• Login
  • Join PAR or Rejoin PAR
  • Current PAR Member Forms
  • Directory
  • Member Handbook
  • PAR Newsletters
  • Pay Dues
  • Advertise with PAR

Phone : 602.246.1012
facebook
twitter

  • Education
    • Education Overview
    • Education Calendar
    • Arizona CE Requirements
    • Code of Ethics Training
    • Online Courses
    • Designations & Certifications
    • Broker Education
  • Events
    • Calendar of Events
    • Valleywide Real Estate Marketing Meetings
    • 3rd Thursdays Lunch Break
  • Benefits
    • Benefits Overview
    • Arizona Regional MLS
    • Benefits from the Arizona Association
    • Benefits from the National Association
    • Facility Rental
    • PAR Store
  • Resources
    • Resources Overview
    • Arizona Department of Real Estate
    • Market Statistics
    • New REALTORS®
    • Technology
    • Housing Information
    • Resources for Home Buyers
    • Business and Information Tools
    • DR Dues Formula Explanation
  • News
    • PAR News
    • Industry News
  • Law and Ethics
    • Law and Ethics Overview
    • Legal Opinions
    • Code of Ethics
    • State & National Legal Resources
  • Political Advocacy
    • Political Advocacy Overview
    • Local Issues & Activities
    • State Issues & Activities
    • National Issues & Activities
    • RAPAC
  • About Us
    • About Us Overview
    • History
    • Photo Gallery
    • Awards
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff
    • PAR Bylaws
    • Office Hours and Location
    • Contact Us



The Ground of Your Basic Goodness

June 27, 2018
Originally published at Zen Habits

A lot of the time, life can be pretty stressful:

  • You feel like you’re treading water, or drowning from an overwhelming number of things to do.
  • You feel bad about yourself because you’re not sticking to things, you’re in debt, you’re overweight, you feel like you keep messing up.
  • Your relationships are a mess, you’re fighting a lot, you feel lonely.
  • Things suddenly happen to shake up your life, or maybe it’s constantly being shaken up, and you’re facing tremendous change and uncertainty.

 

Basically, life can feel groundless – no solid, stable ground under your feet.

And the truth is, that’s almost all the time. Our lives are always groundless, even if we try to get routines and control and stability. Things constantly happen to pull the rug out from under our feet, and that kind of uncertainty can be stressful, disappointing, painful, uncomfortable.

So what can we do?

We start by just dropping into the moment. Just notice the particularities of this incredible moment. Start to tenderly feel the moment as it is, right now, without trying to make it any different. Start to feel, with a raw and open heart, the magic of this miraculous moment.

That’s a pretty good start.

Then drop into this short meditation:

  1. Pay attention to how your body feels. What does it feel like to be alive right now? It’s a feeling, this aliveness — what does that feel like? Feel that for a minute.
  2. Synchronize your mind with your breath. Instead of having your mind doing something else, let it just rest on the sensation of the breath. What is that like? Stay here for a minute. Come back if you start to wander off.
  3. Now just keep an open awareness on your experience. Notice how your heart feels. If there’s any kind of pain, tension, tightness — just notice that.
  4. Notice the tenderness under the pain, tension, tightness. That’s your tender heart.
  5. Start to feel the basic goodness inside of you. That includes your tender heart, but also your pain, stress, discomfort, and all the sensations of your breath and body. It includes your everpresent awareness. It includes everything. You don’t have a basic goodness, you are basic goodness.

 

This is the ground of your existence. It’s not stability in your life, not routines or systems, not a sureness of who you are or what your world is. It’s just awareness of your basic goodness. And you can start to feel it, if you practice the meditation above. You can start to sense it, and trust in it. It’s always there, in the background. It’s the vast blue sky to the clouds of your thoughts and feelings.

You can trust that it’s there, sense it whenever you need to, once you learn to sense it. This basic goodness that is unconditional, wider than you can imagine.

Practice this for five minutes a day, or anytime you notice yourself feeling groundless.

Social Share

Industry Archives

Recent Posts

  • 3 steps to a more productive 2019
  • A look at the homes of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
  • Ben Kinney Companies scoops up 2 real estate tech businesses
  • She collected rent from tenants but never delivered it to landlords. Now she could face prison time
  • Timothy Leary’s trippy LSD den hits the market for $1.5 million

Support our Advertisers


Consumers:

Find a Home
Find a REALTOR®
What is a REALTOR®
Why Use a REALTOR®
Home Ownership News

Learn More

Resources:

Industry News
New REALTORS®
Arizona Dept of Real Estate
Political Advocacy
Law and Ethics
Accessibility

Learn More

REALTORS®:

PAR Store
PAR Member Benefits
PAR Events
Facility Rental
Continuing Education
PAR Forms
Join PAR
Pay Dues

Contact Us:

5033 N. 19th Ave., Ste 119
Phoenix, AZ 85015
Phone: (602) 246-1012
Fax: (602) 246-1512
Office Hours and Location

Contact Us


REALTOR LogoREALTOR Logo | Advertise with PAR
© 2015 Phoenix Association of REALTORS®.  All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use