I disagree!
a practice when you feel tugged to react to ideas
There are lots of ideas swirling around. And lots of ideas about the right-wrong-good-bad of those ideas. And lots of ideas about how urgent it is to have ideas about this.
We won’t create a more beautiful world from ideas. Ideas aren’t high-frequency matter.
Connection and compassion grow through presence and listening, not preference or agreement.
The alignment of our attention with our heart-field is sacred and courageous action.
When you feel a tug to spin with ideas of (dis)agreement, here’s a practice to try (within the moment):
Pause and notice.
See the idea-threads around and within you. Feel the sensations in your body. Sense into any discomfort, fear, desire.
Say nothing.
Breathe. There’s no need to emoji react. There’s nothing to prove or explain. Touch your heart to remember the pulse of true belonging.
Connect to wonder.
Say: hello, wonder or ask: wonder, will you guide me? Inviting the connection is enough. Wonder will nourish the moment and keep your heart open.
Feel gratitude.
Whatever unfolds, say thank you. Witness your presence, how you let yourself pause and feel the tugs of attachment without reacting. Honor this.
*
Love, Melissa
Related posts: How was your day?; Do this now!; Notice yourself
Additional Resources:
Curiosity breathes (poem + small shifts of practice)
More Curiosity, Please! (essay + everyday practices)
The Diamond Sutra and The Sutra of Hui-Neng by Gautama Buddha, Hei-Neng, A.F. Price (translator)
Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems, edited by Phyllis Cole-Dai and Ruby R. Wilson
I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times by Mónica Guzmán
Button Snail Hum is a pollination project of Noticing Matters.
Learn more and connect with me: melissaabutler.com | melissa@melissaabutler.com
