The Moment
I am as all mortals are, unable to be patient.
The Practice - Audio Class 1
Choose to answer at least three of the active-learning questions below. The ones you most resonate with. Keep the answers in a journal specifically kept for only this “work.” Down the line I will be making available more ways to connect with me in small groups as well as one on one and this writing will prove helpful for that.
- What would happen if, instead of seeking answers right away, you simply stayed present with the questions in your heart? What might be revealed in the spaces between seeking and receiving?
- Consider a time when agitation or impatience led you to move away from something difficult rather than face it. How might the practice of staying present with discomfort transform your experience of it?
- What parts of yourself are submerged beneath the daily tides of life? How might slowing down and staying present allow these hidden parts to surface and reveal new insights about your inner wholeness?
- In what ways does the “dense forest” of your memories, reasons, and beliefs block the light within? How might the practice of simply observing, rather than analyzing, help clear the way for new understanding?
- How can you cultivate the kind of patience that allows you to see what lies beneath the surface of your own struggles? How might this shift reveal a greater connection between your pain and a larger transformation?
- What aspects of your life do you rush through, expecting them to yield answers or peace? How might staying present in these very places open new doors of understanding and lead you closer to inner truth?
- Imagine yourself as both the woods overgrown and the clearing beneath. How does seeing yourself in this duality—both the dense and the open—shift your sense of inner wholeness and self-acceptance?
- When the “tide” of experience recedes, what remains that is enduring, and how does this part of you hold the light through dark times? How might recognizing this help you face future waves with greater resilience?
- Reflect on how patience can allow you to witness transformation in its natural time, like the crab apple becoming the apple. What within you could benefit from being held in gentle patience as it finds its own unfolding?
- When you become still, breathing into the “dense woods of your heart,” what emerges from the shadows? How might staying in this clearing, without rushing to fix or change, deepen your connection to yourself and to life’s hidden wisdom?
