Wanderlust Lama Rod Owens: Trust, Refuge, & Gratitude

As the world grapples with the shift towards social isolation, dealing with pandemic stress and an uncertain future, we at Wanderlust know that our greatest strengths are the wisdom of our leaders and the power of the community.

We have reached out to the lighthouses in our teaching community for share some concise, actionable insights with our community, as well as asking us to be brave and imagine how these changes can create a better world. Because extraordinary times require extraordinary leadership.

COOL IN THE PRESENT

When people ask me how I am doing today and how my practice is doing, I say that these are the times I have been practicing and what my practice produces is a deep experience of trust and space. My almost 20 years of practice has helped me to experience opening and space in struggles that seem to require me to close and to pull myself together.

These times are difficult. It was difficult for many people long before Covid-19 or the current government. These are times of strong contraction and shutdown. When we collapse like this, we lose space and our suffering intensifies. Spaciousness is vital because we experience happiness, joy, patience, and wisdom from space that will help us make the best decisions.

Here are 4 ways I can maintain my spaciousness during difficult times:

I trust my practice. Trusting my practice means trusting that whatever qualities I aspire to will be cultivated as long as I try hard enough and have the intention to alleviate my suffering and the suffering of others.
I trust myself. Trusting myself means trusting that I have the ability to experience a certain amount of vastness in order to reduce suffering and experience happiness.
I've found places of refuge. We all need to be taken care of. We need to find beings or things to take refuge in for support and care. My sources of refuge include my teachers, ancestors, deities, the Divine Mother and the earth, to name a few.
I awaken gratitude. Awakening gratitude means thinking often about what I am grateful for and allowing the energy of gratitude to flood my mind and body.

ANSWER THE CALL

My ancestors taught me that great suffering can result in beautiful things. These times are no different. There are a couple of things I see from that time.

First, the weaknesses of capitalism are highlighted. I believe as we move through this time we will be inspired to find more anti-capitalist ways to arrange our lives and livelihoods.

Second, I believe that we are being reintroduced into a culture of caring in which we are encouraged to reflect on the well-being of others. I believe that many people choose to self-quarantine, not just because it's being enforced, but because we want to reduce the harm of contracting the virus and spreading it to others who are more vulnerable. I believe this care and concern will outlast our current crisis.

Third, I believe that there are many talented and authentically trained people in the spiritual and wellness fields who will receive more recognition and the resources to help more people. I hope this time can help us distinguish between those who really want to help people and those who are more interested in fame and fortune.

Finally, I believe we need to use this time to understand that many of us are too busy and overwhelmed. I think that in the future we can make decisions in order to have more peace and space for ourselves.

lamarod.com

Lama Rod Owens is a writer, activist, and authorized lama (Buddhist teacher) in the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism and is widely recognized as one of the leaders of his generation of Buddhist teachers. He holds a Master of Divinity in Buddhist Studies from health Divinity School and is co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation. Co-founder of Bhumisparsha, a Buddhist tantric practice and study community, Owens has been featured in several publications including Buddhadharma, Lion & # 39; s Roar, Tricycle, The health Divinity Bulletin and has offered lectures, retreats and workshops in over 7 countries. Lama Rod hosts workshops on the fall of the patriarchy for male identified practitioners in Brooklyn and Boston. Lama Rod's next book project will examine transformative anger and anger and will be out in June 2020.

Find him on the web, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.