Robin and Pema

Well, Pema doesn't have any recipes I can follow...although actually she does, for life, not cooking. I was sitting on the Q train, heading home from Manhattan, feeling a little blue about going home to just the dogs. I pulled out my pocket Pema Chodron and turned randomly to a reading and as always, it resonated for me:

"A magical golden key

Being satisfied with what we already have is a magical golden key to being alive in a full, unrestricted, and inspired way. One of the major obstacles to what is traditionally called enlightenment is resentment, feeling cheated, holding a grudge about who you are, where you are, what you are. This is why we talk so much about making friends with ourselves, because, for some reason or other, we don't feel that kind of satisfaction in a full and complete way.

Meditation is a process of lightening up, of trusting the basic goodness of what we have and who we are, and of realizing that any wisdom that exists, exists in what we already have. Our wisdom is all mixed up with what we call our neurosis. Our brilliance, our juiciness, our spiciness is all mixed up with our craziness and our confusion, and therefore it doesn't do any good to try to get ride of our so-called negative aspects, because in that process we also get rid of our basic wonderfulness. We can lead our life so as to become more awake to who we are and what we're doing rather than trying to improve or change or get rid of who we are or what we're doing. The key is to wake up, to become more alert, more inquisitive and curious about ourselves."


That comes from "The Wisdom of No Escape," one of my favorite Pema Chodron books. It's kind of a relief to think that allowing ourselves to be truly who we are, warts and all, is the path to enlightenment.

I like that! And I don't have to cook a thing.