“When your eyes seek and your heart is open, that is true brave” - Anne with an E
I just loved this line when I heard it while watching an adaptation of Anne of Green Gables. It resonated so strongly with me, both in my work and spirituality.
It takes courage to really look, and to be open hearted about what it is that is revealed when you are prepared to notice it. This is at the heart of the therapeutic endeavour, to come to know ourselves more deeply, to look honestly, to engage with what we see, for good or ill.
This is also at the heart of meditation. For me, meditation is the art of being with my own experience, in its entirety. Welcoming it all into my awareness, and being prepared to experience it wholeheartedly as I allow it to move through me and to flow on. Neither holding on nor pushing away, just being open to what is has to show and teach, however tricky that may be.
When we face our experience, we open up possibilities and potentials. We are no longer resisting, squishing down or avoiding what is, and that means we can change our relationship to it. When we are ready to stop clinging on and re-energising it, staying stuck with whatever troubles us, then we can let it go and be open to the new coming in.
We each have a different path, and yet our humanity is common. Be clear about what you do and don’t seek for, where you will and won’t look, and how open or closed your being is to what is there to be noticed. Recognise that others travel their own path through life, with differences and commonalities. We can never really know another’s experience, but we can look with kind eyes and stay open to them too. This too is courage.
Wishing you a week of ‘true brave’
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