I’m still Practicing Observing my Inner Critic

Good morning beloved reader,

Just a little ‘nugget’ this morning.

After sending out a Substack post yesterday, my Inner Critic decided to pay a visit, which always has the potential to be very muddy (remembering that like the Lotus flower, we blossom because of, not in spite of.)

But I’m so grateful for the results of the inner work I’ve done towards observing my humanity from my divinity—you can read more about this in PART ONE of The Rising of the Divine Feminine and the Buddhist Monks Across the Road: A Memoir, where I describe designing my own sadhana in interfaith seminary with help from Rev. Dr. Stephanie Rutt, and committing to this daily spiritual practice for two years.

The most significant gift from this commitment to a daily spiritual practice for 24 continuous months, was the spaciousness it created within my psyche. Cultivating this inner spaciousness allowed me to strengthen the capacity to observe my own thoughts: to not be identified with the thoughts passing through my mind. Or as the American Tibetan-Buddhist nun Pema Chodron puts it:

“I am the sky, everything else is just the weather.”

I also love how Eckhart Tolle talks about thoughts as little entities, and that his most significant accomplishment in his lifetime is his capacity to have no thoughts passing through his mind. Complete inner stillness❤️🙏

This is the kind of cessation of suffering I’m interested in, and I get a taste of how the presence of such a human being effects their environment, from being in the presence of the senior Buddhist monks from across the road here. (You can read a little about my ‘human story’ on the bottom of this Substack’s About page.)

I never cease to be amazed by the sense that little ripples of peace and harmony emanate from the very being of these senior Buddhist monks. Jamie and I are continually amazed to observe that even after we’ve spent time with them, a sense of harmony and equanimity stays with us.

I want to leave you with that thought,😉 that energy, and to wish you a “wonder-filled” weekend. Thank you for reading!✨🦌✨ 💃🧚‍♀️🤸‍♀️🌼🌷🌈🌺🪷💕☀️😎 💃🕺☯️ 🥰✨🌟💖🙏🕊️