”Every living thing could use a little mercy now…..
We hang in the balance dangle ‘tween hell and hallowed ground. And every single one of us could use some mercy now.” — Mercy Now by Mary Gauthier
I was reminded of this song on writer Glennon Doyle’s Instagram post a few weeks back, on the day I needed it most. My car wouldn’t start and I’d had to reschedule morning classes to deal with it. I had a bump on my forehead after chasing my dog that morning to get him leashed and walked. He outsmarted me, ran under my desk, as I rammed my forehead into the corner of the desk.
This all topped off what has become the summer-of-plans-falling-apart. Not to mention the continual heartbreaking strain of all that is happening in the world right now.
In the moment after hitting my head, I sat down and gave in to my frustration. I was mad at myself for all that was happening. If I could find a way to blame myself, maybe I could also fix it. And then, as if on cue, I was reminded of this song.
It was a reminder that life is not totally under control and to find some self-compassion. That those times when we’re hitting our head against the wall, the best thing we can do is stop hitting our head against the wall and instead care for the bruises we’ve incurred. This seems selfish. Right? There are children in cages, held apart from their families. They need care. To care for ourselves feels selfish.
And yet, caring for ourselves is how we learn to love others, to extend our compassion out into the world, how we gain the motivation to take action in the world.
Caring for ourselves is not something most of us learned. It’s why we are all doing yoga and meditating. To learn. The Buddhist meditation teacher Tara Brach says this is how we evolve. These practices are evolving our brains so that we can respond to our world from a place of wise compassion and not from our fear.
We can use that compassion to then face our fears and find a new path through. We’ll look at those fears in this month’s Yoga Philosophy class.
A question to ask yourself now: Where are you beating yourself up? And what would care look like? What does the critic stopping you say? And can you care for yourself just the same?
I think it’s easier in a way to beat ourselves up than to feel what’s happening, to feel our complete vulnerability. This is what it is to practice wholeheartedness. I always find this more terrifying than any backbend pose.
It is from this practice with ourselves that we almost naturally begin to extend our compassion outward into the world.
”Every living thing could use a little mercy now…..
We hang in the balance dangle ‘tween hell and hallowed ground. And every single one of us could use some mercy now.” — Mercy Now by Mary Gauthier
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