A Buddhist Nun-The Work and Writing of Pema Chodron
Today I am grateful for a seat on our front patio from which to view the day's sunrise. I am also grateful for the experience of reading writers for the first time.
It has probably been a couple of years since my sister Danita suggested that I read books by Pema Chodron. It took me some time, but I finally read one of her books a couple weeks ago and I am waiting for another one through our public library. Pema Chodron is an American Buddhist nun. That sounds like an interesting combination. She has been a principal teacher at the first Tibetan monastery for Westerners, Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia. She is also a mother and a grandmother.
The book I just got done reading is Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears. It's a quick read at around 100 pages, with 10 chapters with titles like "Learning to Stay," "Getting Unstuck," The Importance of Pain," and "Unlimited Friendliness." Those titles sum up what I took away from the book.
We can learn to pause, to be more aware in each moment so we can experience what that moment has to offer. In that awareness, we can get unstuck by breaking old patterns of thinking and acting. To do that, we need to lean into pain, to sit with some discomfort at times so it can teach us what it is meant to teach us. With growing awareness of ourselves and the world around us, we are more likely to see our fellow humans with an open mind. That allows us to consider treating everyone with unlimited friendliness. Ourselves included.
That doesn't mean we smile and skip around. It means that we value the other person. Simply acknowledging that person, even if we dislike them, especially if we dislike them, is a good start in reducing some of the intolerance, hatred, and violence in our world. I really liked this aspect of the book. Maybe I have reached a point of better self-awareness, years in the making, that I am now more capable of considering others and how we share this human journey.
As a world, a nation, a society, we are so caught up in things that can suck us into a vortex of negative thinking if we aren't careful. We have been conditioned to avoid pain and promised many ways that work to help us avoid that discomfort. Yet, it all creates more pain, discomfort, and intolerance.
Instead, I will try to pause, lean into what the day brings, both joys and discomforts, and remember that I can make unlimited friendliness possible. I encourage you to do the same.
It has probably been a couple of years since my sister Danita suggested that I read books by Pema Chodron. It took me some time, but I finally read one of her books a couple weeks ago and I am waiting for another one through our public library. Pema Chodron is an American Buddhist nun. That sounds like an interesting combination. She has been a principal teacher at the first Tibetan monastery for Westerners, Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia. She is also a mother and a grandmother.
The book I just got done reading is Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears. It's a quick read at around 100 pages, with 10 chapters with titles like "Learning to Stay," "Getting Unstuck," The Importance of Pain," and "Unlimited Friendliness." Those titles sum up what I took away from the book.
We can learn to pause, to be more aware in each moment so we can experience what that moment has to offer. In that awareness, we can get unstuck by breaking old patterns of thinking and acting. To do that, we need to lean into pain, to sit with some discomfort at times so it can teach us what it is meant to teach us. With growing awareness of ourselves and the world around us, we are more likely to see our fellow humans with an open mind. That allows us to consider treating everyone with unlimited friendliness. Ourselves included.
That doesn't mean we smile and skip around. It means that we value the other person. Simply acknowledging that person, even if we dislike them, especially if we dislike them, is a good start in reducing some of the intolerance, hatred, and violence in our world. I really liked this aspect of the book. Maybe I have reached a point of better self-awareness, years in the making, that I am now more capable of considering others and how we share this human journey.
As a world, a nation, a society, we are so caught up in things that can suck us into a vortex of negative thinking if we aren't careful. We have been conditioned to avoid pain and promised many ways that work to help us avoid that discomfort. Yet, it all creates more pain, discomfort, and intolerance.
Instead, I will try to pause, lean into what the day brings, both joys and discomforts, and remember that I can make unlimited friendliness possible. I encourage you to do the same.
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