“You feel as if your whole world is crumbling …
that’s cause for celebration.”
– Buddhist nun Pema
Chodron
In
her book Living Beautifully with
Uncertainty and Change, Buddhist nun Pema Chodron describes a time in her
life when she felt her world was falling apart. She was failing in her role as
director of Gampo Abbey and received negative feedback from residents who felt “disempowered”
by her. But she was not hearing what they were saying due to her fixed
identity, called “ego clinging” in Buddhism—the cause of much suffering.
Her
teacher Chogyam Trungpa taught her that a crumbling fixed identity is a reason
to celebrate. By dropping the notion of who we are, what we approve of and how
we do things, we remove our armor (our egos) and are more open to what
challenges our fixed sense of self, more open to growth.
Who or what are you resisting?
How can you invite him, her or it in—an act likely to challenge your self-definition?
Hi Jenny, I've just found your blog and I find it very inspirational and maybe the push to get me writing each day, something I've resisted because of time constraints, other obligations, the list goes on...I would like to follow your blog but cannot figure out how to do so. Please advise. Susan
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