By Dr. Manijeh Motaghy, Program Director and Founder of Perfectly Here
We are blessed to have stumbled upon such practices as Mindfulness, Loving Kindness, Compassion and Forgiveness. All of which are truly magnificent in the way they can heal our hearts, cleanse our minds and make us more skillful and better human beings.
The other day, while teaching the 11 day Be Mindful & Happy course on Zoom, I became even more aware of how I am not the only creature who lives on this earth. How you are not either! How we share everything we have, use, feel, experience and think. Even our emotions don’t belong to us. Human beings share all colors and range of emotions. Being sad, mad, elated, angry, worried, bad mood, good mood, passionate, dispassionate, disappointed, grateful, proud, ashamed, and you name it. None of these emotions belong to me nor to you. We share all of it.
This way of thinking is freeing for me. I don’t take any of it personal anymore. Well, sometimes I forget, of course. But reflecting that nothing is mine, for example, the money that comes to me is not mine. It has come to me for a purpose. The purpose of it is – to go! Go to others for what they provide for me. Thinking that “I” have or “I” don’t have is such a limiting and trapping perspective. We all suffer needlessly for it.
To not suffer, we have to keep this understanding alive so we may realize that specially these emotions are not ours. They belong to the nature. The nature of things as they are.
So, we sit in meditation. Choose wise subjects to meditate on in order to cleanse delusion, hatred and greed from our souls and being. Practices like loving kindness, healing the inner child, compassion, forgiveness and gratitude are extremely potent. After you engage in them you feel better. It’s like the feeling you get when after a few days of working in the heat, all dirty, with no water and finally you get to a nice cool shower. When that fresh water rolls over your face, down your body washing dirt and relaxes your muscles. Then with a nice glass of lemonade or just fresh water you feel rejuvenated, relieved and happy. That’s how these practices work for the soul, heart and mind.
Join us this weekend to practice together. There’s still room for the Loving Kindness Retreat. And we are offering it based on donation. So, no one is turned away for lack of funds. Here’s the link: Loving Kindness Retreat