Tara Brach

One Tibetan teacher said, never give up on anybody.

So to me, it's one of the core practices on the bodhisattva path is to commit to seeing the sacredness and the goodness in others.

Well, the time that we get most locked into headspace and in the ways that most hurt us are usually when we're feeling separate or threatened.

Those are the times when we feel divided from others.

We lock into he shouldn't, I didn't, he couldn't, the defense, the blame.

And those are the times I find it's most valuable to explore moving from the head to heart space.

So I'll do a brief example as a guided practice.

So for anyone here who's listening, you might just take a moment right now to settle and feel your breath.

And you might even sense what wants to let go right now.

You might just sense there's a way to soften or relax a little bit of the habitual tightness in the body.

Breathing, relaxing.

Sensing yourself right here.

Then you might invite forward if there's a difficult relationship or a situation that comes to mind where you get triggered in some way, irritated or judgmental, where there's a sense of separation.

I wouldn't pick something that's traumatic, just something where you notice that there's some distance and you get caught up in judging or resentment or blame.

and notice it.

Be that witness that notices what does arise in your mind.

Maybe thoughts about what's wrong with the other or what needs to be different, what should be different.

And some should is usually a great flag that we're caught in the head.

And just notice how the thoughts and stories tend to reinforce separation, no matter how right they seem.

They in some way reinforce separation, they're a kind of protective armory.