Compassion for Assumptions

What a week. Lots of activity, which I truly appreciate even though I found myself feeling quite overwhelmed now and then. I notice overwhelm shows up at times when I have several things coming up that I'm not quite ready for. As I step into the preparations for each activity I relax more and more and as always it all works out. It always helps to remind myself to just take it all one step at a time instead of compressing everything that needs to be done in the next few days into today. Funny how the mind works.

One of the themes I noticed this week was around how important it is to attend to the inner world and the other is one that I notice all the time now, how assumptions cause so much trouble in communication and relationships. I notice when making assumptions about what is going on or what people mean there is a barrier set up that is quite difficult to penetrate unless there is something more important than being right.

As I write this piece I am becoming even more aware of how attending to the inner world and moving beyond the barriers created by assumptions are not two different things but are actually interrelated. How can I even be aware of the assumptions creating unhappiness and distance if I am not paying attention to what is going on in the inner world. By inner world I mean the realm of feelings and their related thoughts. When I brush off feelings or don't really pay attention to what I think when those feelings arise it's easy to skim over the top and completely miss the fallacy of those beliefs and assumptions that are really driving the bus. Conversely when I pay attention and inquire into what's going on in the subcutaneous layers below the skin so to speak I open to a whole new world of possibility.

To put this in very simple terms, don't believe your own BS; it is not likely giving you what you think it is, usually having to do with safety. Since some kind of need for safety is behind much of what drives us, why not provide some of that safety by compassionately paying attention and calling the bluff? Sure beats the alternatives. Inquiry without compassion (the desire to relieve suffering) is not helpful since it tends to reinforce the less than loving beliefs we have with thoughts like 'What's the matter with me' 'I'm so stupid' or 'I should know better'. Those too are assumptions that do not serve so why not approach the dismantling of falsehood with compassion and understanding since it's all part of the human condition we find ourselves experiencing even though it is what we are.

Namaste