Based on dharma talk of Sunday, July 26, 2021 ~~~
Transofrming suffering through compassionate curiosity -- meet whatever is arising with curioisity...with acceptance. Creating more freedom in our lives.
Allowing it to come and go...
let it reveal itself....let life be life...let experience be expereince.
turn light inward...what am i noticiing, what am I feeling. .. in my emotions, in my physicality, in my physical body...
not get lost in a story..notice only how ti feels... curiosity can be the base for wise action.
Curiosisty gives us some ' distance' from an expereince...allowinig us not to get hooked by the story we might be creating. Bring 'interest' to the expereince.
doing so allows us to see the 'impersonal nature' of anger or other feelings....allows us to see the impermanace of the feeling...it's not 'me' or 'mine'... how does this feel? what is a 'wise response' to this feeling...curiosity is an expereission of the 'beginner's mind'. Suzuki: in the beginninger's mind, there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind, there are few possibilities.'
Do things feel hot, warm? what manisfests... can we be aware of thouhghts... and bodily sensations ...with curiosity we can find new ways to respond...we can avoid 'reactiveness'. Bring compasionate curiosity to our experience? Am I open to being, remaining curious...or do I need to leap to conclusions.
Compassion brings the quality of caring to our suffering....w/ compassion, we can remeber our humanity...our buddhanature....our 'goodness' comes not from an inner nature...(good pepple, and bad people) but rather owing to what qualiites we feed...the qualities we put our atteention to... if we resond to phenomonen with anger...then that is the quality we are cultivationg...our character trait we reinforce...what we we think upon, becomes the inclination we cultivate...compassion helps us to keep our heart open to ourselves and to others...eg...putting a hand on our heart...helps us to put our intention in a helpful direction...
COMPASSION AND CURIOSITY together are two wings of a bird...the wing of wisdom, the wing of compassion....a powerful combination..wisdom without compassion. and vice versa can be limited...but meeting our experience with both can be transforming. Bringing CC to situations in our lives, to people in our lives.
CC is a way of seeing...a way of being in the world. Connecting with this energy as we go through our daily lives....if feeeling annoyed...I can try tto see with eyes of CC....I can be curious about my own responses...about other people's responses. Stepping out of our reactiviity ... what happens if I become 'interested' 'curious' about a situation....compassion helps soften mindstates...like anger, irritation... we are able to return with kindness...
- 'I will not live an unlived life' by dawna markova.
- Peace is this moment without judgement...by Dorothy Hunt....
- as in 'this moment met with an open heart'...the judgment we make is a 'choice' an habitual choice....but it is a default ...yet a choice.....instead of CC...as an act of awareness, intentional awareness ...heading off the 'reactivitiy' ...giving ghe situation the bare attention .... then we can be more intentional about our response...bopefully not stepping into judgment...
- Posthelwatie...creat a clearing...this is an act of creating a clearing...CC is this process of 'creating a clearing in the dense forest of our life'... insight may come out of this intentionality of meeting our expereince with an open heart, with kindness, with compassion.
- Antonio Machado...Walker'
