Artwork: Agnes Martin
Good Morning Beautiful People,
I hope that you are safe and healthy, wherever you are in the world.
Today I will start by sharing a quote by Buddhist Tibetan nun, Pema Chodron:
“Compassion is a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well, can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognise our shared humanity.”
Yet, we are told to show up in our best light only, burying our darkness deep within ourselves, hoping that it never comes to light and when it does, because it always does, we numb it with substances, distractions and more obsessive thoughts.
But what if we learned to watch our own darkness and somehow develop compassion for the parts within us that we don’t like?
Can you imagine building a bridge between your humanity and the humanity of others, walking the same path as the people who trigger you?
On this note, I am going to invite you to take a deep inhale, feeling the air moving through your nostrils and your feet touching the ground. As you breath out, how about letting go of perfection and the ideas you have about how things should be?
As you lean into the parts within you that usually scare you, can you imagine having access to a well of strength, power beyond your wildest dreams? This is called shadow work and is real.
What if we trained our mind to stop seeing things as good and bad and instead, would embrace all that is, free of judgment and with compassion? We are globally going through challenging times, for some much more than others, and more than ever, we are being called to honour our shared humanity.
In case you have any comments, please do reach out, I love to hear from you.
And in case you would like to deepen your practice, we are still meeting daily on zoom at 930am Brussels Time. https://zoom.us/j/6911455565 | password 739019
Lastly, I have recorded a new guided meditation called “shining light on the dark”.
With Love and Deep Respect,
Vanessa
