What I like so much about Vajrayana Buddhism is the emphasis on turning difficulties into awakened energy. It is a profound approach and is particularly helpful for those of us with chronic illness, pain and disability.
Our difficulties become our superpower rather than a burden. The path of using adversity is awareness of contraction. Openness naturally follows awareness and that is in itself outflowing of love.
So, we start with being aware. First be aware of adversity and the tightening around that adversity. Closing and contracting is the source of all our suffering. Openness is the door to our freedom from suffering and awareness is the key.
You can be aware of when you’re contracted and closed and in the same way you can feel when you’re open. Feeling contracted feels tight, stiff and hard. Openness feels light, spacious and relaxed. Closing focusses on me, mine and I. Opening feels connecting and loving.
Every time you hold on or get side tracked, you are closing. We do this all the time, constantly getting distracted and lost. We practice this again and again and get really good at it. This is why when we practice openness, it can feel uncomfortable. However, openness is our natural state, so when we return to this natural state it becomes easier and easier.
If you practice being of aware of when you’re closed or contracted, you can use that as a prompt to then open. In this way you can use adversity, difficulties and challenges as an opportunity. Adversity then becomes the path itself, rather than a source of suffering.
When we are open, it also means we are vulnerable. That is, the small self is vulnerable. The small self can start to take a hit and disintegrate. Our small mind doesn’t like this of course and sends us all kinds of signals of distress. If we maintain our openness, we can see these signals of distress and embrace them with love. In this way our distress becomes the path.
We have two minds. One mind, the ego, wants to close. But the more evolved mind wants to open. The ego mind is also very sticky. That is, we tend to gravitate to it; it lures us in with what seems like instant gratification. But if we remain aware we can see what’s happening. We can sense the contraction and closing. We can feel how tight and small we are starting to become.
If we maintain our awareness through this gravitation to ego mind, it becomes less sticky. We can see the closing and tightening from a perspective of open space. Then we can choose to not close if we want. The situation is more fluid and open and choice arises.
We can choose openness in those situations. The path of openness is more free, light and relaxed. The act of choosing openness over closing is of course pure love.
Andrew Holecek says “Love is applied emptiness”. Love is a manifestation of openness and acceptance.
When we connect to openness, you will feel things more fully, more completely. However, if you don’t contract around these things, they don’t hurt, they don’t become personal.
If you learn to pay attention and notice when you open, you’ll drop into love. Paying attention allows you to fully experience this unconditional love and that inspires you to loosen your tightening. A feedback loop begins of opening – love – loosening – opening….
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