"Yes" to open.

What if we met any experience, feeling, or thought with total, radical acceptance? What if, instead of pushing away pain and fear, we invited them in? To sit down next to us. To have tea. Or, in my case, sit on the street curb with me. What if we treated them as a friend? Even a dear one?

What if we said “yes” to the mess of emotions, old stories, distorted beliefs, disdained parts of ourselves? Instead of trying to get rid of them, judging them, pushing them down, reacting to them…we simply let them be?

What if we just breathed, honored whatever wants to rise up within us to do so…and we just felt the sensations of pain, fear, sadness, grief, and shame?

I am convinced that we do not heal from trying harder, dissecting our inner thoughts and landscape, or making our “demons” our enemies by pushing them away or trying to get rid of them or crush them.

Tara Brach, a renowned Buddhist teacher with the Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC, in her book Radical Acceptance proposes that, in the moment of intense emotions or confusion, we ask ourselves: “What is happening right now? What inside me most needs my attention?”

And notice.

And say “yes.”

Yes to the knots in the stomach. Yes to the fearful thoughts, the judging thoughts, the shameful thoughts. Yes to the tightness in our jaws and throats. Yes to the hole in the heart. Yes to the grief gripping our ribs. Yes to the anger volcanically erupting from the depths of the belly.

Yes to the whole mess. Yes to breathing. Yes to connecting to EVERY EVERY single part of us, ostracizing not one part, and saying, as Thich Nhat Hanh would suggest, “Ahhh, there you are dear one. I see you. And that is why I am here.”

A welcomed dear one, sitting next to us.

I am sitting on a street curb. Much like we’d do when we were young, hanging outside with friends. I am saying, “Welcome” to fears that have gripped me and influenced my reactions to people and situations. They are calling my attention this Lent, this Spring. The thought of this brings up anxiety. Ok, so I’ll feel the sensations of anxiety. And then notice what happens next.

Ok, my dear ones. Come sit with me.