"Experiment with the ideas that we may allow all of our expectations--the bad ones and the good ones, the big and small ones--to gradually hold less importance, to recede into the background of our lives. This is a very difficult practice. Our lives are drenched with expectations for every situation. We cling to a set of old, tarnished blueprints, maps for safety and protection we drew up when we were small and afraid. Then we stumble from place to place, urging the world to perfectly match these blueprints, terrified the world will not turn out the way we want, and disappointed when it turns out the way we feared. Only when we free ourselves from the prison of our expectations are we able to meet the world afresh and see it with new eyes. If we allow our attachments to recede, even for an instant, we are more free to appreciate what we have been given and to see more clearly the fullness of who we have become."
From Waye Muller's Legacy of the Heart:
"Experiment with the ideas that we may allow all of our expectations--the bad ones and the good ones, the big and small ones--to gradually hold less importance, to recede into the background of our lives. This is a very difficult practice. Our lives are drenched with expectations for every situation. We cling to a set of old, tarnished blueprints, maps for safety and protection we drew up when we were small and afraid. Then we stumble from place to place, urging the world to perfectly match these blueprints, terrified the world will not turn out the way we want, and disappointed when it turns out the way we feared. Only when we free ourselves from the prison of our expectations are we able to meet the world afresh and see it with new eyes. If we allow our attachments to recede, even for an instant, we are more free to appreciate what we have been given and to see more clearly the fullness of who we have become."
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In our culture, our unconscious default is busyness. Today, do the hard thing. Do less. Leave yourself enough time between commitments. If you are wavering about taking on something new, say no for now. If you are not sure whether or not to speak about something, stay silent. Recognize that real wisdom often requires silence and stillness in which to reveal itself.
Often, when our mind is buzzing with planning and thinking, it is because we are avoiding feeling an emotion. Today, when your mind is racing, pause and ask yourself what you are feeling. Feel that feeling fully. Let it pass through. Feel the quiet and the presence of Love in its wake.
When Moses was working as a humble shepherd in a remote part of the desert, he heard God speaking to him out of a burning bush and saying, "Take off your shoes, for where you stand is holy ground."
Right now, in your ordinary life, you too stand on holy ground. Your work is holy ground. Your body is holy ground. Your driving is holy ground. Your conversation is holy ground. |
AuthorTarn Wilson is the author of the memoir The Slow Farm and numerous essays. You may read more of her work at tarnwilson.com. Archives
September 2020
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