Crack the Clouds to Meet Infinite Sky

Is our heart’s ability to appreciate quicker than the ego can depreciate?

The mind has a remarkable talent for finding what’s wrong. It effortlessly picks people, places, and things apart, dissecting them like a frog in biology class. It notices flaws and disappointments before we even realize it’s happening. Whether the reflex is subtle or loud, it sustains suffering by reinforcing the illusion of separation. Untrained and unrestrained, our “I-ness” becomes highly skilled at noticing everything it doesn’t prefer.

In my experience, the gift of recovery and Zen practice has been learning to naturally be in harmony with the moment as it is… without grievance. This path offers us the opportunity to rest in appreciation and goodwill. As we do, we gradually run out of opponents to battle.

As we settle into that flow, giving up the grump, we no longer have to mentally devalue people, places, or things based on how they’re “doing it wrong.” We begin to travel lighter. Kindness and friendliness allow us to meet people, places, and things heart to heart… spirit to spirit.

That was the offer placed on the table when I first got clean. To be honest, I thought it was bullshit. It sounded impossible.

Something, however, got me to listen to my predecessors and give it a try anyway. Things had become so painful that I was simply tired of listening to “Turd,” my alter ego, who always had two cents’ worth of negativity to contribute about why something was wrong. I’m not entirely sure what changed, except that I stopped fighting the help and started following directions.

Instead of constantly measuring people, places, and things according to how they’re wrong or how they should be different, I learned to simply meet them with kindness. Appreciation became less something I did and more the place from which I lived.

When appreciation arrives before judgment, it’s easier to be around other people… and to get along with myself. Life becomes more available. Kindness and friendliness stop being ideas and become lived experience.

一With Appreciation Rather Than Depreciation