Just One Book on the Bookshelf

As we move through life, we are in a near-constant state of trying to have our needs met.  Each word or deed is an attempt by us to meet our needs.  Everyone around us is also trying to meet their own needs. Sometimes our strategies put us at logger-heads with those around us and we find ourselves in dispute with someone.  When that happens, we may find that we begin to see this person purely in relation to the point of conflict that we’re currently experiencing.  We may begin to feel an aversion to their entire being, rather than feeling a misalignment related to one particular issue.  

In an Appreciation practice, we bring to mind and heart people in our lives whose goodness and virtues we appreciate.  This may be the patience of a loved one, or the kindness of a stranger.  An important and powerful part of the practice lies in bringing to mind someone with whom we are in conflict in some way and, with openness, we suspend judgment and notice if there is a quality that we appreciate in this person, too.  This can take a large measure of vulnerability, there may be some initial “yes, buts…” popping into the mind, but we can sense into our breath, our feet on the floor, we can gingerly step forth from behind our protective walls and… loosen into a rounder, fuller sense of this person.  

When we do this, we may come to see that, while there is conflict in the strategies each of us is using to meet a particular need, there are many facets and qualities to this person, some of them even admirable.  

We can have a sense that our point of conflict is but one book on a book shelf, surrounded by many and varied others.  We have allowed our lens to widen a bit, to take in a fuller picture.  In the space that we have created, we may breathe easier and move more fluidly through life.

We hope you can join us this week as we gather in community, and broad our perspective on life.

May all beings everywhere, without exception, breathe easy,
Your CMP Family