A HEART FELT TEACHING

BIG Heart made from two soda bottles joined at the base.

Buddah described the practice of acceptance this way: if  you put a handful of salt into a small bowl of water, the water will be too salty to drink. If you take the same amount of salt and pour it into a river the water will be drinkable, without any taste of the salt.
If your HEART is limited, one unkind word or judgment can cause you to suffer. If your HEART is large, an unkind word or deed will have little power for you. I found this quote while reading "Know Yourself, Forget Yourself by Marc Lesser.
It is timely medicine for my heart and a beautiful image for me to keep in mind. Something in this writing clicked into place as I have been seeking a way to deal with some long time hard feelings around neighbor conflicts.  This lesson can help my heart stay open as I face my neighbors who I see as dark negative forces that I am constantly trying to deflect. The root of this problem comes from unfortunate judgements all around that have been a big bag of smelly garbage I have been dragging around. It is difficult to live close to people for many years who you really dislike. Once you look for the negative, those hard things can just keep growing bigger. It is time for me to stop, take a deep breath and empty the garbage.

I now see a way I can get bigger while petty resentful attitudes become tiny. It is a way to re-frame situations by growing my heart (not my ego) and in that process, lessen the barbs that I feel are directed towards me.  This teaching also helps me get over the fear around perceptions that I am unable forgive these neighbors and something is wrong with me. This new way shows me that I can grow out of the negative using my huge open heart that can now hold so much more good stuff and help me move away from these kinds of judgements. The heart is THE answer.

Happy Valentine's Day when we have the greatest amount of heart awareness!