“To Meet (Yourself) Exactly Where You Are”*

“To Meet (Yourself) Exactly Where You Are”*

With Astonishing Tenderness –

By Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

When, in the middle of the night,

you wake with the certainty you’ve

done it all wrong, when you wake

and see clearly all the places you’ve failed,

in that moment, when dreams will not return,

this is the chance for your softest voice—

the one you reserve for those you love most—

to say to you quietly, oh sweetheart,

this is not yet the end of the story.

Sleep will not come, but somehow,

in that wide awake moment there is peace—

the kind of peace that does not need

everything to be right before it arrives.

The peace that comes from not fighting

what is real. The peace that rises

in the dark on its sure dark wings

to meet you exactly as you are.

~~~

To meet you exactly where you are.

This is not about changing ourselves.

This is not about abandoning ourselves in the moment.

This is not about adjusting ourselves so we can then become “spiritual”.

This journey that we are on, you and me and us, is about finding our way through life,

Life as it is.

The way out of it is through it.

To live into the moment.

With gentleness.

With kindness.

With commitment.

When we are able.

When we are not able,

With breath and kindness,

Softening and relaxing,

And practicing again.

~~~

Here is Pema Chodron, my personal hero, who absolutely lands it for me:

“Loving kindness towards ourselves doesn’t mean getting rid of anything. It means we can still be crazy after all these years. We can still be angry after all these years. We can still be timid or jealous or full of feelings of unworthiness. The point is not to try to change ourselves. It isn’t about throwing ourselves away and becoming something better. It is about befriending who we are, right here and right now.”

Pema Chodron

Awakening Loving-Kindness

~~~

For me, writing is a process of integration. It shows me what I don’t know that I know; it takes me deeper, wider inside my experience. If writing brings you solace or insight, here are some contemplation questions to ponder. Utilize them in whatever way they might support you:

• What are the thoughts that hold you hostage? What’s their content, their topic?

• How do you respond to these thoughts?

• What gifts might these thoughts inevitably offer you?

• Can you imagine any other way to respond to them?

~~~

I am finding that getting used to the darker and darker afternoons, the colder and colder mornings seem a harder adjustment for me this year. As I ride the waves of that transition, this song has brought me great comfort this week.

Here is Witch Hazel by Priscilla Herdman, Anne Hills, & Cindy Mangsen:

~~~

Dear Friends,

And you will not be injured by this dark and troubled time*……..

Celebrating the darkness as well as the light,

Honoring the fear as well as the faith.

One step at a time,

May we find our way.

May all beings benefit from our shared words.

Blessings,

Aruni

~~

*Lyric from the song Witch Hazel