Tara Brach - Beyond Small Self

Episode Date: April 7, 2010

2010-04-07 - While we are conditioned to become identified with limited sense of self, we have the capacity to recognize and open to who we are beyond the self. This talk investigates our most compelling domains of getting identified, and the ways a purposeful presence can awaken us.

Okay, so opening story for you. One day there was a blind man sitting on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet and a sign that read, I am blind, please help. A creative publicist was walking by and stopped to observe. He saw that the blind man had only a few coins in his hat, and he dropped in a few more coins, and without asking for permission, took the sign and rewrote it. He returned the sign to the blind man and left.

That afternoon, the publicist returned to the blind man and noticed that his hat was full of bills and coins. The blind man recognized his footsteps and asked if it was he who had rewritten the sign and wanted to know what he had written on it. The response, nothing that was not true. I just wrote the message a little differently. So he smiled and went on his way. The new sign read, Today is spring and I cannot see it. So I think you intuitively understand.

in a way that the real suffering is that what we long for is here, and yet in some way we can't connect with it or see it or trust it or be with it. And the Buddha basically described this suffering as ignorance, that in some way our conditioning is to ignore or not see the truth of what's right here. That's our conditioning. name. And so while we might not be literally blind, it was somewhat described as a trance or a dream, that we live in a trance or a dream, and we just see a little bit of spring, or we just see a little bit of the truth of who we are. In a way, the essence of this whole spiritual path is to wake up

out of the trance and truly realize who we are and really live from that awakeness and love and mystery that's our nature. The shaman have an interesting way of describing it that they say that each moment there's infinite possibilities of what can unfold of how we can experience and express our creativity and our love how we can respond and to the extent that we're living in mindful awareness. To the extent of that, what manifests from those infinite possibilities really brings joy and peace to ourselves in the world. So the key, being here, being awake,

remembering who we are, not being in the trance. So a lot of the teaching is to recognize the trance. How do we get caught? And here I often use this metaphor of a space suit, that inevitably we come into this world and encounter challenges. And we encounter all the conditions of our culture towards greed and fear and aggression. And we encounter it through the messages our parents gave us. And we encounter it's a difficult environment.

So we develop this space suit to get through. You know, we develop these strategies. to try to get approval and stay safe and make it. And we take on roles that can help us to feel meaning and feel important in our life. And so, for instance, this is another way of saying ego. We basically develop an ego. And an ego is necessary.

I mean, just the way an astronaut out in space is connected to the spaceship by a little embellicle and has to wear a space suit, we need to have a way to function, a way to present ourselves, a way to navigate, and yet we get identified with it in a way that actually shrinks us, makes us less than we are.

So I sometimes think of roles that we take on. And for instance, a school teacher will take on certain roles, you know, set rules and keep a discipline and set a tone for maximum learning and a code of conduct. And these are all important parts of the role and the way that a school teacher functions. And those same facets of that role don't work so well when the school teacher is in bed with a partner or on vacation with a family or whatever. So we need this kind of fluidity of with ego and with roles or whatever we're identified with.

of using what's here of this personality and this body and these roles, and yet having the capacity to see who we are beyond them. And that's the real essence of the teachings. If you look at a mature spiritual person, it's not that they're without ego. And if you go to some of the people that are most renowned for having a lot of inner freedom and wisdom and compassion, and big personalities.

A lot of ego actually shown, but not a lot of identification with the ego. We'll talk more about it. It's sometimes, for me, one of the ways I think about it, the word persona comes from Greek theater, and it actually refers to the mask that the actors wore, and the word means sing-through, that the actors would play through these masks

and develop a character, ego or whatever. And then at the end of the day, you know, they go home, they put the mask down, and they're back to being the fullness of who they are. And so what we do is developmentally, we create these masks and we keep painting them and tweaking them, and so that we have a way of being in the world that can be useful. But we forget who's looking for. through the mask. Our identity becomes hitched to the different dimensions of our ego. Really, we forget the mystery that's here. We forget who's looking through. So this key word you'll find in a lot of the Buddhist teachings is this process of identification. That there's

nothing wrong with having a personality. There's nothing wrong with a personality. There's nothing wrong with our bodies and our beliefs and our strategies for being in the world. Where we suffer, we get identified. So the teaching that sometimes is very familiar is love these waves of our existence, the roles and the ways that we present ourselves in our bodies and our feelings. Love these waves of life, but know where the ocean. Remember something larger. So a story that I shared here a couple of years ago, a friend of mine, his name is Joe, lives in West Virginia,

really wonderful carpenter, a real artist. And Joe was helping us out. He had been in business for 35 years, and he was helping us out by making some cabinets for our kitchen. And it wasn't a small project. He was being very generous because it was not something we couldn't be able to afford to have somebody hand-make-us cabinets. So Joe had mostly, he had this workshop

and he had mostly finished the cabinets. He went to a folk festival where he sold some of his wares, and he got a call when he was there that his whole workshop had burned down. And everything was totally destroyed, including our project. which was 90% done, as I mentioned,

but all his patterns and jigs and tools were gone. And if you know something about carpentry, you develop this over a life, your patterns of what works in the next project. And when it's lost, that's a really big loss. So we talked soon after this, and he was really a tremendous amount of grieving. He said he went back to this devastated sight,

this where it was burned down. He said there was just twisted metal and the cabinets that held tools. It was almost unrecognizable. And he said, when I came upon the ruins, I could see the view the way it was when I discovered the spot 30 years ago and first decided to build a workshop there.

And it reminded him of a very famous line from Basho. And the line is, my barn, having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon. My barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon. So here he was, and I use this an example of

loving what we love, but letting go. In a way, he had lost something that was really precious to him, and yet he could see what was even behind that. It's like, can we see when we lose someone we love or part of our own physical capacity or mental capacity? Can we sense the moon that shines through? Can we sense what shines through this life?

Suzuki Roshi says, renunciation does not consist in giving up the things of this world, but in accepting they go away. So the Buddha basically said there is great suffering when we hold on tightly to any part of this changing life, anything, because it's changing. And unless we have a way to appreciate this life but let go, we're going to end up being tugged around in a big way.

Yet as we know, it sounds right, and yet when it comes down to it, when we face the loss of what we love, or what we're invested in, it's very, very hard to let go. I was teaching up in New England this weekend And I talked to several people that were facing this, facing the barn having just burned down.

And we're really trying to find how do they find some peace when there's a really big loss. And one woman had just, her husband just left her for a new younger lover. Another had just found out that her counsel returned and that she was dying. And another described losing job that she had had for many, many years and feeling like it went right down to the core sense of my worth on the planet. So the reality is that if we're identified with being married to a certain person,

with a job, with our very body and life, that's how deep it goes. There's not any real peace of freedom because something in us knows that it's all very fragile. So we're always on some level kind of tensing against what's around the corner. Does that make sense? And yet who of us is not attached to either this body or the body and mind of someone we love to a job or financial security? We all are. So the question, the inquiry here is, give that it's our habit to get identified and it's universal, how do we begin to see the places that were most identified

and find a little space and freedom? How do we begin this process of remembering the moon that shines through? Another way I sometimes language this, and what really was making it possible for the three people I mentioned this weekend, for each of them, was they were beginning to taste what true reference, refuge is. They were beginning to taste who they were or what is possible beyond having life be the

way they wanted it. And another way to say that is they were tasting the loving presence that is timeless. That's who we are no matter what is changing. So we'll continue to reflect together tonight. I'll kind of talk about the different primary ways we get identified. And the inquiry really is how can we in the midst of recognizing where we're identified, loosen the grip some so we can be here for spring or here for our lives? Because if we don't loosen the grip, we miss out on life. The very thing we're holding most tightly to, we miss out because we're preoccupied and distracted and holding on tight and defending. I find that many people first say, well, you know, I'm not so identified with ego.

And it's not until something happens that they don't want a certain kind of criticism or an investment tank or child runs into trouble that all of a sudden, oops, there's this real hitch. And the sign of identification is the sense that something's wrong or about to go wrong. Something's missing. That's the sign of identification. So what are the main areas? Let's just name them a bit. One of the main areas is our physical self.

I mean, we're pretty identified with having a body that feels good and looks good and works well, most of us. Some of us have let go of some of that. But I can say for myself, that's where I keep on having to learn more about letting go over and over again. I've lost a lot of mobility, a lot of capacity to do different things I've always loved doing. whether it's tennis or bike riding or whatever. And then what happens is then I'll really get into things I still can do, and then I'll find limitations in those so I can walk, but I can only walk at a certain pace or certain incline.

So each step of the way I get even more impassioned about the thing that's left, and then I have to kind of bargain about that one. Okay, so maybe this one's not going to work so well. And eventually none of it will stay. But that's the one for me that keeps putting me on my edge. We all know how identified we are with our minds. I mean, we want to be competent and capable and intelligent and clear. We want to have a memory.

Right? Three older ladies were discussing the travails of getting older. One said, sometimes I catch myself with a jar of mayonnaise in my hand in front of the refrigerator, and I can't remember whether I need to put it away or start making a sandwich. The second lady chimed, and yeah, sometimes I find myself on the landing of the stairs, and I can't remember whether I was on my way up or on my way down.

Then the third one responded, well, I'm glad I don't have that problem, knock on wood. And as she wrapped her knuckles on the table, she then turned to them and said, hmm, that must be the door. I'll get it. So, I mean, how many of us know that the angst of not really, remembering. Then we're very identified with our social self, how it's going in relationship, you know, a certain amount of attention or approval or invitations or people demonstrating respect or a certain way of being in control. Barbara Graham, who is a member of our community and wrote women who run with their poodles. This is a little story in there. It says,

Dear mom and dad, I just want to drop you a line to thank you for teaching me to keep my trap shut and not to ruffle any feathers. I'm sure these qualities would have been a real plus in 9th century Japan. In close, please find an invoice for 14 years of analysis, 11 years of karate,

plus belts in a wide assortment of colors, and 742 self-esteem workshops. So the social self that we're always having to tweak. And then, of course, we get identified with our roles, and there's all sorts of roles. Many of us are identified with being a helper. If we feel like we're helping, then we're okay.

Sometimes it's being identified with being the boss. We are really only comfortable if others are kind of somewhat responding to us being in charge. Or it might be identify with being a social activist or a techie. Or maybe we're identified with being a victim. And that is an identity we get identified with. Or the designated patient. I remember when I mentioned last week about Ram Dass, Baba Ram Dass, and how he had a stroke and how all his normal strategies fell flat until he really reached out in prayer to loving presence to his guru.

One of the other pieces of that story I found interesting was that Ram Dass's identity was organized around being the guru, the teacher, and the helper. in all his relationships he was the one that kind of held a space for people and made a difference and the stroke catapulted him into dependency he had to be helped

he couldn't live without being helped and he described how much his ego bristled at having to let go of being the helper and be the helpee that's just as much an example of the roles that we get identified with. And then we get identified with the wanting self. We get identified with the

self in us that wants more money, or more food, or more sex, or more cigarettes, or whatever it is. We get identified with the addicted or wanting self. And then we get addicted with the fearing self, the offended self, identified with. What are we afraid of? Whatever we're afraid of, we're identified with. So the bottom line is the more identified we are, the more there's a sense of this is me.

This is what I am. And the more limiting we are. Rather than what the shaman described as all those possibilities of being creative and loving, the more identified we are, the less flexibility we have, the fewer choices we have.

One of the stories I found really interesting was of an older man, a lifetime smoker, who was hospitalized with emphysema. And after a series of small strokes, his daughter urged him, as she had often done, to give up smoking. He refused and actually asked her to buy him more cigarettes. He said, I'm a smoker this life, and that's how it is. Okay, that's the identification. But several days later, he had another small stroke, apparently one in the main. memory areas of the brain. And then without a concern, he stopped smoking for good. But this wasn't because he willed it or he decided to. He woke up one morning and forgot he was a smoker.

How many of us have these ideas or beliefs about what we can do or can't do? Beliefs that we have to be responsible that keep us locked in a much, a very dutiful but very uncreative life in a way that perhaps doesn't need to be. Ideas about the limit to what we can offer in a creative way to the world. Limit about how much we can be really intimate with others. Limits about how free we really can be. We live with stories about ourselves and identity. And if we're believing those stories, we're kept from our fullness. We're not able to, feel fully alive, we're not able to manifest what's possible. One of the stories that I thought was really helpful

was told by a woman about the identity of being an aging woman. And I wanted to share this with you. This is really from, I've got some writing, and this is Ayesha Ali, who has actually been here on Wednesday night. She's a wonderful woman and a wonderful writer, very wise. And Ayesha describes really what she calls as desert time, which is the time when our identity's gotten rattled and we're facing losses. She might sense, well, where's desert time in your life? Is it the loss of somebody you love recently or coming up maybe, a divorce, the loss of your own capacity?

in some way of a job of security. So that's a desert time when things get shooken up and there's something stark when our identity is shaken up. So she describes this desert time and for her it's really confronting what it means to be an aging woman and she says this is desert time for me and it comes in many ways and it comes to all people.

And here's what she writes about it. She says like many women my age this is a time of pain and opportunity. Will I mourn the loss of the bloom? I appreciate this desert for its own sake. Like age, the desert can destroy, are by its fierce winds, uncover beauty unknown. Like age, the desert can destroy,

are by its fierce winds, uncover beauty unknown. This desert is harsh and selfish, stark in its exposure of what is. Life and age strip away delusion. I'm confronted with the truth of impermanence and the inevitable sadness that accompanies inevitable loss. Yet the desert has its own beauty. I find myself examining my tears and I'm surprised that sometimes I find sustenance in their wetness. Love blooms even in this arid place. I'm becoming stronger So this way of describing it that the desert, these losses where our identity gets shaken are actually places that can uncover the hidden beauty is much like seeing the moon, isn't it, when the barn burns down? When we lose that person or that job or that sense of our own immortality or whatever it is, there's something.

when that falls apart that makes room for some radiance, something timeless to shine through. So how can that happen? How can you, if you've identified, okay, here's where I get caught, how can you pay attention in a way that lets you get in touch with what shines through, what is a true refuge? And what Ayesha points out is that she stayed. She stayed. with the pain, with the tears, with the fears, with the grief. She stayed. Chogiam Trunkfa puts it this way. He says,

as long as we are trying to figure out how we can escape from our present situation, we can't notice much about it. Only when we feel that this is it, this is how it is right now, without any clutching towards something different, will our intelligence really come alive. As soon as we've released the resistance, the seeking a way out,

we become softer, fuller, more tender and awake. Rather than a small fearful self, there is the freedom of opening unconditionally to life as it is and becoming that openness. So the response to where we find ourselves stuck and identified is this unconditional and very courageous presence. It's basically saying, okay, it's desert time, something's stripped away.

Can I open into that? Can I feel that? I found that often it requires inquiry, that there's actually something that is looking more deeply to find out what's true, kind of questioning like, what am I really believing, what's really happening. And what we find is that whenever we're identified, there's some belief about who we are that's keeping us hooked.

Another story for you, a woman in her 40s, who I've worked with on and off for a number of years, never been in a long-term relationship. And she began, this is about a year ago, she started dating a new man, and because it's never worked out before, she absolutely got in gear for it not to work out again. And when I would say, you know,

how about being open to possibilities, she'd say, when you have evidence over and over and over, how are you supposed to put that aside? Now, it's a really good question. Because if we have repeating patterns in our life of where we've messed up or where other people have pushed us aside, where we haven't been chosen, or we haven't made it,

it's very hard to say, okay, well, even though that's my identity, as a single person that's not desired by a partner, even if that's the identity, I'm just going to put aside that past evidence and be wide open to whatever happens. Not easy, right? So we talked about this sense of this identity,

and she let herself get very in touch with all the constellation of that identity, all the elements of it. And every time the fears would come up of, you know, well, we're going to get together, but this is the time that he's going to see, I'm really not the one, or whatever it was. She would pause.

And she'd sense, this is desert time again, she'd sense some old identity that was holding her and start feeling into her body and her heart. And she'd feel for herself the grief of the past that it's never worked. She'd feel the fear of the future. And the more she could, just as Khrunkpa said, instead of figure out how to get away from that,

kind of surrender into just feeling it, letting it live through her, the more she became softer, fuller, more tender, more awake. And what happened is she had this real longing in that tenderness to trust her goodness, just to trust, not I'm the most desirable person in the world,

but to trust her basic goodness, this aliveness, this presence, this heart. So that was her prayer. May I trust who I am? May I trust who I am? And in a way, I think of it, she was wanting to trust the beauty underneath. So in time, we began to look at her beliefs,

and I began to ask a question I often ask, and you can ask for yourself, once you're identified, what if you didn't believe the beliefs? What if you asked yourself, who would I be or how would my life be if I didn't believe that I was unworthy? Or if I didn't believe I was always going to fail? Or if I didn't believe I was needy and going to push other people away? Or if I didn't believe that I was really selfish and greedy and not spiritual? What if I didn't believe that? Who would I be? So this was a question for her. And she didn't have an answer but described how the more present she got, when she challenged her beliefs, she just felt like this window opened and there was just more freedom. Like the

shaman said, there was more possibility. This is the gift of waking up out of an old identity. It's like cracking open the spacesuit and having your being in habit a larger space and still having access to the space suit when you need it. So again, the basic ingredients of loosening that identification, get aware of it. Notice, okay, I'm attached to having this mobility and feeling more endorphins or I'm attached to having my memory work better or I'm attached to having a partner or I'm attached to having a partner. or I'm attached to the identity of the person who will never have a partner

because we get attached to painful things too. First step, recognize it. Where are you identified? Who are you taking yourself to be in those moments? So you recognize the limiting identity and then pause and feel the feelings that go with that. Sense the beliefs. Maybe ask yourself,

who would I be if I wasn't believing this? For this woman, this kind of practice gave her a lot more freedom and relating and as it happens she's still involved with the same person and thinks it's probably not going to be

the relationship of a lifetime but she's having a fun time which is new for her in these relationships and what she said to me when we last spoke she said the less I'm worrying about myself the more I'm appreciating others and feeling connected, the more I'm trusting who I really am.

This is a poem or the instructions or guidance by Bapuchi, an Indian teacher. He says, My beloved child, break your heart no longer. Each time you judge yourself, you break your own heart. You stop feeding on the love, which is the wellspring of your vitality. The time has come, your time. to live, to celebrate, and to see the goodness that you are. Let no one, no thing, no idea or ideal obstruct you.

If one comes even in the name of truth, forgive it for its unknowing. Do not fight, let go, and breathe into the goodness that you are. So the Buddha basically in teaching the noble truth said, we suffer because we forget who we are. We get attached to something smaller. A small self, a space suit self, an ego self, whatever you want to call it. We get attached to these bodies, we get attached to each other. That's natural.

And it's possible to discover an amazing kind of creative freedom. And the way that that is possible is we deepen our attention wherever we're stuck. In fact, the places that you're stuck are the places, what we're calling desert time, that actually can bloom in the most profound way. Find the place you're most stuck. That's your entry to where the freedom is. The practice, being with what is, and challenge the beliefs. Who would you be if you weren't believing?

anything limiting about yourself. Who would you be? There are two expressions of the freedom that come when we take true refuge in presence. And I think it's best said by Srinar Sarkadata in this one phrase. He says, love tells me that I'm everything.

Wisdom tells me I'm nothing. And between the two, my life flows. love tells me I'm everything wisdom tells me I'm nothing and between the two my life flows so just to take each of those elements that when we pay deep attention when we really begin to connect with the aliveness that's behind the mask including the vulnerability that's here and the pain that's here we actually realize that every part of the world is part of our heart. In other words,

whatever we feel, we sense it connects us with other people. The more we open to what's in here, the more we open to how all those streams exist in this world. We open to the tenderness, the sorrow, the mystery. So love tells me on everything. The more we bring loving presence to what's here,

the more we feel a belonging to everything. This is, how Mary Oliver puts it. And the name of this is reckless poem. She says, and this is about identity. If we break out of a small identity, we become one with the world.

Okay, reckless poem. Today, again, I'm hardly myself. It happens over and over. It is heaven sent. It flows through me like a blue wave. Green leaves. You may believe this or not. Have once or twice burst from

tips of my fingers somewhere deep in the woods in the reckless seizure of spring though of course i also know that other song the sweet passion of oneness just yesterday i watched an aunt crossing a path through tumbled pine needle she toiled and i thought she will never live another life but this one and i thought if she lives her life with all her strength is she not wonderful and wise And I continued this up the miraculous pyramid of everything until I came to myself. And still, even in these northern woods on these hills of sand, I have flown from the window of myself to become white heron, gray whale, fox, hedgehog, camel. Oh, sometimes already my body is felt like a body of a flower.

Sometimes already my heart is a red parrot perched among strains. dark trees flapping and screaming reckless so one of the expressions of freedom is when we sense who's behind the mask when we no longer hitch ourselves in a narrow way we start connecting with all the currents of life we become incredibly mysteriously alive and connected the other when we really pay deep attention we discover a very elemental source of what we are, what's sometimes called basic goodness. It's that everything really is one. That when we deepen our attention, we find the moon that's shining

through. I have many stories that kind of illustrate this with anyone that's sat and gotten very, very quiet and in the silence touched that which is formless, a kind of sense of essence. But one of the stories that I love the best, this is the wisdom tells me I'm nothing, that the same pure energy flows through everything, was a story about Kafka. And as I've heard it, when he was an older man, he spent time sitting in a park. And one day a little girl walked by him, tears running down her face. He asked her to stop and tell him what was wrong. I'm missing my doll, she said.

She's lost. Well, I'll look around, he told her, and he tried but didn't find the doll. And then he said, come back. You know, I'll see if I can find her. Just come back again tomorrow. A few days, the girl returns, and Kafka's there, but no doll. He does have a note, though, and it reads, I've gone off to travel some around the world.

Please don't worry about me. I'm fine. So the girl's somewhat relieved and she returns to the park every week or so, and each time she returns, Kafka's there with a note from the doll. And so the girl's too young to read. So he reads the notes telling this little girl of the doll's adventures. Kafka, much thicker, went to the park one last time, and this time he had brought a doll.

He handed it to the girl and said, The travels had really changed her. Some years later, when the girl was a young woman, she found and read a note that have been rolled up and placed in the doll's hand. You will lose everyone you love, but the love will always return in new forms. So this is really an expression of true refuge, that we know that we get identified with particular forms with certain loved ones, we get identified with certain aspects of our own being, with certain roles, and it all comes and goes

and we can find peace and freedom if we realize that it's not the form itself, it's what's shining through the form and that that is always here. It will express itself over and over in different moments if we're aware and ready and open

and available to experience it. It's always here. And this is the promise and invitation of the path that we can take refuge in presence again and again and in that presence come home to who we really are, come home to the way that the moon is shining through this body, this moment, this being. This is how Thomas Merton puts it. He says,

then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depth of their hearts where neither sin or knowledge could reach, the core of reality, the person that each one is in the eyes of the divine. If only they could see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time, there would be no more need for war, for hatred, for greed, for cruelty. I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other. Love tells me I'm everything.

Wisdom tells me I'm nothing. And between the two, this life flows. So tonight's been a little bit of a kind of a reflection on getting identified and not being so identified. And what's possible as we loosen the grip, I'd like to end with a very bit. reflection, give you a chance to kind of try on in a very immediate way in your own life, a bit of these teachings. As you settle into this pause, let your senses be awake. And you might subtly adjust your posture so that you're sitting in a way that allows you to feel awake. And relax a little wherever there might be habitual tightness.

or holding. Take a few full breaths. You might scan and sense in your life if there's somewhere that's asking for attention. Somewhere where there's the flag of identification, where you're wanting things differently,

where there's either a fear of what's to come or a sense of something's missing or wrong. It could be in your way of relating with others or maybe a capacity that you really, that matters to a lot about yourself, that you feels changing or lost,

could be a way that addiction plays out. But sense something in your life where you sense your identity gets very tight or small, where your sense of who you are becomes squeezed or compressed. However you sense this, this reactivity that usually goes with being identified, kind of a small spacesuit self, the small self. Take some moments to sense when you're caught in that,

when you're caught in wanting it different, not liking how it is. Just sense what's going on inside your body and your heart. Sense the mood, the feelings. See if you can breathe with whatever's here. And if it helps you to put your hand on your heart and offer a kind of kindness as part of this. That can allow you to be in what sometimes is called this desert time

where something in your identity is going to be stripped away, some loosening. Just letting yourself offer kindness, offer presence to whatever fears are here, whatever wants are here. So as Choggi and Trunkpa said, rather than trying to figure it out or get away, you're saying, okay, I'm willing to be with this right now. This place where my identity gets stuck, gets caught, gets reactive. You might sense what you're believing when you get caught. Are you believing that you can't ever be happy if things are the way they are?

Are you believing that you are flawed in a way that is going to cause you to be rejected? Are you believing that you can't trust others to care or understand? when you're in this identity, what are you believing? You might sense and ask yourself, who would I be if I didn't believe this? What would my life be like if I didn't believe this? Can you sense the space that opens up? Can you sense that the light of the moon can begin to shine through?

Who would I be if I didn't believe this? How would my life be? Can you sense the possibility of, really living spring. If you didn't believe something limiting about yourself or your life. Whitman writes, I inhale great droughts of space. The east and west are mine. The north and south are mine. I am larger, better than I thought. I did not know I held so much goodness. The last part of this meditation simply come into presence, feeling your breath, listening to the sounds that are here

feeling the life that lives through this body sensing how these sensations come and go and change how emotions come and go different weather at different times inwardly the thoughts that come and go and sense amidst all this change what is changeless

right in this moment what do you sense is changeless and just relax and become that changeless, timeless presence. Just be that which is looking through the mask. Be the silence that's listening. Awake openness. Being that empty heart that includes this world. I inhale great droughts of space. The east and the west are mine.

The north and the south are mine. I am larger, better than, I thought, I did not know I held so much goodness. Namaste and thank you for your attention. The teaching you have received has been freely offered. If you would like to contact the Insight Meditation Community of Washington to make a donation or to learn more about our programs, please visit our website at www.imcw.org.