Sunday, August 03, 2008

The perfect teacher

Once again, I want to emphasize that becoming meditators does not mean we will never experience difficult feelings again. It means, rather, that we will learn to relate to those feelings differently than we did before:

Feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we're holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we'd rather collapse and back away. They're like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we're stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it's with us wherever we are.

Pema Chödrön in When Things Fall Apart

3 comments:

  1. Oh, Lord, Ellie! I popped in tonight in the hopes that you'd posted something that would make me feel better. This one's gonna take a little sitting with -- I know, that's your point.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So good and to the point, as Kate writes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, today I re-read your post from a few days ago, on silence, and the quotation from Rumi. It helped a lot. Thanks, Ellie.

    ReplyDelete

New policy: Anonymous posts must be signed or they will be deleted. Pick a name, any name (it could be Paperclip or Doorknob), but identify yourself in some way. Thank you.