Well they say that ‘a week is a long time in politics’, they also say that as life brings great difficulty and challenges great lessons are learned about yourself.
I would certainly agree with both statements as I found that a month is a very long time in the third sector! The politics of the workplace is inescapable no matter where you work, and for many charities the politics of funding adds another dimension. This time the politics jarred too greatly, so I resigned. Consequently, leaving the charity means I will no longer be part of Our Minds Matter. I wish them well and every success.
From all this turbulence, this month’s lesson is learning how difficult ‘allowing and l
etting go’ can be. In Tibetan Buddhism many hours, days and weeks are spent creating the most beautiful and detailed sand Mandala from coloured sand, only to then destroy this creation. The purpose of this ritual is to illustrate the transitory nature of material life. This also resonates with secular mindfulness.
Regardless of thinking you understand the non-permanence of all things living non-permanence in your own life is difficult. Anger and resentment can often arrive with the frustration of things changing quickly, feeling out of our control and not having things the way we want them to be. The illusion of control is both persuasive and seductive to the ego driven mind, but I have learned all we can really work with is our attitude; namely, allowing and letting go.
This quote kept appearing, it really helped me to recognise difficulty and see choice: “Weigh the true advantages of forgiveness and resentment to the heart. Then choose”, Jack Kornfield. These words where given greater meaning at the Mindfulness Association Annual Conference at Samye Ling when Lama Yeshe said, “If mindfulness is practised with tolerance, forgiveness and compassion for the self and others, it will have the right action.” These attitudes are so radical and transformative but so difficult to practice in life. I’m only human so I found all of this easier said than done, but it has been and is a great lesson.
So after all the excitement of developing ideas, putting them down on paper to create a coherent plan for delivering mindfulness in schools, convincing and explaining this model to so many people, and then actually delivering the model in real time, in real schools with real young people, teachers and parents, I have given all this over to someone else to take forward. I wish them well and every success.
The good news is that I will be working in other partnerships expanding the delivery of mindfulness into new areas of Fife and beyond. So the blog will be discussing the development of mindfulness in Fife, and what happens when applying mindfulness techniques and attitudes to making these developments happen. Love n peace