Awakening to the Beauty of Life
“What human beings crave more than anything else is to be seen and completely accepted for who we are.”
“It is a high-stakes engagement to not miss the beauty of life.”
This is the invitation and guidance Jon Kabat-Zinn gifts us in today’s episode.
A mindfulness pioneer, Jon has played a foundational role in bringing meditation to the forefront of our culture; Admirably dedicating six decades to teaching, creating Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and authoring over 15 books. Wherever You Go, There You Are is the most valuable I've read on the subject.
I’m always inspired when Jon asks — What if life was the meditation? — and was honored to learn the various entry points we can practice it, all of which lead to “the room of the human heart when it knows itself.” We shared a wide-ranging conversation exploring everything from cultivating equanimity to letting go of the stories we tell ourselves and discovering our shared wholeness. His practices are invaluable tools to be full participants in that high-stakes engagement. This quote struck me as one of the most profound reasons why.
“What human beings crave more than anything else is to be seen and completely accepted for who we are. When you encounter somebody who has done the work that we're talking about, when they run into you, they don't need anything from you. They’re vastly open, spacious, and see your potential, however much you’ve been through in your life. People break down and cry because they've been met and seen for no reason. That’s love.”
How do we fulfill that shared longing for each other?
“It’s whether you're available and willing to show up or you've got so much on your brain that you're there, but you're not really there. The only constant is the boundless spaciousness of your open-hearted awareness. What to do is not that important, as long as the doing comes out of being it feels authentic. Then, your child or partner will feel your presence outside of time — There's no separation. That's a huge gift and wake up call that we live for this.
Still, a lot of the time, we obliterate our moments because we're too busy blasting through them to get to the better ones. You don’t want to rush through your moments because there’s no moment that’s better than any other moment. But, the ones we miss are not retrievable. We keep getting new opportunities with every in-breath, until we don't. It is a high-stakes engagement to not miss the beauty of life.”
How might you be fully present with someone who truly matters to you today? How would you feel knowing that you fulfilled this deep longing for them?
With gratitude,
Jenna