Photography as Meditation: The Friday Flower. Sometimes just photos. Sometimes with writing. Appearing on Fridays.
the tender edge © 2009 Mahala Mazerov
There is a misconception, I think, that meditation and living in close relationship with your heart means your life will go easily.
But being luminous isn’t easy. It isn’t all love and light. It isn’t soft. It isn’t new age-y. And it isn’t an automatic fix for whatever hardships you may have to face in life.
Being luminous means you engage in the continual practice of meeting the tender edges of your heart.
Your love expands, yes. But it comes from including experience with darkness. Not only other people’s suffering, but personal acquaintance with the abyss. And you choose not to run away, soar above it, or wall yourself off from it.
Being luminous means you try to face darkness and light with equal presence. You strive to act from a higher awareness no matter what your world looks like at the moment.
In some sense, you learn to become comfortable with the changing states because you recognize they are just that, changing.
Now, I’ve never been comforted by the words “this too shall pass.” Maybe because they’ve been said by people who didn’t have a clue about the depth of pain I was feeling. Or were said by people uncomfortable with any kind of disharmony, who had no solutions, and wanted to quickly move on.
When I talk about being comfortable with changing states of being what I mean is that impermanence proves to you that it is not your true nature. It proves your essence is indestructible. No matter what life, the world, karma throws at you — no matter the sufferings you bring upon yourself — there is a ground of being that is unstained.
Meditation will meet you there. It will help you find it.
It isn’t easy being luminous. But meditation offers strength and steadfastness, so you can experience the most true and beautiful moments at the tender edges of your heart.
Mahala, I love this: “Being luminous means you engage in the continual practice of meeting the tender edges of your heart.”
Embracing dark and light, joy and sorrow. The full luminosity of being human.
Thank you, dear one, for these lovely Friday Flower posts.
Love to you,
Hiro
Hiro Boga´s last blog ..Whose Chakra Is It Anyway?
A great post I can identify with. Thanks. Stephanie
Very nice, thank you.
Constance Casey´s last blog ..Care for Karma
Thank you Mahala. This post is reaching me at the perfect time for me to receive it. I love the idea of presence at the “tender edges of the heart.” I am holding myself there and will try to keep my awareness there. What a lovely place to be. Kisses, dear friend.
Beautiful, thank you. I have been writing from the other side of this paradox, taking a look at the destructive forces that have convinced me and others that there are shortcuts to wisdom. This is a much nicer way to put it. :)
Duff´s last blog ..The Hollow Sink of Push-Button Enlightenment
as always mahala, you hit home! beautifully gentle words with the pure intention in your voice of guidance and wisdom! but mostly just pure L O V E.
xo – hazel (give some to kitty as well!)
hazel colditz´s last blog ..passages of time…
How beautiful. Thank you.
Sandra´s last blog ..Have you ever named the rain?
Twitter: sandrajapandra
Thanks mahala,
The tender edge of my heart it is nice to think about it.
Mahala thanks for this nice information that let me
think what pass around you.
I have lost my purse last sunday, I don’t where.
This days I was thinking where.
From this information it help me to fucos.
Have a nice day Mahala.
Very beautiful thoughts Mahala. Thanks for sharing. You are very good with words. The flower is also very beautiful.
Beautiful reminder! Thank you!
Jess´s last blog ..Routine, Interrupted
[...] 2 Likes Bodhipaksa: Why I’m a vegetarian – bodhi tree swaying 2 Likes Meditation & Your Tender Heart — Luminous Heart There is a misconception that meditation makes your life magically easier. Meditation helps you [...]
Hiro ~ It’s extraordinary that the “full luminosity of being human” means embracing it all – dark, light, joy and sorrow. So far from those who think it’s found only in the light.
Stephanie ~ I hope your “being able to identify” means your heart is strong in the face of everything.
Constance ~ Thank you.
Marybeth ~ Thank you for receiving these words and holding yourself at the tender edges of your own heart. Blowing kisses back to you.
Duff ~ It means a lot to me to see your words here. Even though I haven’t commented, I’ve been aware of your recent “discussions” across the internet. I don’t know that my way is nicer, it’s just my way for now. I know a few people who have gotten entangled with some of the shortcut sellers, but what I’ve discovered is they don’t want to admit the warning signs. There a lot of specialness and grandiosity involved, and they don’t want to let go of that.
Hazel ~ Your words are always filled with such generosity. I’m grateful for your presence here and in my life. Palms together _(|)_
Sandra ~ Thank you. (I have a lot of memories of rainy days in Japan – 20+ years ago, oh my!)
Virginia ~ Thank you, too, for sharing your thoughts. You remind me, while remembering what truly matters we also have to be able to focus on the daily details. Like where we’ve put our purse :)
Debbie ~ The words are best when I don’t try to think of them and they just “arrive.” I’mhappy you like the flowers, too.
Jess ~ Hi there! Thank you & you’re welcome :)
Twitter: LuminousHeart
Mahala,
This is a beautiful post for me, because you put into words what I have experienced, and do experience, in life. It is hard to describe to others the beauty I have felt, seen, and known in the ‘darkest’ days of my life. I have seen the profound beauty in those moments that were painful beyond measure, yet when I met the pain with an open heart, it turned to luminosity, to presence.
Thank you for sharing your light on the page with all of us.
Blessings,
Julie
We are on the same page today. My latest is on melancholy – part of the practice, part of the path.
Julie ~ Thank you for this beautiful sharing. I am so sorry you have faced moments that were painful beyond measure. At the same time, I am absolutely certain you have turned that pain into great compassion. It doesn’t mean you weren’t compassionate before the pain, just that I believe there is a unique presence in people who have suffered and been able to find the beauty.
Gwen ~ I know you, too, are intimately familiar with loss, and you faced it at such a tender age. I saw your post. The same page, yes. Melancholy sometimes. But so real.
Twitter: LuminousHeart
Oh, my, I am so thankful for Sebastian Abbott, who posted your information on Facebook, yet, I believe all is in divine order and it was mean’t to be. I am also most grateful to be included.
Helen