Cement is stable, but not fertile. Soil is solid and produces life. Cement cannot soften or open unless cracked and broken. Soil softens with the rain, with the worms, with the life within it.
Step 4 of Soften, open, and receive is to be witnessed inside us and around us. Spring is a great time to notice it on the outside. That which we notice in nature can inspire softening and opening on our part.
Hardness can be in our mind (opinions, shoulds can’ts), in our emotions (impatience, anger, aggression, clutching, withholding), in our body (a braced or rigid posture). Hardness is to be like a wall in a conversation – not listening and not wanting to listen. Self-importance plays its role in all of the above.
But softening creates an openness. Openness allows receiving. Of what? Of what is present, who is present, of what the moment holds or is offering and that we can receive. For example, a child is a child. Does impatience have any role in one’s interactions with a child? Not as one realizes all that the child is learning and learning to be. Soften, open, receive.
Downloadable podcast: Soften, open to … be happy