Recovering Our Strength
Friday, January 22, 2010 at 8:01AM Today as I was sitting, I asked myself a simple question, as I adjusted my posture, "Seiho, what are you doing?" The immediate answer was, "Recovering my strength."
Certain circumstances, challenges and problems, large or small, can have the effect or appearance of siphoning off or draining us physically, psychologically and emotionally. It can be something of a balancing act, because we can be working with a difficult circumstance or moment and at the same time, have the unending requests of our ordinary day-to-day life. How do we sustain our being with the demands can be so great?
One obvious part of the answer is zazen, zazen, zazen. Sitting can harmonize and unify heart-mind. As Genjo Marinello Osho says, "We can always sit some more. It grounds us, as we connect and root our spine to the Earth." But a secondary aspect of the answer is sharing time with those who are capable of supporting us, with compassion, warm heartedness, humor and loving-kindness.
The other day, my teacher sent me an email checking to see how I was doing. Just that contact was an infusion of strength, influencing a smile from my face. Other analog friends who are in my immediate space have also been helpful and supportive by just being there, with me, as I travel my circumstances. And then there are always my long time friends who are on facebook and medium to short-term in twitter-world. It's a mosaic of brightness that is capable of helping to sustain heart-mind.
A third aspect in having the ability to recovering our strength is not shutting down and remaining open those elements that help to sustain us. It's very easy to procrastinate and neglect ourselves. It can be a harder process to be healthy caretakers of our life, holding a door open that we'd rather shut.
It's our openness that creates the opportunity to genuinely receive a word, thought, suggestion, hug, smile, joke or pat-on-the-back which reminds us of how we are seamlessly connected to each other and never alone. It's a kind of breathing on a intensely deep level which is as vital to our Being as air itself.
Recovering our strength is awakening heart-mind. Recovering our strength enables us to befriend ourselves and life. Recovering our strength reminds that we are loved and lovable, capable of fully embodying the vast blue-sky of Being. Recovering our strength is in fact recovering our strength. It's not meant to be any other way.
May Our Life Go Well,
Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO
Reader Comments (1)
So glad, you ARE recovering your strength!
I believe any difficult circumstances that come our way are here to teach us great lessons about ourselves. And are a test, as so you eloquently describe, of our ability to love ourselves, and others, and of our commitment to the path.
May you and your family be well, and healthy, and at peace, and at ease, and happy.