It’s no surprise that so many people feel strangely adrift in these turbulent times. We are catapulted from one extreme to another, sometimes incredulous at what we are witnessing, maybe even anxious and afraid for ourselves, others, and our planet. Listen to the first lines of a poem by Mark Nepo titled Adrift
Everything is beautiful and I am so sad.
Mark Nepo, ADRIFT
This is how the heart makes a duet
of wonder and grief.
We live in a world of polarities: The wonders of Spring, the horror of an unending war; wonder over a newborn baby, grief over the climate crisis. This duet of wonder and grief impacts us all. The wisest response is to see this as a challenge to our practice and an invitation to reflect.
Where do we start? We pay close attention to our reactivity and how emotional intensity pulls us away from our steady, centered self. Our practice is not only the time we dedicate to sitting meditation; it’s also about becoming more aware of our mind and feeling states throughout the day. Naturally we swing between forgetting and remembering, but we need to remember that our awareness is our greatest ally—this subtle yet powerful energy that reveals where we’re attached, reactive, and holding on.
We begin with recognizing whatever is arising—accepting, and fully experiencing the distressing thought, the strong feeling. Only then, when we allow its fullness, will it begin to soften and dissolve. The moment we become aware that we’re witnessing the emotion, we start to disidentify from its power over us.
It’s very helpful to realize that the emotions we have, the negativity and the positivity, are exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, fully alive.
Pema Chodron
Every time we call the wandering mind back, we come home to the unshakable ground of our essential self. Subtle yet profound, this process is like developing an inner muscle; over and over again, we watch the dance between our powerful emotions and our capacity to witness them. We come to trust a growing inner strength that can hold the extremes of such differing states as wonder, grief, and fear. The Tibetan Buddhist tradition refers to this inner strength as the Primordial Fortress—our ability to remain steady amidst the most challenging circumstances. An inspiring image! The gradual strengthening of this inner fortress is the gift of practice—a gift not only to ourselves but to others and the world around us.