To riff on a Pema Chodron thought I read recently in When Things Fall Apart, one of the activities of spiritual practice is to ‘indentify a sense of softness in our hearts and invite it to spread.’
We get these senses of softness at different times and in different ways. I often get them reading a poem or watching a good movie. Or listening to someone speak honestly from their own heart. It’s a feeling of warmth and generosity.
And possibility. Where we might have been feeling rushed it seems time has expanded. Where we might have felt a little empty or dry suddenly we're back in touch with something like 'streams of living water.'
In meditation and contemplation we can work with this sense. We can bring it into the way we let thoughts come and let thoughts go. And the practice might be this: Try (just try) never to let a thought ungently go. Never let a thought or feeling go without a palpable sense of kindness, without a bit of warmth. When we begin to get the hang of this sense of kindness, then we're touching 'the softness' we might invite to spread—both through our prayers and our day to day lives.
