Today's Daily Dharma from Tricycle:
Opening Our HeartsWe shield our heart with an armor woven out of very old habits of pushing away pain and grasping at pleasure. When we begin to breathe in the pain instead of pushing it away, we begin to open our hearts to what’s unwanted. When we relate directly in this way to the unwanted areas of our lives, the airless room of ego begins to be ventilated.
-Pema Chödrön, Start Where You Are
From Everyday Mind, a Tricycle book edited by Jean Smith
This is beautiful advice.
When my last relationship ended, even though it was the right thing, I felt a lot of pain and sadness. But I worked hard to allow that pain into my heart -- to actually feel my feelings instead of trying to run away from them. The result was that my heart opened even wider.
When I got involved with someone new earlier this year, I felt a new openness and capability to love that I had never felt before. My ego was no longer the center of my world -- I found myself caring more for the well-being of the woman I loved than I did for my own feelings.
This was all new to me. But it never would have happened if I had not let myself embrace the pain of my past. I firmly believe that we have to be willing to open our hearts to pain in order to create the space for happiness. It isn't fun, but it works.
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