A couple days ago I went to a dharma talk about imperfection - learning to recognize that things aren't quite right, and being okay with it. There's a lot about Buddhist philosophy that really speaks to me. I remember once when I was caught in the rain, realizing that it was only uncomfortable as long as I was striving (mentally) to keep dry, and every raindrop that landed on me took me further from that goal. When I gave up the mental cringing each time a drop landed on me, the rain didn't bother me at all any more. The dharma talk called this the distinction between discomfort and suffering. It's interesting that we're hard-wired to notice problems and want to fix them, but we have to override our own natures sometimes in order to be happy.
I think I have a long-standing habit of feeling upset and frustrated that my body isn't more perfect. Mainly in the sense of being uncoordinated - not knowing how to move gracefully and not being able to picture what various poses look like - which makes my dancing entertaining to say the least. Last night at dance class, the dharma talk was fresh in my mind. I did my best to keep up with the choreography, but when I couldn't, I was able to feel a sense of forgiveness and liking for my body anyway, and to just enjoy the freedom of the movement. It was really a lot of fun. Once I think I would have left the class feeling ugly and disappointed in myself. So that's progress.
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