Not Knowing Is Most Intimate
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Not Knowing Is Most Intimate 〰️
“It’s okay to feel this pain, it’s okay to feel this way” ~ a young girl who sang her song
It’s common to find ourselves compelled to the mat during times we feel stuck, uncertain and not sure how to proceed. If we allow ourselves to trust in the support of the practice, we open to the possibility of what exists beyond the stuck place we find ourselves in and we begin to trust that what lies on the other side of our suffering might be worth the discomfort of moving through rather than running from. We gain faith that the answers to the questions we have are within and we become quiet enough to listen for them to be revealed.
We find the mat or the meditation cushion sometimes by choice, sometimes by no other choice but it is ultimately our willingness to seek the sacred in the most ordinary and unassuming of places that reminds us that joy and beauty and love exist all around us.
40 Days Guided Sequence
Movement
Mantra
“Not knowing is most intimate”
Daily Devotions Days 22-28
This week, I invite you to embrace the awe and wonder of trying one new thing each day. Your new activity can be simple—perhaps taking a different route to work or ordering something unfamiliar from a menu. I walk daily, and when I practice this, I love walking down streets I’ve never been on. Maybe you’ll learn a phrase in a foreign language or pick up that hobby you’ve been curious about. Whatever you choose, pay attention to how it makes you feel. Stay open to the freshness, novelty, flexibility, and curiosity that emerge when we allow ourselves not to know. You may even notice a burst of dopamine—the feel-good hormone—as you experience the excitement of change.
Contemplative Questions
“I bow before the beauty and uniqueness of what I am facing. Not knowing, I am ready to be surprised, ready to listen and understand, ready to respond as needed, ready to let others respond, ready to do nothing at all, if that is what is called for. When I can let go of my experience, knowledge, and wisdom I can be humble in the face of what is, and when I am humble I am ready to be truly fearless and intimate. I can enter into this moment, which is always a new relationship, always fresh. I can be moved by what happens, fully engaged and open to what the situation will show me.” ~ everyday zen
What happens when I let go of knowing?
Who am I when allow the moment to reveal itself?