If last week's post with Elizabeth Gilbert was a soothing balm applied to a confused mind, this week's instalment from Super Soul Sunday with Pema Chodron is the Advil after a migraine - it allows you to think clearly again, and breathe a sigh of relief. I had heard quotes from Pema before and seen numerous images but to be honest I never delved deeper than that and I have no idea why. I think perhaps to me it felt like in the past decade there has been such a wash of Western wanderers embracing everything Eastern and I think in a lot of cases applying ideals that sometimes lose the integrity that they once held at their core. Our world has gotten so much smaller since the arrival of the Internet, blending cultures and religious ideas into a melting pot of information. But sometimes you miss the gems in amongst it all.
This week I was happy for anything that was bigger than me, because my own head wasn't doing such a great job picking apart the knot I'd created. So late last night I watched Pema chat to Oprah and the smile hasn't left my face.
To see an ancient wisdom used, applied and understood and then explained and related to our lives now is such a joy. I think it's even more effective because Pema was like us once. She had failed marriages, a young family, work pressures, emotional and financial issues - all like us. And while her eyes now reflect a place I would like to go to one day, she is still so relatable and I think that sometimes that's what resonates with me the most. Sure we can lock ourselves away in the quiet - and then the world isn't so hard, but one ride on the subway at rush hour, or one family lunch can make you see how far you still have to go. Sometimes it's in this crazy life here, with all the plastic, anxiety, gloss and selfies that applying ancient wisdom is most needed.
Please take a minute, or 45 and just hear these kind, wise words that have gone unchanged through cultures and time and that still apply so perfectly to our lives today. What a wonderful and peaceful way to start the week.
Enjoy!
x Jo
http://www.oprah.com/own-super-soul-sunday/Full-Episode-Pema-Chodron-Video