Exercise Tolerance

As predicted the waters came.  I woke to the sound of pouring rain and the feeling of gratitude and concern, both.  The temperature is at 48 degrees, fahrenheit and it feels warmer.  Bodies are adjusting, perhaps.  It's Thursday and there is much to do in the next cycle.

The word pulled from the bowl today was "tolerance" and the suggestion is that all the cruelties and hardships in the world are just as they are.  One opens the heart to make space for this part of human existence and does not add to the aggression, the conflicts, the selfishness. Much of the world is in a state where the practice of tolerance is needed.  Conditions in the world are as they are, so no need to contribute be even a little bit more to the cruelty that already exists. What can be done to balance what is arising in this moment?  

Raindrops on petals hold a clue.  They don't do anything except sit and wait for the next heavenly move.  In the meantime, if they are noticed by an artist, a passerby, a curious animal, they bring another energy that transforms.  What happens next doesn't really matter;  it is the fact of the encounter.  

Conditions that might give rise to the invitation to exercise tolerance are as varied as the people who occupy the planet.  Some have the ability to make huge impacts on the world;  others are living such that the impacts are singular unto themselves. It doesn't really matter which, but the common thread is the one who encounters the conditions.  This is why it is so important to continue exploring the route that takes one to the truth about existence.  Things will happen, each one will be a part - active or passive - and one of the ways in which one can experience the fullness of life is to utilize the capacity for tolerance.

The inability to tap into this quality, is to fall into a pattern of constantly intervening, fragmenting the flow of life.  This is because there will always be situations and people who require this quality to be brought to bear - tolerance. The invitation to attend to this quality is often overlooked and brought into awareness only during times of frustration and discomfort.  Yet, tolerance opens a way to see situations from a different lens - one that allows the breath to deepen, the vision to widen, and the heart to open.  We forget about all of this because we want so badly for things to go the way we want.

So then the question comes:  Who are we to determine at one point things should be tolerated or not?  Resist going down another rabbit hole!  Just let the question rest in the heart and see where that leads you.  It is not where one might imagine when the rational mind goes to work.  Let it be.