If you're interested in opening the doors to the heavens, start with the door to your own secret self. See what happens when you offer to another a glimpse of who you truly are. When your heart is undefended, you make it safe for whomever you meet to put down his burden of hiding, and then you both can walk through the open door.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of self-disclosure in fostering deeper connections with others.
Elizabeth Lesser suggests that true intimacy begins with authenticity. By being open about one's own inner self, individuals not only liberate themselves from the burden of concealment but also create a safe space for others to be vulnerable. This mutual sharing can lead to profound connections where both parties can experience growth and understanding.
In practice
In a workshop on personal growth, the facilitator quoted this to encourage participants to share their stories.
Whatever is happening, whatever is changing, whatever is going or not going according to my plans - I release my hold on all of it. I leave behind who I think I am, who I want to be, what I want the world to be. I come home to the great peace of the present moment.
Meditation practice is like piano scales, basketball drills, ballroom dance class. Practice requires discipline; it can be tedious; it is necessary. After you have practiced enough, you become more skilled at the art form itself. You do not practice to become a great scale player or drill champion. You practice to become a musician or athlete. Likewise, one does not practice meditation to become a great meditator. We meditate to wake up and live, to become skilled at the art of living.
Every day we're given a choice: We can relax and float in the direction that the water flows, or we can swim hard against it. If we go with the river, the energy of a thousand mountain streams will be with us . . . if we resist the river, we will feel rankled and tired as we tread water, stuck in the same place.
Grief is an expression that you loved well.
May you listen to the voice within the beat even when you are tired. When you feel yourself breaking down, may you break open instead. May every experience in life be a door that opens your heart, expands your understanding and leads you to freedom.
When we slow down, quiet the mind, and allow ourselves to feel hungry for something that we do not understand, we are dipping into the abundant well of spiritual longing.
I realized I was more convincing to myself and to the people who were listening when I actually said what I thought, versus what I thought people wanted to hear me say.
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.
Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.
When you're all alone out there, on the end of the typewriter, with each new story a new appraisal by the world of whether you can still get it up or not, arrogance and self-esteem and deep breathing are all you have. It often looks like egomania. I assure you it's the bold coverup of the absolutely terrified.
Good morning, daddy! Ain't you heard The boogie-woogie rumble Of a dream deferred? β’ β’ β’ β’ You think It's a happy beat?
Learning to be silent is far more difficult and far more important than learning to recite prayers.
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