Reflection for January 2004

The New Year heralds the possibility of new opportunities and rekindles the spirit of hope.  It offers us  the opportunity "to do it differently" and to start anew again.  January offers us the possibility of beginning the year with balance or what Pema Chodron calls " Staying in the middle" - and excerpt from her book Comfortable with Uncertainty:

"Openness doesn't come from resisting our fears but from getting to know them well.  We can't cultivate fearlessness without compassionate Inquiry into the working of ego.  So we ask ourselves, " What happens when I feel I can't handle what's going on?  What are the stories I tell myself? What repels me and what attracts me? Where do I look for strength and in what do I place my trust? ...  How we stay in the middle between indulging and repressing is key, acknowledging what ever arises without judgment, letting the thoughts simply dissolve and then going back to the openness of this very moment... Up come all these thoughts, but rather than squelch them or obsess with them, we acknowledge them and let them go... after a while, that's how we relate with hope and fear in our daily lives.  Out of nowhere, we stop struggling and relax.  We see our storyline, drop it, and come back to the freshness of the present moment."