This week I read the most wonderful blog post on Tiny Buddha from my friend and spiritual direction colleague Rachel Katz. Her posting was brave and inspiring, and spoke eloquently to the hidden gifts of transformation that lies waiting for us in our most vulnerable moments.
One of my very favorite lines in Rachel’s article is this one:
Welcoming everything tenderizes me to my own and others’ suffering.
Welcoming everything does not mean I am happy about everything. For me, welcoming everything is about the inner posture of my own heart, the conscious choice to embody the spirit of welcoming. I’m reminded here of Rumi’s poem, “The Guest House,” which really resonates with Rachel’s article and with the precept of welcoming everything.
I love the idea of being tenderized, of becoming more supple and flexible in relationship to life itself. It’s kind of like a massage for the soul; sometimes we need to press on the places that hurt most in order to become free.
Perhaps you can recall a challenging experience in your own life which resulted in greater insight, compassion or joy. It might have been a health crisis, or a difficult break-up, or the death of a loved one.What allowed you to emerge from the experience with a deeper sense of connection to your own ethics or spirituality?
