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Mary gives an example in her book The Gift of Our Compulsions. Imagine that music is blasting in your house. You turn off the music, and suddenly, you can hear all of the sounds that were masked by the blaring music: the hum of the fridge, the dog's toenails clicking on the kitchen floor, the thunk of the mail dropping through the mail slot. Our struggles are the too-loud music, and our hearts, our true selves, are the masked sounds.
To address the how-to part of Renee's question, Mary offers four questions to ask ourselves throughout our day:
- In this moment, what am I experiencing?
- For this moment, can I let this be here?
- In this moment, can I touch this with compassion?
- Right now, what do I truly need?
There's more, of course. And that's the essence of it: reconnecting with ourselves. Telling our own truth, the truth that lies underneath our noise, our struggle, our compulsions.
1 comments:
Thanks for this post! Obviously, it's a pretty complex question, but it's nice to have an idea of what it means for you.
I wonder about that stopping and paying attention. I sometimes eat badly when I'm bored, but also when I'm so busy that it's hard to stop and think straight. I've been working as an aide in a nursing home once a week and noticing that I eat insanely on those days. The rush and the physicality of it combine to make me both hungry and mindless. It's a completely opposite situation from my day job, which is clearly very calm and controlled most of the time and involves sitting and having my own space always.
Anyway, I'm babbling, but really appreciate this post and will be thinking of these questions and about how I can meet the needs of different situations.
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