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Start where you are
Feb. 11th, 2025 06:55 amI finished Start Where you Are today. I do have another work of Pema Chodron, but I think I'm going to take a break and next time move on to Thich Nhat Hanh, who I usually find inspiring.
Most of the chapters I read today were about practicing in the real world, where the reality of our experiences of other people and ourselves often clashes with our spiritual ideals, and the need to use that "squeeze" to improve our practice. She told a funny story about a hermit meditating in a cave for 20 years on patience who lost his patience almost immediately when he had a visitor--the point being that only in encounters with real people can we learn patience. The obstacles become our teachers.
She also mentioned the teaching of thinking that all living beings had once been our mothers, and how that never really resonated for her. I get that, because even though I have a good relationship with my mom, many people have narcissistic mothers, or abusive mothers, etc., so it's not a meditation that works for everyone.
I liked this quotation that came towards the very end of the book: "We try so hard to hang on to the teachings and "get it," but actually the truth sinks in like rain into very hard earth. The rain is very gentle, and we soften at our own speed. But when that happens, something has fundamentally changed in us. That hard earth has softened. It doesn't seem to happen by trying to get it or capture it. It happens by letting go; it happens by relaxing your mind, and it happens by the aspiration and longing to want to communicate with yourself and others. Each of us finds our own way."
Most of the chapters I read today were about practicing in the real world, where the reality of our experiences of other people and ourselves often clashes with our spiritual ideals, and the need to use that "squeeze" to improve our practice. She told a funny story about a hermit meditating in a cave for 20 years on patience who lost his patience almost immediately when he had a visitor--the point being that only in encounters with real people can we learn patience. The obstacles become our teachers.
She also mentioned the teaching of thinking that all living beings had once been our mothers, and how that never really resonated for her. I get that, because even though I have a good relationship with my mom, many people have narcissistic mothers, or abusive mothers, etc., so it's not a meditation that works for everyone.
I liked this quotation that came towards the very end of the book: "We try so hard to hang on to the teachings and "get it," but actually the truth sinks in like rain into very hard earth. The rain is very gentle, and we soften at our own speed. But when that happens, something has fundamentally changed in us. That hard earth has softened. It doesn't seem to happen by trying to get it or capture it. It happens by letting go; it happens by relaxing your mind, and it happens by the aspiration and longing to want to communicate with yourself and others. Each of us finds our own way."
