Ready for Anything

Dharma Talk for the week of 1/14

My acting teacher Maria often asks us to be "ready for anything."  Ready to jump, ready to fall. Ready to give, ready to receive.  Ready for joy, ready for sorrow.  Ready for sun, ready for rain.

But this type of "readiness" isn't something you can prepare for.  This isn't like when you're going camping and prepare out the wazoo for every possible circumstance.  In fact, over-preparation is the complete opposite of acceptance.  What is really beautiful about this idea is that it requires a certain amount of surrender.  The rigid inability to let yourself be re-routed is what normally will lead you to feeling stuck in relationships/jobs/addictions/pain.

Being ready for anything is easier than it sounds.  It only requires the acceptance of one simple truth: YOU are not the experience you are having.  YOU are not your relationship with your boyfriend.  YOU are not your job.  YOU are not your biggest fear.  You are more.  Whether you are succeeding or being challenged, you still get to be you!  So stop idealizing one person, one path, one way of being - it leaves you with fewer options and makes life a lot more boring.  Be ready for anything.  The winding roads of circumstance can never define you, but if you let them guide you, the world might just look a little more colorful, and you might just feel a little more secure.