Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Staying Open

Openness is the gateway for change.  I am always at the threshold of this doorway.  If I constrict myself, I prevent myself from receiving the fullness of change.  My task is to relax, to be in the moment, and to trust that goodness is always flowing toward me.  Change is the vehicle that moves us from one place to another.  We can choose to ride along smoothly and easily, or keep one foot on the brake pedal and impede our forward movement.  It is challenging to choose to befriend Change.  And yet, that is very much my current task.  Smile.  Change is good.
"Fundamentally, experiencing openness is having trust in the living quality of basic energy.  We develop the confidence to allow it to arise, to linger and then to pass on.  This energy is dynamic, ungraspable, always in a state of flux.  So our training is, first of all, noticing how we block the energy or freeze it, how we tense up our bodies and minds.  Then we train in softening, relaxing and opening to the energy without interpretations or judgments."       
                                                                            --Pema Chodron