One of the reasons we suffer in life is because we are perpetually dissatisfied with the way things are.
There is always preference in the way we approach our experiences. Liking and disliking is our modus operandi.
When we encounter something we like, we want more of it, and we become unhappy when we don’t.
When we meet with something we don’t like, we want it to go away, and we again become unhappy when it doesn’t.
We can also observe preference towards the way we are - we tend to place a lot of judgement on ourselves. There is a lot of liking and disliking, “should”s and “shouldn’t”s happening within us.
I shouldn’t feel this way. I should be more of this. I should be less of that.
There’s too much of this in me. There’s not enough of that in me.
We can make an intention to become aware of such judgement and dissatisfaction towards ourselves during a meditation practice, which opens up space for letting go of such unnecessary struggle and learning to be with the way we are, and with the way things are.
In this live session recorded on 14 July 2024, the Take A Pause community practiced non-judgement and being just as we are - however each moment of our breath, body, mind, and environment is arriving and unfolding in our awareness.
We concluded the session by listening to the poem “Why Not” by Julia Fehrenbacher.
Meditation Begins: 06:08
Reading Begins: 26:08
Meditation Duration: 20 Minutes
Julia Fehrenbacher
If death is inevitable, if it is a sure
thing that this face, these hands,
this body that holds a lifetime of this living,
will, someday, no longer be here,
if you don’t get to take a single thing with you —
then —
why spend a moment more refusing,
worrying about who might disapprove,
measuring every move
as if there is some fixed formula you must
find? Why hold tight to anything?
Why not, instead, love every honeyed drop of yourself,
why not leap into life—belly-laughing
and light, light like the soft kiss of moonlight,
light like the light that you are,
have always been, will always be—
why not take this quickly passing day
by the hand and dance
like there’s no tomorrow? And if you’re too tired
to dance, why not rest lightly here
just as you are?
More Take A Pause sessions for tuning in:
And our latest posts about living more wisely:
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