Where in my life is there an opportunity to meet something with gentleness?

Where in my life is there an opportunity to meet something with gentleness?

My immediate thought was “every where.” Gentleness is always a choice and it does not negate the need to hold myself accountable in difficult situations. But what it does do is help me respond instead of react to what life is offering to me at this time. It’s mantra is “try a little tenderness.”

I like to bake and yeast is the organism that makes dough rise in my homemade bread. However, if I get the water too hot when mixing the yeast into the flour, the yeast dies and the bread not only does not rise, it can be as heavy as a brick! The temperature of the water matters. The way I knead the dough matters. The yeast needs my care and concern to do its job.

This question is a much needed reminder that I need to give both my mind and body the same tender care and concern I give to the yeast. “The old gray mare ain’t what she use to be!” I spent last Friday in the ER and now I face a series of medical appointments that may or may not be helpful. There is definitely an opportunity here. May I approach the weeks ahead with gentleness, mindful care, concern and most importantly willingness to accept what is and go with the flow.

I share some excerpts from an article by Pema Chodron below that speaks to me about the power of gentleness.
“The question, then, is not only how to uncover our fundamental tenderness and warmth, but also how to abide there with the fragile, often bittersweet vulnerability. How can we relax and open to the uncertainty of it? How can we face all the fear and uncertainty and not close up again?…
“We can use this time of fear and insecurity to connect with the natural warmth of our heart. It has the power to heal ourselves and others…When we feel fear, when we feel discomfort of any kind, it can connect us at the heart with all the other people who are feeling fear and discomfort. When things fall apart and we can’t get the pieces back together, when we lose something dear to us, when the whole thing is just not working and we don’t know what to do, this is the time when the natural warmth of tenderness, the warmth of empathy and kindness, are just waiting to be uncovered, just waiting to be embraced….Our own suffering, if we turn toward it, can open us to a loving relationship with the world. When you touch your sorrow or fear, your anger or jealousy, you are touching everybody’s jealousy, everybody’s fear and sorrow. You wake up in the middle of the night with an anxiety attack and when you can fully experience the taste and smell of it, you are sharing the anxiety and fear of all humanity. People’s stories are different, their situations are different, but the experience is the same. Instead of your distress becoming all about you, it can become your link with everyone all over the world who is in the same predicament.”