Contemplative Monday

The following is a quote from 'Heart Advice, Weekly Quotes from Pema Chodron'.

Continuing from last week's 'hope and fear' theme:

WE JUST CAN'T JUMP OVER OURSELVES

"Hope and fear come from feeling that we lack something; 

they come from a sense of poverty.

We can't simply relax with ourselves. We hold on to hope, 

and hope robs us from the present moment.

We feel that someone else knows what is going on, 

but that there's something missing in us,

and therefore something is lacking in our world.

Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now

we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look.

That's the compassionate thing to do. That's the brave thing to do. 

We just can't jump over ourselves as if we were not there. 

It's better to take a straight look at all our hopes and fears.

Then some kind of confidence in our basic sanity arises."