HOW TO HOLD A WORLD

As your heart opens, as the defences against an illusory 'self' crumble, you begin to feel not just personal joys and sorrows, but the joys and sorrows of all humankind, of every sentient being, and perhaps of the entire universe as it moves in the void. And sometimes it feels like everything is crumbling into chaos. The sadness of the world seems overwhelming, the immense suffering on this planet, all or most of it unnecessary. And the mind spins into chaos itself looking for answers, reasons, someone or something to blame, a way to fix everything today, or make it all stop. Allow your heart to softly break today, if it must. There is a greater pain than a broken heart: a closed heart, a resistant heart, a heart unwilling to feel into the depths of every feeling, positive or negative; a heart numb to life. Allow waves of sorrow, grief, fear, even anger to move through you. These are all your children, and they are all alive, and all worthy of respect. Be the space; the container, not the contained. No matter how chaotic the world seems, no matter how completely old certainties shatter, the invitation remains: Slow down. Breathe. Re-contact the ground. This moment. These sensations dancing in this body. This breath. Come out of the mind-made drama of fear and anticipation, judgement and blame, regret and retribution, and feel the sacredness where you are. Make a new beginning. Commit to the ground of love. See outer chaos as an invitation to inner slowness. In the vastness of sky, there is enough room for the occasional storm. A hard heart shatters easily. A soft heart can expand to infinity, making room for an entire cosmos. Awakening doesn't mean closing your eyes to a grieving world, but being the vastness in which it dances, in all its joys and sorrows. - Jeff Foster