Saturday, May 13, 2006

Bibliomantic Quote of the Day


[The Eyes See What the Mind Fears]


I needed some inspiration this morning, so I turned to Dzigar Kongtrul's book, It's Up to You. This is what I found:

Dancing with Habits and Fears

From a time farther back than any of us can remember, we've habitually taken refuge in samsara in order to preserve and cherish the self. Striving to maintain the identity of who we think we are, we find ourselves driven by habits and fears. The only way to find out who we really are is to learn to dance with them.

Dancing means recognizing the raw energy of a situation and moving with it. Our usual approach is to size up situations to see if they threaten or serve us: What can I get--or get rid of? By approaching everything with a sense of suspicion and struggle, we like to think we're in control of things. But in truth our past karma is simply playing itself out. Instead of struggling with it, however, we can choose to dance.

Dancing requires us to be aware of the space and objects around us. We can't just move about any which way. And we must be alert and responsive to our partner. No one is totally in control. Learning to relax and dance reduces the our fear and brings space and awareness to habitual responses. And this brings an overall sense of well-being.

I have never been a good dancer, in all the ways possible. So this is my quest for the day--to dance with habits and fears as they come up rather than just respond with old patterns.

If I remember, I'll try to report back tonight in my gratitude post on whether or not I was able to do this.


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