“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”
– Albert Camus –
The Path
Curiosity
I encourage you to look deeply at your life – all of your life – as curiously as possible. Especially the difficult parts. We tend to either fixate on or completely avoid what ails us, so learning how to see our difficulties in new ways is liberating. Curiosity creates space for everything to exist as it is, allowing our minds to find new perspectives, understandings, and insights. Within this more spacious place, we notice more reasons to be grateful and new ways to move more effectively in our lives.
Compassion
As our perspective and understanding shift we naturally develop compassion for ourselves and others. We become less rigid in our strongly held beliefs and judgments, and more open to being vulnerable as we realize that struggle is what connects us all. Vulnerability is the doorway out of suffering. In time we begin to accept and forgive others, and if we remain persistent, we come to perhaps the most important and difficult part of this work – fully accepting and forgiving ourselves.
Courage
How can one live from this open and receptive place? It will take discipline and practice to change the course of social conditioning and years of personal habit energy. You will need to acquire new tools, establish better habits, and experiment with new ways of thinking and interacting with others. You will need to get up each time you fall, because fall you will, and brush yourself off to begin again. This is the work - a commitment to making the right choices and doing the right things for yourself and those you love, every single day.