"On the Brink" with Jean this Sunday at Minneapolis Insight

Dear Community,

Sunday 10am Community Practice & Discussion

Last week Jane invited us to explore Phillip Moffitt’s practice guideline of saying “as best I am able” to help let go of striving and self-judgment and remind ourselves that we are practicing, and living our lives, to the best of our ability.   As Jane explained, “When we engage in this practice, we develop our inherent integrity, humility and dignity and we allow ourselves to settle into who we actually are, in the present moment, just as it is.”

This Sunday we’ll continue to explore how we can work with our limited sense of self to expand what is possible in the next moment. Phillip calls this “imaginative possibility” – the possibility of envisioning a future aligned with our deepest values.

In order to access this imaginative possibility it’s necessary to do what Pema Chodron calls “staying on the brink”  – staying in the present moment, settling into what’s actually going on in body/mind, and not jumping ahead to a future yet to come.   This requires steadfastness, faith in the path, and a certain degree of courage.    

This is from Pema Chodron’s When Things Fall Apart:

Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all. When things fall apart and we’re on the verge of what we know not what, the test for each of us is to stay on the brink and not concretize.

To stay with that shakiness – to stay with a broken heart, with a rumbling stomach, with the feeling of hopelessness, of wanting revenge – that is the path of true awakening.  Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic – that is the spiritual path.

Every day we could think about the aggression in the world.  Every day we could reflect on this and ask ourselves “Am I going to add to the aggression in the world?”  Every day, at the moment when things get edgy, we just ask ourselves  “Am I going to practice peace, or am I going to war?”  

Please join us this Sunday to practice peace. Registration and Zoom information available here.

With mettā,
Minneapolis Insight