Tara Brach - Reflection - The Compass of Our Heart (2017-03-15)

Episode Date: March 19, 2017

Reflection - The Compass of Our Heart (2017-03-15) - When we are remembering our deepest intention in any situation, our lives become aligned, and we can act with grace, compassion and wisdom. These reflections will help you remember your intention when caught in conflict, and in a larger way, allow the truth of impermanence to carry you into the very source of longing - loving awareness itself. NOTE: from the end of "Realizing Your Deepest Desires" - full talk podcasted and at: https://www.tarabrach.com/realizing-deepest-desires/. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara

The following reflection is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or reflections or to join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. So let's pause here. Let's take a moment. I invite you to check into where there might be a relationship that could use your deepened attention and presence. Just do a little bit of practice right here on the spot.

can bring to mind some situation where you get it conflictual, reactive with somebody, family, friend, colleague. This isn't not a major, major hostility, but where you get into a pattern where you know that you're reacting from your ego and they're reacting from theirs. You might imagine in one situation that is representative. Imagine a situation where you're kind of stuck in your, in the defenses or the aggression or whatever it is. You might ask yourself, what's my intent right here? Am I trying to protect myself from hurt?

Am I trying to be right to improve my position to get something I want? I'm trying to get back. And whatever you notice on the egoic want level, just to regard it with compassion. I think of it like you're the ocean, it's just waves, it's a pattern of waves that's developed. It's compassionate towards it. In fact, the more you're kind towards that ego level, the more you'll be able to drop into something deeper. So you might sense what happens if you really are kind towards whatever's going on inside you.

then investigate more deeply. What's my deepest intention? What really matters? If you and this person were at the end of your lives, what would you wish? See, if you can let your deepest aspiration fill you. So you look through the eyes of your more awake self, that the other person may be sensing a bit where they're vulnerable, what they need.

And you might notice if there's more of a sense, of possibilities, choices that open up when you're remembering your deepest intention. Knowing that this takes repeating many rounds where attention goes, energy flows. You might imagine over and over that you could be pausing with this person or children, parents, partner, friends, noticing what the intention is in the moment with kindness, but then saying, well, what really matters here? We know we don't want to go through the decades, sleepwalking, chasing after comforts and pleasures, cotton, judging and blame. We don't want to miss the fullness of love and aliveness and mystery that's who we are. Mary Oliver in one of her poems

describes kneeling in prayer in a field contemplating with wonder, a grasshopper who's gazing around with enormous complicated eyes. And she writes, tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? As a final closing reflection,

just continuing with your eyes close, you might imagine if you really knew you had a year to live and what's your sense of how you'd live that year? How would the compass of your heart guide you? What would matter? You might imagine if you had a month in the same way. What's the sense of your true aspiration, your desire?

How would that come? guide you. You might imagine if you had a day. What matters? What really matters? What do you want to remember? How do you want to live your moments? In the last few minutes, what is it that you want to really remember, open to, touch, live from, die into? What matters? All beings open, to the purest longing of their hearts. May the compass of the heart guide us to ever-increasing kindness and creativity, aliveness.

May we be carried into boundless belonging into vast love and awareness. Namaste and thank you.