Posts Tagged ‘Openness’
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Tuesday, February 12th, 2013
There is an incredible new book out, The Dude and the Zen Master, written by what many might think is an unlikely duo – an actor and a Zen Buddhist. Yet, this book by Jeff Bridges and Bernie Glassman takes a look at life through the lens of The Big Lebowski. The book is part mystical, part Zen, part humor, part journey, part compassion in action. What I loved about the book is that throughout their entire conversation (on many topics), there was a deep sense of the importance of showing up, being present, and staying true to oneself.
One of their dialogs includes Glassman sharing with Bridges his insight about how to have a mindset without having expectations. He says it can be summed up with these words:
Row, row, row your boat
gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream.
It is all about going with the flow, staying in the present, and doing it merrily. The song doesn’t say go down the stream crankily. It reminds us to row our boats, change our oars when we need to, and to be gentle with ourselves. As Glassman says, “There are different streams. Sometimes you come to a fall and sometimes you come to white water. Your rowing has to adapt to the situation. So gently is really important. Don’t power yourself or blast through; rock with the way things are.”
The book gives you the sense you are sitting in the room listening in on a profound conversation and you get to bear witness. You will feel grateful for being able to listen to the conversation and Bridges and Glassman’s insights from acting to Zen Buddhism to sacred activism.
Row, row, row your boat is a way of looking at life in the present, being gentle, and changing shores. As Glassman say, “Take care of yourself right now. Befriend what’s happening, not just who you’re supposed to be or what the world should look like. This is where you are now, so how do you care for yourself this minute?”
Treat yourself to this powerful exchange between two incredible human beings.
Come As You Are
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
In a recent conversation with one of my closest friends, we spoke about what it means to show up with strength and vulnerability. In our desire to pay attention to our Happiness Projects, we developed our mantras and actions that deepen our awareness of our bliss. We have spent over a month developing our project and getting really clear about what we want. I shared that I wanted to have more clarity with how I express myself.
A teacher recently said in class, “Clarity brings confidence.” Amen! How can we bring clarity and the type of precision needed to really ask ourselves the deep questions that unearth our soul’s answers? How can we move with what is now and not live from the past? And how can we acknowledge ourselves with love and compassion as an every day practice? As soon as those questions went from my pen to paper, I turned to see Pema Chodron’s book, The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving Kindness, on my table. I opened to the following excerpt:
“Come as you are. The magic is being willing to open to that, being willing to be fully awake to that.”
“Inquisitiveness or curiosity involves being gentle, precise, and open—actually being able to let go and open. Gentleness is a sense of goodheartedness toward ourselves. Precision is being able to see very clearly, not being afraid to see what’s really there, just as a scientist is not afraid to look into the microscope. Openness is being able to let go and to open.”
“Basically, making friends with yourself is making friends with all those people too, because when you come to have this kind of honesty, gentleness, and goodheartedness, combined with clarity about yourself, there’s no obstacle to feeling loving-kindness for others as well.”
How do you makes friends with yourself? Ask and then let go and let love lead you.
At the end of a meditation in a Yoga class, the following words came flooding in as I asked for clarity: “I will wait for you – always. In your time, I am here.”
Come as you are,
Mary Anne