"Instead of making others right or wrong, or bottling up right and wrong in ourselves, there is a middle way, a very powerful middle way. We could see it as sitting on the razor's edge, not falling off to the right or the left. ...Whether it's ourselves, our lovers, bosses, children, local Scrooge, or the political situation, it's more daring and real not to put anyone out of our hearts and not to make the other into an enemy. If we begin to live like this, we'll find that we actually can't make things completely right or completely wrong anymore, because things are a lot more slippery and playful than that. Everything is ambiguous everything is always shifting and changing, and there are as many different takes on any given situation as there are people involved. Trying to find absolute rights and wrongs is a trick we play on ourselves to feel secure and comfortable.
"If we begin to get in touch with whatever we feel with some kind of kindness, our protective shells will melt and we'll find that more areas of our lives are workable. As we learn to have compassion for ourselves, the circle of compassion for others --what and whom we can work with, and how-- becomes wider."
i think that was from pema chodron, but i am not sure because it is just something i had written down in one of my many journals. i've been looking for them and finding more and more all the time. i want them so i can write down ideas when i am unable to use the computer since my laptop broke as i have said before. i am hoping i can take it apart and solder it? i don't know.
Marcus Aurelius 
|