Real Change, What is involved in Knowing Ourselves and Letting Go?

We each possess simple qualities that we can nurture through meditation:  Precision, Gentleness, and the ability to Let Go.

The first question to ask, I think is,  "How am I standing in the way of those qualities?"     We feel less shut off when we see clearly "who we are and what we are doing." Know yourself, be honest, as we say in program.  Using mindfulness meditation,  we find out that we can open more into the world and that it is a much larger and fascinating world, now that we are not blocking our vision.

A sense of wonder can motivate us to embark on the Precision of "Knowing ourselves and becoming honest."

There is  one "innocent mistake,"  however,  that will keep us stuck in our own style of ignorance, unkindness and shut-downness.  Most of us are not encouraged to see ourselves clearly, with gentleness. So straightway, right out the starting gate to knowing ourselves,  we think we should try to be better than we are. 

Seeking to "improve ourselves" is an "innocent" misunderstanding that we share. I call it "self-seeking."

We can turn "self-seeking" around, correct it and turn on the light so it is all seen.  It is even OK to have some one ELSE show us the light. That way we can see one another's faces, for example. This is why some of us chose to do meditation in a Sangha, for  the power of face-to-face interactions, to heal us. 

If you do this work alone, only remember in this practice, that you will never be better than you are.  If you keep that desire, you are keeping a form of aggression towards yourself. No, in your anger or any other neuroses, is your wealth!  Throw out your neurosis and you lose your wisdom.  Instead we make friends with each foible, see it with precision, honesty and gentleness. No judgment and no justification.  

In meditation we see clearly our mind, our body our home situation, the job we have. We see how we react to things and people that we have in our lives. We see our emotions and thoughts as they are, in this moment.. in this room, where we sit. We work, in meditation, to cultivate  the qualities that will hel us to open ourselves to all our thoughts and emotions and to the people we see in the world.  We open our minds and hearts.

Anger, jealousy, fear or depression, we make friends with them. We do not suppress the anger. Neither do we run around saying, "I am right to be angry at these people."  Instead we learn how to acknowledge the feeling of anger, and our story around it, see who we are, and then  let it go. The storyline that supports the anger also goes.

(And of course, I must credit Pema Chodron again for setting the foundation for this Program insight.  I find she adds light and love to my program understanding and I continue to be motivated to adapt and share her insights with you. )