What You Push Away, Pushes Back
A creative inquiry into shared liberation and the mess we move through together
Hi friends,
It’s Roam day! The part of Bodhisavage where we roll up our sleeves and get dirty with a creative-contemplative prompt for this month’s theme: Interdependence.
Last week, I shared reflections on the myth of the self-made person and the relief of realizing we aren’t in this being human thing alone. Over at the Consciousness Explorers Club, I wrote about how freedom is more like cracking open a window than a solitary escape.
Today, we go deeper…
My teacher Lama Lena often says:
“What you chase after runs from you. What you push away, pushes back.”
It cuts to the heart of what “freedom” means in an endlessly interrelated world. Like it or not, we are always in relationship (with people, with systems, with our own minds) and that is never neutral ground. We reach for relief, we shove away discomfort, and in the process, end up tightening the very knots we’re trying to unravel. Stuck in the choreography of resistance.
Modern culture sells freedom as escape or triumph: a gated community, a clean break, a bank account fat enough that you never have to compromise again. But freedom is more than just a prize we wrestle from others. It’s a daily practice of moving and growing together with the world.
It can look like having a hard conversation without punching a hole in the wall. Or setting a boundary that doesn’t require someone else’s permission. Or marching joyfully for justice even while they scream obscenities at you. It might look like quitting a job that grinds your soul down… or staying, in order to create meaningful change there.
It’s about widening the frame. We work to dismantle systems that constrict us. At the same time, we work to dismantle the hate and fear, bias and self-righteousness we find in our own minds. We get curious about how we’re tangled in the very dynamics we’re trying to escape.
Freedom as a practice of interdependence heals. And is the only kind that lasts.
So, here’s this week’s creative-contemplative invitation:
✨ 4 Reflections on the Interdependence of Freedom
What are you trying to get “free from” or “free to”?
Look at your inbox, your relationships, your activism, your longing.
What are you avoiding? What won’t leave you alone? What story are you tired of telling?
How are others part of this dynamic?
Where does connection feel liberating, and where does it feel like a trap?
How is your freedom tangled up in someone else’s?
Are your efforts to get free creating new barriers or battles?
What might “freedom with” look like?
Not just freedom from others, but freedom with them.
Can liberation include those you don’t agree with?
What system changes would support that kind of growth together?What’s one way you can practice “freedom with” today?
Speak up where you’d normally stay silent.
Offer a generous assumption where you’d usually assume threat.
Reframe a rigid “either/or” into a more spacious both/and
Give voice to someone you’d usually overlook in your next creative piece.
Say no with kindness, not apology. Say yes without performance.
What changes in you when freedom becomes a shared practice instead of a solitary escape?
✨ And if you want to keep exploring
Monday, I’m guiding a sit at CEC on the self-liberation of thoughts.
Thursday, is our Moonlit Sit, connecting with our living lineage.
Details below. See you this week!
🫠 Lama Tasha
Practice with me this week…
Consciousness Explorers Club - Monday Meditation Explorations
DATE: Monday, July 7th
TIME: 7:30pm
THEME: Thoughts Gone Wild
Ever notice how thoughts just… show up? Out of nowhere? They parade around, make a mess, and then vanish just as mysteriously. But somewhere along the way, we start mistaking them for serious business: we believe 'em, hold on to 'em, and claim them as me and mine.
In this sit, we’ll explore the radical idea that we don't have to own our thoughts – or be owned by them! Drawing from Dzogchen’s view of natural liberation, we’ll watch thoughts do their thing: arise, dance, and dissolve, all on their own. Free and unclaimed. Just like that.
Moonlit Sit
DATE: Thursday, July 10
TIME: 8-9pm EST
LOCATION: Online (Zoom link will be emailed to you on registration)
TOPIC: The Living Lineage
In this practice, we connect with our own personal lineage tree. We root into the earth, rise through the spine, and open to the vast canopy of those who came before us: teachers, ancestors, loved ones, and guides. Through a vivid vajrayana-style visualization, we rest in the living stream of interconnection and wisdom.
DANA: This session is open to all, by donation. You can support during registration or become a paid subscriber on Substack.
Love ❤️
Loving these questions - 💖 grateful