Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Loneliness of modern life

This morning I went searching in my drawer for one of those toothpick kind of things, the ones I got when I had to wear braces. These little picks attach to long handles and look like little pipe cleaners. Well, I didn't find the small plastic case they come in, which annoyed me, but I did find the following note, written in my handwriting (I don't remember writing it) and I don't even know who wrote it, but it sounds very much like Pema Chodron to me:

"When you wake up in the morning and out of nowhere comes the heartache of alienation and loneliness, could you use that as a golden opportunity? Rather than persecuting yourself or feeling that something terribly wrong is happening, right there in the moment of sadness and longing, could you relax and touch the limitless space of the human heart? The next time you get a chance, experiment with this."

I had that chance this very morning and after reading that paragraph, I felt quite a bit better.

5 comments:

anniemcq said...

What a gift. And what a smart cookie you are to tuck those notes away to be found just when you need them most.

Mia said...

Wow! I'm thinking you've got a book there. Either in writing more of those, or in writing a novel about how that came to be wherever it is you keep your toothpicks!

Robin Amos Kahn said...

I wish I wrote it. It's definitely got to be Pema Chodron. Maybe in my next life, I'll write a book about alienation and loneliness. In this one, I'm just living it. (In a good way.)

Jennifer Campaniolo said...

That's Pema, all right. A great quote, and a nice one to stumble upon...

Jennifer

Robin Amos Kahn said...

I think I'm going to tape it to the side of my nightstand. It won't look very good, but it will help my morning blah's.