state instead of wishing them away, I am honest with her about my own
feelings about the situations I encounter. If I’m exasperated, I say, “I am
exasperated right now.” The fact is, I am in a mood at such a moment,
and I am allowed to be in a mood, though not to take it out on others.
Hence I acknowledge my mood, but I don’t react to the situation, don’t
fight it—don’t act out the feeling. Rather, I embrace all of my feelings.
As I do so, I find myself spontaneously shifting into full acceptance of
the situation.
Similarly, when we are in a traffic jam, I say, “We are in a traffic jam
right now.” I desist from labeling such experiences as “good” or “bad,”
refusing to impose on these present experiences clutter from my past, let
alone my imagination of how the future ought to be. The point is to cease
trying to bend reality to our will.
As our sense of who we are deepens, our inner being proves spacious
enough to include everything life sends our way.IS IT POSSIBLE TO TRUST LIFE?
Trusting that life’s messengers come to us with secrets to reveal about
who we really are, we embrace our children for the messages they hold
for us. We don’t judge, blame, or shun them for shining the light on our
unconsciousness, but learn from them in humility and with gratitude.
In precisely the package our children arrive in our life, they are here to
teach us how to release our ego and embrace our authentic being. I think
of Elizabeth and Matthew, who have two sons, and how the package in
which each of these boys came revealed itself to Elizabeth as life’s wise
gift. She was able to see that to embrace her sons just as they are