Indispensable elements for our Self-liberation
In the Buddhist tradition, there are two essential components to our freedom. The first one is awareness. It is the wisdom that comes from training your mind to see clearly and the second one is compassion for yourself and for others.
These components are compared to the two wings of a bird, without which the bird would be unable to fly and be free.
Awareness
The first wing is our conscious awareness that allows us to recognize what is really happening in our moment-to-moment experience.
Awareness allows us to see clearly without letting the lens of our perception be clouded by our thoughts or emotions. Racing thoughts can distort the way we interpret our reality, which may lead to tension in our body and to reactivity.
We may want to distract ourselves or escape the situation, squandering a wonderful opportunity to explore the depths of our unconscious patterns.
But we have another option. We can become the observer of our experience. We can become curious about the effect our resistance may have on our behavior and the way we see the world.
If we learn to stay with the discomfort, and shine the light of awareness on the unpleasant emotions we are feeling, we will start learning a lot about ourselves.
We will learn how to stay in our inner power, and find the wisdom that allows us to train our brains not to be pushed around by the impulsive feelings created by our thinking processes.
Compassion
The second component of mindfulness is compassion for ourselves and others. Compassion enables us to embrace what is happening with acceptance, and without judgement. It expands our tender heart. It is a deep understanding of our own suffering and the suffering that others may be going through.
Compassion allows us to see the humanness in ourselves and others. We can then acknowledge that we all experience the same feelings which may lead to triggers and painful misinterpretations.
With self-kindness and self-compassion what naturally emerges is understanding and forgiveness.
And just like the two wings of a bird, these two aspects of mindfulness complement each other. If one is missing, flying is not possible.
The way to start training these two components is Samatha Vipassana which is mindfulness meditation. Samatha means “to train the mind,” and Vipassana means “to see clearly.”
Through mindfulness, we train our mind to stay, to be patient, to see clearly. We can become aware of the impermanence of our thoughts, that they come and go and we do not need to strengthen them by dwelling on them.
As we embrace our experience just as it is, with mindful awareness and acceptance, we become intimate with life, with ourselves and others. And just like a bird, we can experience freedom.
Thank you for these wise words, it is just what I needed this morning. Abrazos.
Beautifully said. I often forget to give compassion to myself but give it easily to others. Lasting Improvement doesn’t happen when you’re knocking yourself but when you’re self-compassionate, whatever you’re striving for stays with you. Like being on a fad diet–sure you can lose weight quickly by harsh measures but does it stay off?
Thank you Moni, we love you! 🙂