Open Up to the World

 

02.18.2022 OPEN UP TO THE WORLD Pema Chödrön teaches that if we just open ourselves up to the world — leave a gap in our storyline, take a pause from our thoughts — we can see more, hear more, taste and feel more. Of course, as she explained in a conversation with k.d. lang and Tami Simon, the reason why we stay cocooned in our head, the reason why we aren’t open, is because we’re trying to protect ourselves from pain. “Once you open, you’re open to the whole thing — both the sorrow and the beauty,” she said. “This does require courage — to allow yourself to feel what you feel and be with yourself. But it connects you with humanity; you realize your interconnectedness with other people. It’s a whole different experience of being alive.” I remember when I was expecting my first child. For months, everyone was constantly telling me what to expect: more pain in labor than I’d ever felt in my entire life, then sleep deprivation, hormonal upheaval, loss of freedom, and loss of self, but also unimaginably powerful love and limitless joy. Some of what my doctors, friends, and family had to say was helpful, but more helpful were Pema’s teachings — her reminder not to get clogged up with expectations. Moment by moment, the best thing we can ever do is to live our experience — whatever it is, whether it’s giving birth to a perfect baby girl or facing a bitter disappointment. If, like me, you find Pema’s teachings helpful, be sure to check out our new special publication, The Wisdom of Pema Chödrön, which features teachings and practices from Pema and like-minded contributors on finding fearlessness in uncertain times, living with courage, and opening up to the world. Meanwhile, here are three of my favorite Pema’s teachings from our archives. —Andrea Miller, deputy editor, Lion’s Roar

Waking Up to Your World Throughout your day you can pause, take a break from your usual thoughts, and wake up to the magic and vastness of the world around you. Pema Chödrön says this easy and spacious type of mindfulness practice is the most important thing we can do with our lives.” Every day of your life, every morning of your life, you could ask yourself, “As I go into this day, what is the most important thing? What is the best use of this day?” At my age, it’s kind of scary when I go to bed at night and I look back at the day, and it seems like it passed in the snap of a finger. That was a whole day? What did I do with it? Did I move any closer to being more compassionate, loving, and caring — to being fully awake? Is my mind more open? What did I actually do? I feel how little time there is and how important it is how we spend our time.

Six Kinds of Loneliness To be without a reference point is the ultimate loneliness. It is also called enlightenment. As human beings, not only do we seek resolution, but we also feel that we deserve resolution. However, not only do we not deserve resolution, we suffer from resolution. We don’t deserve resolution; we deserve something better than that. We deserve our birthright, which is the middle way, an open state of mind that can relax with paradox and ambiguity. To the degree that we’ve been avoiding uncertainty, we’re naturally going to have withdrawal symptoms — withdrawal from always thinking that there’s a problem and that someone, somewhere, needs to fix it.

Feed the Right Wolf Pema Chödrön describes the process of looking compassionately and honestly at our own minds. In the end, she says, freeing ourselves from anger and hostility comes down to choosing which wolf we want to feed. So this is our challenge, the challenge for our spiritual practice and the challenge for the world—how can we train right now, not later, in feeding the right wolf? How can we call on our innate intelligence to see what helps and what hurts, what escalates aggression and what uncovers our good-heartedness? With the global economy in chaos and the environment of the planet at risk, with war raging and suffering escalating, it is time for each of us in our own lives to take the leap and do whatever we can to help turn things around. Even the slightest gesture toward feeding the right wolf will help. Now more than ever, we are all in this together.

ORDER TODAY!