Widening the circle
“How we carry what has gone wrong for us is essential to being at home in ourselves, and present to the world with all of its failings”
—Krita Tippett
In meditation, we talk about this idea of the 2 wings: the wing of mindfulness and the wing of compassion. The first wing is related to when we become aware. When we hold the space to notice. We allow ourselves to connect with what’s happening at the present moment. We notice the thinking, the grasping, the doing, we notice life unfolding around us and within us.
The second wing is the ability to hold onto what’s happening with compassion. Can I allow myself to be with what’s happening right now? Without judgment and identification with an open kind heart.
Meditation is the practice and life is the field where we get to explore from our time exercising on the cushion (or chair or bed or wherever you like to meditate).
How would look like to bring this idea of the 2 wings from meditation to life? How can we apply this idea on a regular basis?
First, we welcome the mindfulness wing. We bring the space and awareness to notice. How would it be to be more connected with what’s happening at this very moment? How is your coffee tasting in the morning? How is the sun setting? How is your breathing throughout the day? How are your reactions to your closest ones? Can you notice the grasping for the thinking and the doing? Mindfulness allows us the space to notice without identification. You get to be more intimate with what’s happening outside and inside of yourself.
Then, we bring the compassion wing. When we notice what’s going on around us with more awareness, can we do it from a open soft heart? Can we do it from a place of less judgment?
We have an inclination for judgment, hatred, shame as a place to go when we are resisting, when we are controlling, “I’m too this…” or “you are too this..”. When we meet what's happening with a compassionate heart, we dissolve what’s in the way, preventing us to move forward, to make the scary decision, to deal with the conflictive person. We dissolve the very things we are holding on to: judgments, hatred, control, shame towards ourselves and others, to meet the situation as it is.
Like, meditation, this is a lifelong journey practice, we are widening the circle, we are including attention, awareness, kindness, patience, softness and acceptance rather than excluding it. This is not a race where we are out there carrying numbers on our shirts, this is your very own process, a non judged compassionate one moment at a time.
With love,
Mariana