Pema Chödrön is asked whether we can find some sense of ground in the groundlessness of these times, with all their ambiguity and unpredictability. She declines the framing almost immediately. Generally, she says, she would not use the word ground at all. Equanimity, perhaps, but not ground. Because the way through is not to find something to hold. It is to grow your capacity for the queasiness, the fear, the anxiety that arrives when there is nothing to hold. To become steadily more at home in freefall. Her image for this is a surprising one. She used to think about Alice in Wonderland, falling down the hole, not grabbing at anything on the way down, simply falling and waiting to see where she would land. At one point in her life, Pema says, Alice was a role model. We shy away from these feelings, and every time we do, our ability to hold them shrinks a little. So the work is to make friends with what arises when there is nothing to hold on to. Asked whether the queasiness changes over years of turning toward it, she is precise. Fewer and fewer things evoke it. What used to bring panic no longer does, because the capacity has grown. But it never disappears entirely, because there is always another edge you have not yet reached, right up until death or full enlightenment or whatever comes. Ideally you spend a life reaching those edges, and the feeling of being at home in your own body and in the world keeps widening. What has changed for her is what the feeling means. When she reaches an edge now and the queasiness arrives, it functions like a wake-up bell, a reminder to open and be receptive rather than react. She greets it with something close to delight: ah, this is happening, I can work with this. The dread has not stopped. Her response to it has. And she adds a caution worth keeping, that you never want to brag in this life, because you never know what is coming next. The practice she offers is simple and gentle. Go into the body, and find the place where the terror or the dread is actually happening, the place that sets off all the habitual patterns of running away and closing down and saying no. Most people can point to it. And then extend some tenderness toward that very feeling. She likes the word tenderness, and uses it often. It sounds like this: it's okay, it's okay. Want to go deeper with Pema Chödrön? Join Sounds True One for more teachings like this. Get your first month FREE at https://bit.ly/4ctecMn Subscribe to Sounds True's YouTube Channel ► https://bit.ly/SubscribeSTYT Sounds True is a mission-driven learning and media company, and a recognized leader in wellbeing, personal growth, and spiritual transformation. Partnering with the world’s foremost wisdom teachers and best-selling authors, the company reaches millions worldwide with its unique programs, digital learning experiences, and worldwide events. The company also features a variety of original series, weekly shows, and live online experiences on Sounds True One, its global platform and community with members across more than 125 countries. Sounds True is a Public Benefit Corporation and also the home of the Sounds True Foundation. Connect with us: ▪️Facebook: http://bit.ly/2XFIIeE ▪️Instagram: http://bit.ly/2UlEoiH ▪️Website: http://bit.ly/2tOl02d