a case study
I think it was five years ago I received a text or email from my friend Keith, a most interesting cat I met in my Provincetown days running Foley House for the Aids Support Group of Cape Cod. It said this – “Don’t make a case against yourself.”
That quote showed up in a Facebook memory yesterday, and it’s been on my mind and close to my heart since. I got to share it in the meditation meeting last night, with a young woman who was sorta making a case against herself. I added what my Zen teacher Sarah said to me when I moaned about a lack of visible progress toward a quiet mind in meditation – “Don’t disparage your practice.”
These are valuable loving suggestions become life lessons, and life practices, for me. Criticizing myself is ancient business, and a template of behavior often pushing its way to the front of a moment. When I remember that a good idea is not making a case against myself, well, I think you get it. And further, sometimes I get real lucky and remember that pretty much everything is a practice in my life. When I don’t disparage whatever it is I’m up to, something like a cool breeze whispers gently down the street. And the clouds peer down kindly from up there.
Early today advice to and for me – Don’t make a case against yourself.