Gloriousness, wretchedness

Photo by Nazym Jumadilova on Unsplash‍ ‍

Pema Chodron: “Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both. Appreciating the gloriousness inspires us, encourages us, cheers us up, gives us a bigger perspective, energizes us… On the other hand, wretchedness — life’s painful aspect — softens us up considerably… Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us. They go together.”

For 5 minutes, make a list of pairs. Two columns — one labeled gloriousness and one labeled wretchedness. You can begin each line by filling in either column. Just be sure to fill in both. They don’t have to be opposites. They don’t need to obviously relate to one another. There are no “right” answers. Let the words tumble out of you randomly. (And write FAST!)

For example: I might write on one line “sunshine” in the gloriousness column and “aching knee” in the wretchedness column. Or “K is irritating me” in the wretchedness column and “that Hayley Williams song Glum” in the gloriousness column.

After you’ve finished the list, do as many ten-minute writes as you wish, using the pairs you’ve created. Let it go wherever it goes!