Out on a Limb?

If you've ever climbed a tree, you'll remember that the most secure place is hugging the trunk. The further away you are from the trunk - the further "out on a limb" - the thinner & shakier the branch supporting you. It feels so much better hugging the trunk - the center of the tree - where you feel "centered", safe.

I strongly suspect that most of us spend far too much time feeling like we're out on a limb with fear, discomfort, turbulence, noise & time dominating our lives. Most of us are very aware of how stressful life can be.

What very few of us pay sufficient attention to is that regardless of how challenging our life may be, we also have powerful experiences of feeling centered: peace, comfort, stillness, silence & timelessness. Can you revisit the felt sense of at least one of these centered times, perhaps from your childhood?

An easy one to actually re-enact, if you love dogs like I do, is the profound centered feeling I get while holding a puppy's face in my hands while we look each other in the eyes. It feels wonderful to directly experience "just this".

This centered disposition of the heart-mind is best equipped to nurture (& do least harm to) ourself, others, & the environment. This is the default home base we need to cultivate if we wish to replace the out on a limb one, which causes all sorts of grief. This is the work of mindfulness meditation.