The more we let go, the more comes to us
The other day I was reflecting on the fact that the greatest tools we have, the greatest allies we have are our body and our mind, our physical being and our mental/emotional thinking. We have a body and mind, we are not our body and mind. There is a difference. There is a difference between being and having.
It’s so easy to identify with the mind. “I think, therefore I am.” Who was it who said that, was it Descartes? “I think, therefore I am.” It may feel that way or seem that way, but that’s not really true. We simply are. And we have a mind that think-feels and we have a body that moves and senses. They go together, yet they are different.
So when we practice, we have an opportunity to make friends with both our body and our mind to get closer so that we can experience what it feels like to be in a body, what it feels like to think in our minds. We see how our feelings can change. We see how from one day to the next, the body may feel strong, or tender, or tough. We see how our mind can resist what we are feeling, how our mind doesn’t want to be in our body. The mind makes our body wrong, tests it, stretches it.
So we practice. And as we practice, we begin to appreciate this body that we have, this body that houses us and carries us wherever we want to go. This body that houses the mind, gives the mind its home, its place. And we experience the mind: how quick it can be, how slow it can be, how eager, how happy, how sad, how bright, and sometimes how dull and lazy.
The mind is fascinating—it has such potential. It’s sometimes said that we use only ten percent of our minds potential. Think about that, think about that. I do. I love the way my mind works. I love its vagaries, it’s wanderings. I love its reminiscences. I love its questioning. I love the fact that the mind needs some rest, rest from all that thinking it does, all the figuring.
So practice is an opportunity to just unload a little bit, unload from all that thinking, from all that planning, all the doubting, the worrying. Just let it go for a while and rest the mind. The mind needs rest. It’s not as though the harder we think, the smarter we get. Not at all. Sometimes it’s just the opposite. The more we let go, the more comes to us. And with the body, the more we let go of the tension that gets stored from all the mind’s busyness, the more we can let go, the more relax and ease we feel.
And at the end of practice, we feel refreshed. We feel a sense of gratitude, a sense of gratitude, a sense of gratitude. Yes.
