Let difficulty transform you. And it will. In my experience, we just need help in learning how not to run away.

~ Pema Chodron ~

What is Freedom?

But it’s not impermanence per se, or even knowing we’re going to die, that is the cause of our suffering, the Buddha taught. Rather, it’s our resistance to the fundamental uncertainty of our situation. Our discomfort arises from all of our efforts to put ground under our feet, to realize our dream of constant okayness. When we resist change, it’s called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into its dynamic quality, that’s called enlightenment, or awakening to our true nature, to our fundamental goodness. Another word for this is freedom—freedom from struggling against the fundamental ambiguity of being human.

Excerpted from:

 Living Beautifully

with Uncertainty and Change

by Pema Chödrön

pages 6–7

trusting the journey of divine mystery…