The mud & the lotus
“Only by learning to fully embrace all aspects of ourselves - even the most seemingly negative elements of our minds and hearts - will we learn to fully embrace others. Only by discovering the basic goodness in both our lotus and our mud, will we come to see the basic goodness of all living beings.” - Pema Chodron
In Buddhism, there is a story about the lotus and the mud. The lotus must rise up out of the muck of the mud to blossom in the light of the day. The mud is equivalent to the parts of ourselves that are "sticky." We all have habits of thought and behavior that don't serve our higher purpose. We all have parts of ourselves that we try to hide. Our practice can help us to rise up out of our contracted, suffering selves, stuck in the illusion of separateness and unworthiness, and to connect to our basic goodness.
The challenge is that we have to stay with the mud in order to become the lotus. We tend to either resist or amplify difficult feelings. Instead, we can practice being with things as they are, even if they are difficult. In this frenetic world, we have invented innumerable ways to distract ourselves and to avoid feeling what we feel. Many of us are reluctant to sit and meditate because we are afraid of what we will hear when we listen to ourselves. Perhaps there is also an element of not knowing how to listen to ourselves; especially those of us who typically play the role of caregiver in our lives.
Our practice is an opportunity to identify patterns in the way we relate to ourselves and our circumstances. We can't always control what happens in each moment, but we always have a choice in how we relate to the moment. Through practice, we can start to identify the things that hook us and pause before we fall into our habitual reactions. In that space, there is the possibility to respond from a place of mindfulness and compassion.
