Disappointment as a doorway

There’s a quote by Chögyam Trungpa that I return to often:

“Disappointment is the chariot of the dharma.”

It’s not an easy sentence to love. But it’s one that feels deeply true.

Disappointment arrives when our plans fail, when people don’t meet us where we hoped, when the world doesn’t bend to our will. It can be sharp. Flattening. Quietly devastating. But it can also, if we let it, usher us toward something more honest.

There’s a kind of grace in meeting life without the illusion.
When the scaffolding falls, we see what’s really here.
Sometimes it’s not what we wanted.
Sometimes it’s better.
Sometimes it’s just real.

Over time, I’ve come to see disappointment as a threshold — not something to push past quickly, but something to sit beside. It shows us where we were attached. Where we were trying to control. And it points us, gently or not, toward surrender. Not giving up, but giving in. Can we meet life as it is.

There is dharma here. A quiet teaching. A wisdom that can only come when we stop pretending we’re in charge of the weather.

Journaling Prompt:
Where has disappointment been a doorway for me — into honesty, humility, or a deeper truth?

Let yourself feel into the moment, not just think about it.
What softened?
What opened?
What stayed?

Sometimes, the chariot looks like ruin.
But it’s still a chariot.
And it’s still carrying you somewhere worthwhile.