Recognizing Our Human Goodness May Be The Most Radical Act We Can Take

Most of us do this because our lives are hard. Most of us spend our days taking stock of the ways that were not good enough to tell us that we were not good enough to question our basic goodness and harm ourselves to the core.

I know that because I have done it countless times. It is hard to let people into the country when you are afraid that they will at least have the opportunity to refuse as they see it. Instead, I waddle around in a room of shame and self-evaluation, closing myself off and separating myself from others. Instead of reacting, I pause, react, make mistakes and make it easier and easier for myself to come to the conclusion that I am bad or damaged.

Recognition of our fundamental human goodness could be the most radical act of healing we can undertake. If you can relate to these feelings, you will appreciate Tara Bach's latest offering, Trusting the Gold: Uncovering Your Natural Goodness. In this book, she explores how we can stop judging, avoiding, resisting, and anything that makes us anxious or ashamed, and how we can open our true nature to a boundless field of consciousness and fearless love.

It's the realization that we don't need to fix ourselves; we're not broken. All we have to do is strip away the layers of fear and judgment and reconnect with who we are in our core. Drawing on more than four decades of experience as a meditation teacher and psychologist, Taram shares her valuable practice of reconnecting with the beauty of humanity through timeless Buddhist wisdom and techniques adapted to the particular challenges of modern times. I am grateful for the opportunity to share the following excerpts, reflections and illustrations of Trusting the Gold, and I hope that you find them useful for you.

The gold of our true nature will never be soiled. No matter how much it is obscured or obscured by feelings of anger, lack or fear, our consciousness will remain radiant and pure. The moment we remember to trust the gold, the grip of something wrong will dissolve and we will be open to happiness, peace and freedom. To obtain book excerpts (PDF, audiobook or download) from Tara and learn more about Trusting the Gold, visit www.trustthegold.com.

I wish I had been more sensitive. I could have done better with myself. I should have got more out of myself when I was doing well.

For many years, "never enough" was a chronic habit in my head, and I went through endless variations on the subject. One night, before I went to bed, I sat down and wondered if there was ever enough. The next week, I began to follow what happened when Id completed a successful weekend of classes, received feedback, or helped other beings be kind and generous. And I did my best.

This was a satisfying achievement, but on closer inspection it seemed tainted by the ego, not the spiritual. After I had done it, I no longer had the permanent feeling that I had had enough. The "Enough" feeling lasted about 24 minutes before I began to fixate on the need to do something else, such as prepare for the next event or be more sensitive or friendly to someone. A long time ago, on an evening when I was confronted with an endless story about falling short of expectations, I discovered that frugality has nothing to do with achieving something, but rather with achieving something and not trying to be good enough.

The knowledge of having enough is the fullness of the present, the tenderness of an open heart, the silence of listening to life. Stop and let yourself sink into the presence of your heart for a moment. At this moment, the glow of gold shines brightly.

Feel the fullness of peace that arises from it. Yes, I am here and I am all that you and I are.

One day, it is said, the Buddha spoke with a group of his followers about our habits and our unspeakables that go wrong, and how they entrap our suffering. When he noticed that a young man looked confused, he invited him to ask if a person could be hit by an arrow and if this would be painful. When he thought this was an obvious question, the young man replied: "No, I can. He nodded and continued.

"I was beaten twice. The same person hit me with a second arrow, and it was just as painful. The Buddha explained that difficulties arise in life when things do not go as we wish, when there is an accident, when we become ill. 'We amplify our pain by the way we react to what happens. We cannot control the first painful arrow.

He added that when we feel bullied or angry because life is unfair, we blame ourselves for our poor self-sufficiency. We identify with the suffering self. It is useful to remember that the first arrow in this story is not the unpleasant feelings we feel when something goes wrong in our lives. Our reaction is the second arrow, and it increases our suffering, said the Buddha. The young man nodded and understood how painful this additional emotional reaction can be.

The first arrow is the emotional pain we feel when we have fear or anger or when we feel sadness or hatred. This is the pain of depression or lust. When we respond by blaming ourselves for this pain, we shoot the second arrow. Next time fear or anger arises, try to stick to it with compassion and shoot the first arrow instead of exercising painful self-judgment and recrimination. Once we awaken to compassion for ourselves and let go of shame and self-judgment, we can free ourselves from suffering and heal our hearts.