her boyfriend broke up with her. Patricia Carlson gives the answer and here's how she ends it:
And finally, you can be grateful for your dreams. Who says that they depended on this relationship to take form? If you dreamed of creativity or companionship or continuity, you can find them in new and unexpected ways: through volunteering to work with a needy child or elder, through artistic self-expression, through exploring a hobby or profession that attracts you, through holding steady in your established friendships. Most of all, you can seek the source of your dreams: the Peace “which passes understanding” and dwells within you. You can come to recognize it more and more fully and to live from an inner stability that cannot be shaken nor taken away from you. Then each time you go through a major change – and life is full of them, both joyful and sorrowful! – you will have a reference point in which to rest, observe, and respond in the ways that best benefit you and those around you.

Engaging in a committed meditative practice will assuredly give us that "inner stability that cannot be shaken or taken away." It doesn't mean we won't feel pain when we go through difficult times. It does mean that we can learn to accept our situation with equanimity until the pain subsides.

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