Hello everyone,
This week we read up to page178 THe Dangers of Working with Pain so we'll begin there next week. We talked about the dharmas of pain-suffering, impermanence, and not self. We talked about clinging to our pain and also about our aversion to pain versus relaxing into it and knowing it is impermanent. (We were not talking about chronic pain here) We talked about being curous of the qualities of the "pain" in terms of the 4 elements.
This week's discussion question is about clinging - which he defines as the cause of suffering (p175)
What have you been clinging to that causes you suffering or what have you been able to let go of (even if only to some degree) that has helped to reduce your suffering?
I know that the whole idea of my ego/identity as being me is something that has caused me a lot of suffering as I struggled to define it and pin it down and then to try and keep it the same. The idea that I am always shifting and changing and that there is no solid self frees me to stop labeling myself and then trying to live up to those labels. It is a continuous process but letting go of some of that idea of solid fixedness of self has been very helpful.
What about for you?
I have been clinging to the idea of being independent for the rest of my life - being alone and being ok with that. I am letting go of this idea and welcoming love and trust into my space. This is not easy for me. Letting people see me, love me and care for me; the real authentic me. Allowing myself to be seen. Being honest, vulnerable and sharing MY TRUTH is not easy. I am doing it!!! I can let people in. I can soften my boundaries and take off my armor. I am doing this one step at a time, at my pace and in my timing. It's scary and I am walking through the fear. I can let people in, i can allow love in and send it out and I don't have to do it alone..