A Path with Heart

I once read that, "we teach best what we most need to know". How often this statement rings true for me this year! How often does it ring for most of us?

Lately life has thrown me quite a few ups and downs. I am besieged by indecision. My emotions have been as dependable and as certain as our local Christchurch weather! And although I try to keep "going with the flow", this practice brings challenges much deeper and more trying than the garden variety handstand!

Looking at a calendar that is already planned through mid-December, I wonder where my year has gone. And, for me, this simple feeling of overwhelm leads to paralysis! I'll admit I am one of those annoying people who sits undecided at a good Thai restaurant...With extensive options and each so tempting, how can you decide which dish is just right? How do I make a sure and definite decision without regret?

Reading Jack Kornfield recently reminds me of something that I often stress to my students. "In undertaking this life, what matters is simple: We must make certain that our path is connected with our heart...Does what we are choosing reflect what we most deeply value?"

Discovering what we really value involves opening ourselves up to our heart with an honest and a genuine willingness to listen. What we hear may fly in the face of accumulated notions of who we think we are and who we think we should be. This honest listening requires real courage and a tender compassion for our own experience of living this life. Again and again, I encourage my students and friends to seek this path and it is one that I also find challenging to walk!

Kornfield shares a story from Don Juan (visionary and teacher of Carlos Castenada): "Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself alone one question. The question is one that only a very old man asks...Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use."

May we all find the courage to choose and walk the path that truly touches and softens our heart.