The beautiful statement, “All we have is the breath in our lungs and love in our hearts,” from the Guide in the yearlong class kept dropping in over the last month or so. In exploring its resonance, I was able to see, experience, and expand more deeply into practice. Situations that could have been places of suffering were transformed into love, gratitude, and happiness with presence. 

An example recently was the emergence of bigger and more intense emotions from my children as they enter their tweens and teens. Ego was flipping from “you should be able to not react to this” to “we already went through this when they were toddlers” to "oh, there really IS something wrong." It wasn’t always that blatant; ego would often pair the feelings/energy surges with old thoughts around other prior life experiences and then meld them into this new experience. 

Life, in its brilliance, would drop in a reminder from the yearlong retreat or one of the practices we had that week and the encouragement to Record and Listen. Immediately awareness of what was actually happening transformed the moment. Curiosity as to how ego was trying to hold suffering in place and what life’s insights were offering came next as the bridge to gratitude. Thank goodness for Awareness Practice and Recording and Listening!

As attention was held in Awareness, there was space to expand and more insights dropped in. Because focus was on the process rather than the content, everything instantly relaxed. The process of being with the bigger energy of intense emotions rather than resisting them was the breath in the lungs and the love in the heart, stewarding and supporting the hearts of us all. 

Recorder in hand, the Mentor and I would look at what was being actually expressed. What was I being told about the expression of energy by ego? What old beliefs were coming up? How might pseudo zen be operating? What would love do? What support was the parent needing—the parent who really wanted to steward and support the children in their process as well as hers? Here was the “what now” from Life, facilitating and supporting the parent that was now in the form of me.

From love in action, rather than ego in action, information dropped in and was offered in the most easeful and appropriate way in the form of further Recording and Listening, reflective listening, drawing out, being with, solutions, etc., for all involved. Energy in the form of emotion is a magnificent expression of life force when stewarded by life! 

As I continued to Record and Listen, I saw how surges of energy that got labeled “good” or “bad” by ego sometimes came out of nowhere or had a sense of something building. Again, regardless of how anything came in terms of intensity, believability, etc., it did not matter. The more I was in Awareness or was aware, the more the container could hold and expand the space for energy to move through and offer all its gifts and then consciously, compassionately receive those gifts.

From the center, I was available for my children, as they also had their own experience. I was able to honor, support, and steward their unfolding journey through the conduit of love. I am so grateful for the opportunity to keep choosing True Nature!

Gasshō.

Do you have a favorite R/L insight, idea, or practice tool? We’d love to hear it! Send us your favorite quick tip (75 words or less) or submit your idea for a blog post.