Sometimes all we need is a shot of insight to pull us back into ourselves.

Reading Pema’s fine tuned words has been that oasis for me over the past few months.

Concise. Penetrating. Soul shaping.

Here is to healing yourself in any form that it may take. Here is to uneasiness, discomfort and dare I say pain. Here is to our shared humanity, our shared suffering and our attempt to sit with it again and again.

Taken from Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears by Pema Chödrön:

 “The sad part is that all we’re trying to do is not feel that underlying uneasiness. The sadder part is that we proceed in such a way that the uneasiness only gets worse. The message here is that the only way to ease our pain is to experience it fully. Learn to stay. Learn to stay with uneasiness, learn to stay with the tightening, learn to stay with the itch and urge of shenpa, so that the habitual chain reaction doesn’t continue to rule our lives, and the patterns that we consider unhelpful don’t keep getting stronger as the days and months and years go by.

Someone once sent me a bone-shaped dog tag that you could wear on a cord around your neck. Instead of a dog’s name, it said, ‘Sit. Stay. Heal.’ We can heal ourselves and the world by training in this way.

Once you see what you do, how you get hooked, and how you get swept away, it’s hard to be arrogant. This honest recognition softens you up, humbles you in the best sense. It also begins to give you confidence in your basic goodness. When we are not blinded by the intensity of our emotions, when we allow a bit of space, a chance for a gap, when we pause, we naturally know what to do. We begin, due to our own wisdom, to move toward letting go and fearlessness. Due to our own wisdom, we gradually stop strengthening habits that only bring more pain to the world.”

Let whatever moves you, move you toward your ‘basic goodness.’

Let your hardships be your greatest healers. Let your pain be your teacher. Learn to stay.

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Assist Ed: Dana Gornall/Ed: Sara Crolick