Hi A.B.!
Yes, it is easy to be philosophical about adversity when we are not
in the midst of it. On the same thread, someone quoted Buddhist
master Thich nat Hanh. The quote was very popular, & many
said they'd like to keep it pinned up where they could see it. Below is
the quote & my response, which received no replies. I felt it was important
to note that we don't always immediately have the capacity to be serene. We
needn't judge ourselves as spiritual flunkies for experiencing
a full range of emotions. While we don't need to cling to pain, for
a while we may need to let it be...trusting it's all grist for the mill
"Serenity is not freedom from the storm but being at peace during the storm."
Ginger's response:
"Yes, this is a lovely, poetic way to describe being present to what is- allowing, not resisting the Now, in Whatever form it presents.
And...if we find ourselves unable to accept the storm, and fear, not a sense of peace, comes up for us in the midst of it, we can have compassion for ourselves & accept that too. Then, we have still created a space for presence. We have accepted our unacceptance!" Ginger
Dear Ginger,
You have said something very important here. Accepting our unacceptance. It is a good ploy to keep going back to the first thing you can say "yes" to in the way of self-acceptance. It is a way of being loving to ourselves.
We are usually much too hard on ourselves. By going to the first thing you can say "yes" to you will make it clear to yourself, #1, in what ways you have been being negative, and #2, that you can turn a negative situation around. This way, no matter how negative you get on yourself you can keep accepting your own negativity and in so doing, recharge yourself from negative to positive. When you are in a positive mode that is much closer to love than the negative. We always want to head for the positive, for love, for acceptance, for life.
Saying "Yes" connects us. "Saying No" separates us. Your mind can get very tricky about semantics. The mind will say something like "but you have to say "no" to bad things, don't you? Not necessarily. Instead of saying "no" to something bad, you can do the loving switch and just say "yes" to something good. Just remember Joel Goldsmith's warning. You can't get to truth through the reasoning process. Which is another way of saying you can't perceive truth as an object. You can BE the truth, but you can't KNOW the truth. Truth and love are the same. You can't KNOW love. You can BE love by loving..
That's why the positive, loving path is always the direction to head. Another thing to remember, the tiniest baby step in the RIGHT direction turns you 180 degrees around from going in the negative direction! The tiniest positive baby step is more powerful than the most giant negative step. This is how redemption and recovery is always possible. A. B.
Yes, it is easy to be philosophical about adversity when we are not
in the midst of it. On the same thread, someone quoted Buddhist
master Thich nat Hanh. The quote was very popular, & many
said they'd like to keep it pinned up where they could see it. Below is
the quote & my response, which received no replies. I felt it was important
to note that we don't always immediately have the capacity to be serene. We
needn't judge ourselves as spiritual flunkies for experiencing
a full range of emotions. While we don't need to cling to pain, for
a while we may need to let it be...trusting it's all grist for the mill
"Serenity is not freedom from the storm but being at peace during the storm."
Ginger's response:
"Yes, this is a lovely, poetic way to describe being present to what is- allowing, not resisting the Now, in Whatever form it presents.
And...if we find ourselves unable to accept the storm, and fear, not a sense of peace, comes up for us in the midst of it, we can have compassion for ourselves & accept that too. Then, we have still created a space for presence. We have accepted our unacceptance!" Ginger
Dear Ginger,
You have said something very important here. Accepting our unacceptance. It is a good ploy to keep going back to the first thing you can say "yes" to in the way of self-acceptance. It is a way of being loving to ourselves.
We are usually much too hard on ourselves. By going to the first thing you can say "yes" to you will make it clear to yourself, #1, in what ways you have been being negative, and #2, that you can turn a negative situation around. This way, no matter how negative you get on yourself you can keep accepting your own negativity and in so doing, recharge yourself from negative to positive. When you are in a positive mode that is much closer to love than the negative. We always want to head for the positive, for love, for acceptance, for life.
Saying "Yes" connects us. "Saying No" separates us. Your mind can get very tricky about semantics. The mind will say something like "but you have to say "no" to bad things, don't you? Not necessarily. Instead of saying "no" to something bad, you can do the loving switch and just say "yes" to something good. Just remember Joel Goldsmith's warning. You can't get to truth through the reasoning process. Which is another way of saying you can't perceive truth as an object. You can BE the truth, but you can't KNOW the truth. Truth and love are the same. You can't KNOW love. You can BE love by loving..
That's why the positive, loving path is always the direction to head. Another thing to remember, the tiniest baby step in the RIGHT direction turns you 180 degrees around from going in the negative direction! The tiniest positive baby step is more powerful than the most giant negative step. This is how redemption and recovery is always possible. A. B.
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