Reflection · 2 min read
When You Are Afraid to Begin Again
She comes before you are ready
The threshold
Beginning again is rarely dramatic. It is the message you have not sent, the door you have not opened, the morning you are not sure you can face. Fear stands at the threshold and asks for a guarantee. No guarantee comes.
She does not wait for your courage
Tara is the Swift Rescuer because she does not wait until you are fearless. Her tradition names eight great dangers she protects against: lion, elephant, fire, snake, bandits, chains, flood and harmful spirits. Teachers have long read them inwardly too, as pride, ignorance, anger, jealousy, wrong views, greed, attachment and doubt.
Whichever fear stands at your threshold, it is already on her list.
One foot down, one foot forward
Look again at her posture. One leg rests in meditation; the other has already stepped toward the world. She shows that you need not choose between stillness and movement. You can be quiet inside and still take the step.
For the woman who holds everything together
Many women learn to be dependable long before they learn to be free. They keep the house, the work, the peace. A new beginning can feel like a betrayal of all that keeping.
Tara’s vow was made for the welfare of all beings, and you are one of them. A step that protects your life is not a step away from compassion.
Practice
Sit where you are. Let your breath settle without changing it.
In the space before you, a little above the height of your eyes, see a green light, clear as an emerald, and within it Tara: right leg extended, right hand open, already leaning toward you.
Tell her plainly the beginning you have been postponing. Recite her mantra softly, seven times or twenty-one: OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA.
Then rest, and ask for one step only. Let it be small enough to take today.
A QUESTION TO CARRY
What would you begin today if you trusted you would not be left alone in it?
A moment in her sanctuary
If Green Tara is calling you, her sanctuary is open. Draw a complimentary oracle message and sit a while in her world.
Enter Green Tara’s Sanctuary