This morning I listened to a radio interview of a female rabbi who compared our various “selves” with the layers of the wooden Russian Matryoska dolls that nest together. What’s inside of that shiny lacquer and paint? The smallest doll, she suggested, was like our inner essence, often covered by various roles and responsibilities that we assume in life.
I think of that “still small place within” as a touchstone, a place to go to remember what’s most important. A place that can reliably settle the mind. I was reminded of this again yesterday as I sat for a few minutes in front of the woodstove, eyes closed. I could feel my head unclench, my breath steady itself. Slowly, a feeling of ease flooded my upper body, and my torso warmed up.
It was almost as if my inner essence, the smallest doll residing closest to my heart, had quietly stepped onto center stage and said, “hey, slow down, remember me. I’m here to help.”
Immediately I felt the disparity between the race I’d been running lately and my guiding values. Breath in, breath out. I thought about how my “inner marine” had been in charge—moving through “the list” without pausing to see if items on the list were aligned with how and what I really wanted to be doing.
How DO I wish to be moving through each day?
What practices can I focus on to support this intention?
- Pausing right in this moment and taking a few deep breaths.
- Remembering the power of keeping it simple.
- Sitting quietly for any period of time in the morning before starting the day.
I’ll leave you with an excerpt from The Wise Heart, and Jack Kornfield’s Meditation on Equanimity and Peace:
Breathing in, I calm my body.
Breathing out, I calm my mind.
May I learn to see the arising and passing of all things with equanimity and balance. May I be open and balanced and peaceful.
Best to you in the moment,
JG
Words to consider:
“The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, person and family history, belief systems, and often also political, nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you.” Eckhardt Tolle
Utterly Ourselves
It feels like a good way to begin the year, to refresh one’s awareness of the benevolence all around. It ties directly into a Spirituality and Health article I was reading this morning entitled “The Weight of Goodness.” What is the key to moving through the world, which is filled with poverty and oil spills and violence? Author Geri Larkin suggests that “It is through our ordinariness, our being completely and utterly who we already are, that we can shift the world’s negative energy.* Why? Because who we are is good. When we live our lives as best we can…we can create genuine and measurable positive changes in the world as it is.”
Last Sunday a good friend made an astute comment about my tendency to over-critique after a class or a workshop. She said “if you can let go of the need to be perfect, then you’ll be able to let go of the self-flagellation.” You are enough, just as you are. You are enough.
And then there’s the quote that I’ve kept on my desk since last October’s 50th birthday. “We grow neither better nor worse as we get old, but more like ourselves. (May L. Becker)
Okay, okay. I’m seeing a theme here, one that’s shaping up to be a guiding teaching for the year ahead: “Accept your humanness, know that you are inherently good, and know that you are enough.” Period. Whew.
How’s that sit with you?
Best to you in the new year,
Judy
* The Holy Teaching of the Vimalakirti