Within a few hours of studying one of my favorite Thich Nhat Hanh quotes on Letting Go, I had the experience of being with someone who thought they were losing their mind. Their personal experience was anything but free.
I left our interaction wondering how to ease these very real and dark parts of people’s experiences? The mind I was given a glimpse of, experienced the very opposite of freedom. How can we be with those suffering mental anguish in ways that are effective, compassionate and safe? In the words of one of my teachers—these questions are my core suffering and the answers to these questions are my awakening.
As I sit here now, revisiting the experience, I am not free. Feeling the anguish of my loved one, my heart and mind are not free. In moments like these, I become still, settle-in and listen….
Can you take a single breath? And then another? Bring the mind home to the safety of your body, this room, with a fire in the hearth, the good company surrounding you. It begins with safety. What if there’s no answer, what if there’s nothing to fix, what if there’s merit in the experience of mental confusion? What if it’s enough to know you did not agitate, add to, or dismiss?
How can one meet mental confusion with a mind of freedom? Imagine if the mind witnessing was not free, how it might react, attack, convince, or insult. It is a free mind that will meet such a state with compassion and peace, not adding any suffering. Being with.
Being With
Free mind begins with letting go,
Knowing—there is nothing to attain,
only letting go:
Of Anger,
Grief,
Worry,
Fear,
Pride.
Let go
dark
and lonely
vacancy.
Enter, one breath
of love.
Another
of forgiveness
Another
of peace…
calm.
One,
it takes but one
to bring mind back
to the safety of body
the center of heart.
You are not alone.
You are never alone,
alone is impossible.
Open,
just one,
take one,
breath of freedom.