[blockquote source=”Rumi”]”The very center of your heart is where life begins. The most beautiful place on earth.”[/blockquote]

Perhaps one of my favorite teachings, is that which was once shared by American Buddhist nun, Pema Chödron – and, in which she tells the story of Jarvis Jay Masters, an inmate currently sentenced to death row at Sen Quentin prison.

Jarvis first entered the prison in 1981, convicted on the charge of armed robbery. At just 19-years-old, Jarvis soon learned the realities of ‘confinement.’ He was later moved to death row in 1990, convicted for his involvement in the murder of a prison guard – a crime many say, he did not commit.

“There is a teaching,” Ani Pema begins, “which says that behind all hardening and tightening and rigidity of the heart, there’s always fear. But if you touch fear, behind fear there is a soft spot. And if you touch that soft spot, you find the vast blue sky.”

She was speaking to the lesson of vulnerability – something which ‘imprisons’ many of us, everyday. I’ve often wondered over these subtleties; that spaciousness exists as part of our physical and mental world. That is to say, that which we feel inside can have a direct correlation to our experience outside.

Likewise, the opposite may be true – as young Jarvis soon realized in the confines of his 6 by 9 foot cell.

He felt trapped by the restrictions of his physical space – like a caged animal, forever pacing.

Until one day, when he experienced a life altering change of perspective.

“When I fell on the exercise yard and twisted my wrist,” he says, “they brought me ice. At first I was angry. No X-ray? No Ace bandage? They just gave me ice and took me back to my cell. I hadn’t seen ice for years and years. I took a cube from the plastic bag and for some reason, I touched it to my forehead. Then to one side and to the other side of my face. I rubbed it around my eyes, really slow, and cold, trying to remember ice. What was it? This feeling? My hand touched the ice to the skin of my arm, all on its own. I lost my memory—no ice, nothing. That was a trip!”

And, in this single precious moment, he transcended all limits.

This is the ineffable power of the mind, that our entire existence may change in the span of one choice, one decision.

As the story is told, one day there was a seagull playing out in the yard at San Quentin. It had been raining, and the young bird was deriving much pleasure from paddling about in the puddle. The inmates watched as he stretched his wings gleefully, turning his face towards the sun – and, shaking off the remnants of the fallen rain.

Just then, an inmate picked up a stone and took aim at the bird. Jarvis immediately blocked the man, which escalated the man’s aggression and caused an argument to ensue.

I mean, who the heck did Jarvis think he was? And why did he care so much about some blankety-blank bird?

The others circled around the two men, just waiting for a fight.

“Why’d you do that?” the inmate challenged.

To which Jarvis so eloquently replied, “I did that because that bird’s got my wings.”

Just think about that, if you will. That we may experience the ever-expansive vastness of this life, through something as simple as a momentary slip from our attachments.

When we “connect with the absolute, vast quality of their own minds” – my darlings, there are no ‘walls’ which may keep us contained.

When we’re able to step outside of the confines of mind, my darlings – that is where true limitlessness begins.