[You are invited to a Paradoxical Challenge] Here is a practice exercise for today that I think is relevant to all of us... 1. Think of something really really happy. A person, place, thing, pet, adventure, experience. Try to hold this energy strongly. Spend a few moments here as desired. Now without letting go of this positive energy... 2. Think of something really sad, or upsetting. A person you are angry with. A situation you loathe. A bad memory, a childhood wound. Its usually not too hard to find this, so without leaning into it too much, the point of the challenge is this next part... 3. Noticing both the negative energy and the positive emotions you contain within you, sustain the positive energy peacefully, and observe what happens to the upset parts of you. The sensation should be one of harmony and flow like a yin-yang-ness, not a battle or violent in some way. If its the latter even a little, you can try to hold the negative parts at a little bit of a distance, arms length, or, in a neighbours yard kind of distance. You can still be connected to the energy but it is not right close. And you might try to move it in and out and feel what happens in your heart. All there is left from this is to observe. For me there is something in here of: - using my heart and head at the same time - being able to feel loving and upset at the same time - being able to contain and move my energy and passion around with fluency and therefore become more practical with it as well - being able to be compassionate towards myself for having such a variety of sometimes paradoxical goals and wishes What happens for you that you can articulate, when you try this exercise, curious? In our work at Indranis Light, to do with gender violence, there is a delicate yet essential path of being compassionate and outraged at the same time. Its an ongoing paradox to live and even more so to become practical about so we can effectively engage people such as abusers or perpetrators. What more can we say about how to be angry and love at the same time, anything you got? Love to continue this conversation and deepen if you would - Im sure theres a lot of wisdom in this community around this.
Posted on: Wed, 28 May 2014 21:27:48 +0000