Your Work is Remarkable

Time and time again, you show up.

You are open and receptive, willing to be vulnerable.  You actually listen to what others need.  You operate with integrity, honesty and genuinely care for the benefit of others.  You do the work- sharing your generosity, love and kindness when no one expects you to show up.

You push through the hard parts.  You have the courage to look fear in the eye and keep going.  When in uncharted territory, your commitment to the principles of your practice and your understanding of the essence of the path let your forge ahead with confidence.

You make mistakes and fail.  Often.  But those failures give rise to wisdom and insight.

You do remarkable work.  But don't go thinking that you are remarkable.   

Then, we have a problem on our hands.

Then you have a ground to maintain.  A position to uphold.  Then you need to use force to assert yourself against dissenting opinions.  You might just throw people under the bus. 

You will offer up blame and shift criticism.  Things will get really bad when all you do is talk.

You will fear failure.

Do you see how these two cannot co-exist?

If you work for the benefit of others, your aims are simultaneously fulfilled.

If you work for your own aims, it will eat you alive.

Last week I was taking a ferry in the San Juan Islands and we saw a deer swimming in the ocean.  Everyone got up to look.  It was remarkable.  People were reaching for their cameras, pointing out how rare it was to see a deer swimming in the ocean.

Of course, for the deer this wasn't about her or her achievements.  She just knew this is what she had to do to get to the far shore. 

She was doing remarkable work.