Openness is our natural state. So why do we feel separate and alienated? Fear.
We’re afraid of the unknown or losing control. We stay focused on our survival
and fear thriving in our true aliveness. We avoid the imagined consequences of opening to the truth of who we are.
We close down to anything that’s fresh, alive, or new.
A difficult feeling comes up—can’t go there. Disappointment, a grudge, an unmet need—these throw you off and leave you scrambling to find equilibrium.
It’s like constantly being at war, keeping the enemy from taking you over. And the enemy is simply your own experience.
This is why we feel discontented, depleted, stressed, and even sick.
Yet something in us desperately longs to relax. We yearn to struggle less and simply be. We want to
feel connected to everyone and everything.
Most of us know very well how to close down. It’s a habit, a well-worn path, a choice we make when we’re afraid, confused, or don’t know what else to do.
But openness is always available—with a simple shift in perception from the rigidity of our habits to wide-open space and possibility.
So let’s find the medicine for closing down by exploring this essential question: what is asking for your openness? Turning your
attention inward with curiosity, what do you discover?
• An emotion that’s been buried long ago;
• A familiar story or belief that you know doesn’t serve your happiness;
• An identity, a way of thinking about yourself, that is limiting and painful;
• A long-standing sense of mistrust or fear in your relationships;
• A bruised heart.
And maybe you’re called to open to openness itself…
Opening to your inner experience may be scary at first. You don’t know what it will be like or what you will find. So go slowly and get support as you need it.
Meet what you notice with curiosity. Recognize what you’ve been avoiding and gently turn towards it to take a look, asking, “What is this experience that’s been hidden in me?”
Openness is a love letter
to yourself. It holds everything without one iota of resistance.
Inhabit openness. Live here gloriously…peacefully… Feelings and sensations may come and go, but there’s no problem to be found. Simply be the openness that you already are…
