“All the maras point the way to being completely awake and alive by letting go, by letting ourselves die moment after moment, at the end of each out-breath. When we wake up, we can live fully without seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, without re-creating ourselves when we fall apart.” – Pema Chodron

Chapter 11, “Nonaggression and the Four Maras,” from Pema Chodron’s When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times is about turning the challenges that confront us into blessings. She opens the chapter with the story of the Buddha, on the night with which he was to attain enlightenment, being attacked by the forces of Mara. He turns their weapons in to flowers. Their weapons, the forces of Mara or “mara,” can be simply understood as, “the nature of obstacles and the nature of how human beings habitually become confused and lose confidence in our basic wisdom mind,” Chodron explains. It is easy to become disconnected from wisdom mind. With so much coming at us, deeply questioning wisdom mind is easy to do.

Recently, I have been more intentional about tapping in to wisdom mind. I am more connected to wisdom mind when I pause long enough to notice. This week I have really struggled to get out the door for my morning run. Things just feel heavy right now. On two mornings, faint rainbows graced my path. These were not huge, brilliant, can’t miss them rainbows. These were quiet, whisper rainbows framed by huge gray clouds. I had to be looking for them to find them. Wisdom mind can speak very softly.

The rainbows’ message was clear. Chodron reminds us, “We want to be perfect, but we just keep seeing our imperfections, and there is no room to get away from that, no exit nowhere to run. That is when this sword turns in to a flower. We stick with what we see, we feel what we feel, and from that we begin to connect with our wisdom mind.” The rainbows told me there is strength in simply showing up. They told me to look for rainbows, everywhere. They told me hope is beautiful and all around us. They told me you can’t see the rainbows if you don’t get out of the door.