January 3 – How did the rose ever open its heart?

Dear Friends,

There’s a beautiful poem attributed to Hafiz:

It Felt Love

How
Did the rose
Ever open its heart

And give to this world
All its
Beauty?

It felt the encouragement of light
Against its
Being.

Otherwise,
We all remain

Too

Frightened.

Hafiz and Daniel Ladinsky. The Gift. New York, Penguin / Arkana, 1999.

(You can hear Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer sing a beautiful rendition of this poem here.)

The importance of kindness in our practice cannot be understated. How can we open ourselves to our own inner goodness and see what is wise, unless we can be with what is here now?

We too need to feel the encouragement of light against our being. That’s the role of kindness in our practice.

Today, I invite you to intentionally bring kindness into your practice. Perhaps you may want to follow along with this guided meditation by Diana Clark:
https://youtu.be/ZUOWNNbQAXM (video)
https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/12242.html (audio only)

What do you notice when you practice with kindness? Perhaps there is some resistance — maybe you have some stories about how kindness is something for other people (I know that story) — just notice that too, with kindness. Perhaps you forget to be kind (I do that) — also not a problem either: we’re planting seeds of kindness that will take root.

My training manual has a quote from Martin Aylward:

There is no wrong experience. No thought you shouldn’t have, no feeling that shouldn’t arise. When you meet experience like this, everything is welcome; your heart is wide open, and free.

Martin Aylward, SIT Mindfulness Training Manual, Mindfulness Training Institute, 2020

Feel free to share your reflections or experience as a comment to this blog, or by email.

With kindness,
Andrea