New Year Reflection
Are you satisfied? My meditation teacher, Lama Lena Yeshe Kaytup, often speaks about this Dzogchen teaching. Last time I heard her say something about it I understood it this way: Satisfaction arises when we are being in freedom, totally open to what is.
During these winter months, I have been feeling into my own relationship to satisfaction, and being satisfied. What arises for me when I complete something? How am I with endings, with closure?
Satisfaction is interwoven with closure. If we are resting in and being as a state of satisfaction, we can move on without grabbing or pushing. We can be with what is, as it is.
I grew up learning to strive. Striving for perfection. Constantly moving to the next thing. I do not remember that time was taken at home, primary or secondary school, university-level programs and subsequently my jobs in the corporate world for us to rest in the satisfaction of something completing. We always were rushing on to the next project, the next thing to achieve.
It’s no wonder, since this approach is the bias in U.S.A. We are steeped in a continuous reaching for more from the perspective that nothing is ever good enough. Even when starting something new the mantra we learn is, “What’s the worst that could happen?”
We don’t learn how to pause, how to open to what is right here, right now. We don’t actually learn how to be in the moment, as the culture entices us to do, albeit without any support to actually do that. Harrumph!
Body-based methods (meaning, somatic practices that I coach and teach, as well as body-oriented meditation) are very effective in cultivating a felt experience of satisfaction. Our bodies respond when we practice simple things that support us to be present, connect with and rest into our bodies. Bodies are the soil where satisfaction takes root and then spreads into our feelings and thoughts. Our physiology responds with more balance and flow, more capacity to adapt and recover.
When we practice body-based methods again and again, we become embodied. We develop capacity for being the moment itself, even for a few seconds. We experience body sensations of satisfaction, ease, connection and ground. We are able to open to “What’s the best that could happen?” and allow that to become the backdrop for our life as it plays out.
From my heart, to yours….
