A Practice In Meeting All The Parts Of Yourself.

There is a beautiful teaching from Buddhism about the second arrow, the source of real suffering. The second arrow is the way that we meet our responses, the inner landscape of self judgement that can be so unforgiving and painful. This practice invites us to meet ourselves in all our messy parts with a sense of belonging, allowing, kindness so that we no longer fight against ourselves but instead welcome the many conflicting, difficult but true shadow parts of what it is to be human.

Transcript

Good morning and welcome. Good to be here with you. Let's each of us take our time to get settled. To make contact with ground. Noticing the floor. Your seat. And the contact. The relationship. Of body and ground, Body and earth. You might need to do some riddling or some circling. To let the body settle, Some stretching even You might push your heels into the floor or push your pelvis down toward the ground. Inviting the body to become heavier. As you hand over the weight of your body to ground. And you receive the holding. Being held by ground. As you tune in. To the sensation of your body Is it possible to let go a little? To soften. And just the body softens. Almost as if the hard edges start to melt. Like a block of ice melting in the warmth of the sun. And less sharp edges. And a kind of watery softening. Starts to emerge. As the warmth of the sun reaches the block of ice. Not only do the sharp edges start to melt. There's also. . . A very slight mist. Of water evaporating. The edges become just a little bit blurry. The world outside of the body. And the world inside of the body become. Less distinct, Less separate. You start to melt into your environment. Noticing your face. Allowing it to soften. It can be so easy to take it so seriously. Our practice. But let's allow this practice to be the opposite of serious. Can it be curious? And pay for. Not so full of rules. Ways to get it wrong, Ways to get it right. Simply a place to allow what's here. Whatever that looks like. And however that feels. There's a Buddhist teaching I love about the second arrow. And the second arrow is. . . About the way that we respond towards our response. So a thing happens. And we respond. That's the first arrow, Our response. The second arrow is the way we respond to that response of ours, The self-judgment or the voice that tells us we got it wrong. The second arrow is so often the real cause of suffering. Perhaps someone speaks harshly to me and I retort harshly back. The second arrow is the voice inside of me. Telling me. That I'm wrong for my response. Just one example, There's a million ways the second arrows land. Quite often they're painful. He hits him much harder. In the first. So as we drop into our practice. An invitation. Move into the Tamik territory of the second arrow. The inner voice. As an opinion on how you behave. And what that means about you. The stories of the shoulds and shouldn'ts. The voice is so quick. So ready. To point out your badness. Like an overtired toddler. The voice at the second arrow. Usually. Just longs to be loved. To be okay. To be safe. So as you drop into that place of self-judgment. Can you meet it? With the kindness. And the safety. That it longs for. Can you let it be here? Without asking it to be different. Maybe that's what we long for more than anything. To be welcomed here without needing to be different. To be okay. Exactly as we are. Even the parts that feel so angry Controlling. Judgmental. Parts that split into superiority or inferiority. Parts that push us, Drive us relentlessly. And the paths that feel jealousy. Cruelty. Just for this practice. Can we sit with them? And tell them they're okay. They can be it. I made these parts. And as they feel the warmth of your welcome. I like the ice blocks. Maybe they start. Soften. In the warmth of your awareness. Knowing that they belong. Sensing that they are no longer shunned to the shadows. They are welcome here. In the light of your awareness. Maybe something changes. We are so many parts. YAN PA scared parts. Lonely parts. And desperately sad part. It can be hard to know what to do with it all. So just for this practice. And let them be here. Not as a way to trick them so that they change, But as a way to learn to just be with them. To welcome them. You belong. You belong. You belong. You. You. Mm-hmm bringing your awareness to your heart. Maybe just below the heart, The solar plexus. And visualising a golden light. Emanating from the solar plexus. Spreading. Downwards and upwards. To the back and the front and the sides of your body. Beautiful soupy golden light Let it wrap itself. Around the cells of your body. And all the parts. Is in. The Angry Part. The young. The part that's grieving. The part that's in a hurry. Let all the parts of you be touched. By this golden light. Allowing the breath to deepen. I'm finding the ground Our intention for this week is compassion. Wrapping yourself in compassion. As we offer the fruits of our practice to ourselves. To each other and to all beings. Namaste.