(At Kripalu with Jack Kornfield, December 2008)
\nLong talk with Patty who sits next to me and was my walking and breathing partner. She was the youngest of 6 in a severely disfunctional family.\u00a0 She can remember what happened, but doesn\u2019t have any feelings.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad to have a sister in this work.<\/p>\n
The heart opens and closes \u2014 it needs to rest sometimes.<\/p>\n
Feeling a lot of pain and grief.\u00a0 Feeling so tired of the struggle.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have the energy to do the work of mourning.\u00a0 I\u2019m back to just wanting to die.\u00a0 Spaciousness feels very cold and lonely right now.<\/p>\n
We did the exercise of looking into another person\u2019s eyes in pairs.\u00a0 I did it with Vickie, the older woman who made friends with Patty and has been sitting with us.\u00a0 The instructions were to look in this person\u2019s eyes, see the divine being behind the eyes, see their courage, and unsuspected reserves of strength.\u00a0 Then a breath, let that go, and then see the measure of sorrows that that person carries.\u00a0 I was able to feel that, and shed tears.\u00a0 Then see their joys.\u00a0 And finally see them as all the different beings, old & young, they have been, and relationships, teacher & student, parent & child, you have had.\u00a0 I was only able to feel \/see something of the sorrows, a very little of the joys, I felt locked up tight.\u00a0 But Vickie said she had seen many changes on my face, that I had been really present, and she felt connected, that I had given her a gift.\u00a0 She says when she comes to these workshops, even though she\u2019s a social person, she finds it hard to be with a group of strangers.\u00a0 Her feedback helped a lot \u2014 I was feeling so stony, so disconnected, and yet I had managed to be present for her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(At Kripalu with Jack Kornfield, December 2008) Long talk with Patty who sits next to me and was my walking and breathing partner. She was the youngest of 6 in a severely disfunctional family.\u00a0 She can remember what happened, but … Continue reading