Allison Potter
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Tracey-
I could really relate to your story. I have tears in my eyes as I write this. I just wanted you to know that reading your words touched me deeply and make me feel less alone.
Thank you,
AlliWhat a beautiful essay, Susan. It was exactly what I needed to hear at this point in my journey.
Your words describe where I am, “When I practiced opening myself to my own suffering and the suffering of others, at a certain point it would become unbearable and all I could do was cry.” I find myself shying away from people’s emotions and isolating due to a recent trauma because I feel as if my heart was broken wide open, and hearing of others pain is too much. I find myself crying all the time. I never used to cry– in fact, I have gone years without.Your other words describe where I’d like to shift my thinking, “they gained something from their tears. They learned something from them. They weren’t reduced to a weakened condition; they were made stronger by their tears and were left with a greater capacity for love, not less.”
What a powerful thought.Hi Kate-
This sounds like a very similar experience I had within the walls of my own 12-step group.
“Through heartbreak, I found companionship.” Your words have awoken something inside me that wants to seek out why I have been isolating away from different types of companionship.
Here’s to being “a more truthful version” of who we are.
Thank you for your share.I discovered Susan via that book. I could relate deeply to your post, David. Thank you for sharing. I for sure feel more than I ever have after a broken heart experience. It is both beautiful and sad at the same time.
My yoga teacher only calls BKS Iyengar by “Mr. Iyengar”, and it makes me chuckle.
Nice to see a fellow yogi and 12 stepper!Hi David-
I absolutely love your addition of the song before you practice.
In the type of yoga I do, we have a chant before we practice and I find it centers me and feels like an offering in a way. I am going to try something similar before I meditate.
Thanks for your openness in sharing.I enjoyed your essay, Karen.
This spoke to me: “it seems to me that the painful experiences have imparted the most information to me throughout my human life.”
I also love how answers can arrive like yours did in your essay. I have a suspicion that is why Susan assigns them :).I love this Betsy; I can relate to using Susan’s teachings to keep the practice spiritual. I tried the chanting piece as well, but it did not resonate with me.
I rather enjoy incorporating the three steps of making offerings, requesting blessings, and dedicating the merit. There’s something about it that makes it more intentional, ceremonial even. It breaks up the monotony of it for me. It also allows me time to check in with myself. How am I feeling right in this very moment? I offer that. What do I feel like I need in support in this moment or in this journey? I request blessings. And then after practice, if it felt good or “bad”, offer it up– teaching me compassion for self and others. When I heard Susan discuss this a few months ago, I have tried to do it ever since.
What comes to mind when you think about your own lineage(s)–and how might that support you in your personal practice?
I have been on a journey of searching for “god” for as long as I can remember. I have explored many traditions. Sometimes I go back to God as Jesus, even if I do not necessarily believe everything about the Christianly complex–it is still a part of me.
Sometimes I request blessings from my “highest self”. It differs from each day, but I usually try to request blessings in order to become the best version of me. I am also trying to learn self-compassion and self-esteem, and I find that it helps me to not hope and request to be anyone else.Been having posting issues I’m going to try on this main thread again.
Karma and Emotional Afflictions: The Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering
A line in the reading that hit me like a ton of bricks was, “how is it that we can knowingly torture ourselves.” Why can’t I put down the hot flame that keeps burning my hand?
Repetition compulsion (as they call it in the world of psychology), is something I have come to know well in this life. I tend to intellectualize things and feel like I am almost too self-aware for my own good. That, however, has not led me to stop being the cause of my own suffering. Suffering has become a place of comfort for me in an odd way.
One of the main reasons I feel drawn to Buddhism is due to the teachings of impermanence. I hope to continue to grow in my practice so I can have the strength (even just once) to sit in discomfort, pause, breathe, and choose a more conscious action rather than reacting from that place of repetition compulsion.
Tonglen has become my favorite modality of meditation. Not only do I feel like it has grown my compassion for others, but it has grown my self-compassion. I am my own worst critic, and I think only through self-compassion will I be able to accept myself and accept that I create most of my suffering.
Hi Karen-
Your post spoke to me deeply. I had never heard two of the quotes you mentioned before.
“Leave the situation, change the situation, or accept it – all else is madness.”
“We can even transform the negative energies into the medicine of wisdom.”
I agree with you that it is both terrible and wonderful to realize that craving, leading to suffering, comes from our own inner thoughts.
I am hopeful that this practice and teachings will strengthen my resolve to pause and choose new reactions or actions.
Thank you for your personal and thoughtful post.Hi Donna-
I really appreciate reading your thoughtful post on what suffering means in terms of the life you have lived.
I have been trying to get myself to remember, know, and accept ‘impermanence’. It’s a good reminder in times of suffering.
I also agree that, I too, am coming to see that we are all the same, and everyone experiences suffering in their subjective way in this life.I sighed loudly and had to take a moment of pause after reading the first sentence, “all experiences of suffering and happiness come from our actions, and the positive or negative nature of such actions depends on our motivation.”
I have struggled with the concept of “guru” especially seeing that these “gurus” that students seem to hold to a god like standard sometimes use that power to use and abuse.
I have a few “mentors” but not gurus. I believe in my inner knowing and my inner guru–which I am trying to listen to and discover more each day and in each moment.
Patterns are proving hard to break, and it is so difficult to take a step back and pause in a difficult moment. For a long time, I did not meditate because from what I understood, it was a practice of trying to “stop” thoughts. I thought this to be an impossible task.
I hope we can all be each other’s “guru” during these few months.
