“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.”
Mother Teresa
as the rest of my life unfolds, i find that i still encounter many places that scare me. i don't have all the answers, but i do find that i feel comforted when i rely on a higher power. my impression of higher power has morphed with time. i certainly don't think of hp now in the same way i did when i first got clean, nor before i stopped using. i think the following describes a bit how i feel about higher power at this time of my life. this is a book recommendation really. i find myself drifting towards buddhist philosophy as it allows space for my own vision and room for my skepticism. i can't say that i have begun to embrace the places that scare me, but it is an ideal i am working toward. when i can traverse my fears knowingly, i seem to come out on the other side a bit more grounded and maybe even enriched. maybe that has to do with not being alone.
The Places That Scare You by Pema Chodron
A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times
In The Places That Scare You, Pema Chödrön continues the teachings of When Things Fall Apart, showing how at the core of the most painful experiences lie the seeds of spiritual awakening. Here she presents key teachings on recognizing and cultivating the soft spot that is the gateway to compassion and open-heartedness.
In this book she discusses:
The four great catalysts of awakening, and how to integrate them into our lives
Why the soft spot is necessary for spiritual awakening
The basic goodness that is inherently ours
How the three noble principles can enrich everything we do
The maitri meditation that multiplies love
Why an attitude of don't know can be wiser than the world's greatest spiritual teachings
How to keep the heart open with equal fearlessness to both heartache and delight
2 comments:
Maybe we should write a comic anti-self-help book: "Why you are alone and always will be" and a sequel, "How to live in fear and still pay the rent."
It might be perversely therapeutic and funny as hell.
All my life, I have heard the notion that great difficulty is the necessary precursor to the inner strength that turns ordinary people into extraordinary people. It seemed like "blah blah blah" until I found it to be true in my own life.
Not that I am some extraordinary person. But having to deal with people who anonymously harass my partner and me (the "soft spot" the writer refers to), I have discovered my choices are to give in to fear and despair, or, to dig DEEP and overcome.
And yet I never thought I actually could overcome something as hateful as this. But not only have i overcome it --- the harassment itself has been the very source of my spiritual growth.
All of which is, to me, a lesson in taking life literally. These ironic statements about life's ultimate realities are not cliches -- they are bonafide realities to wrap our heads around and use to flourish!
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