We’ve all been there. Cut off on the highway by another driver who could only be rude and aggressive, not in a panicked hurry on their way to the emergency room. Why do we do this? Anais Nin famously explains, “We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are.” The trick is to notice when how we're feeling could be coloring what we're experiencing. Read on for some ideas on how to pull this off.
Stephen Colbert once said, “If you’re grateful for your life, you have to be grateful for all of it.” I think he's right. Our struggles do not steal us away from life, they ARE life. They will not destroy us, but they could enlighten us. This is the fullness of life.
I love pesto! When making pesto, each batch is always a little different but is always tasty. Being willing to be surprised by the results of your actions is also a good way to live your life.
I would have said that I'd gotten pretty good at catching myself when I'm beating myself up. Surprise! As we get better and better at practicing kindness or non-violence, the ways that we're mean to ourselves can get trickier and trickier to notice.
Have you ever had one of those moments when your friend's simple question, "What's new?" leaves you tongue-tied because you don't want to burden them? The next time you find yourself feeling like life is too much - take a breath. Remember that most world traditions agree that the reason we’re here is to find meaning in it all. Even the really hard stuff. It might take some time, but if we keep looking, we will find it.
Lately I've been in a lot of waiting rooms with two loved ones who are having some health issues. Waiting rooms are anxious spaces where my mind rather easily tries to fill the "empty" space of waiting with unhelpful stories about what “could” happen. Waiting like this is very weighty. The good news is there is another way - a way to weightlessly wait.
During the introspective season of Lent, we come face to face with our mistakes. As we do, it can be tempting to decide that we stink at being good people. Yoga offers a gentle view of mistakes. They are simply invitations to keep practicing - informed but unencumbered by our earlier mistakes.
Do you know how you feel just after you manage to avoid the car that swerved into your lane on the highway or after you somehow catch your great-grandmother’s precious vase as it slips from your wet and soapy hands? This is crisis mode and it is OK for short bursts. But we are not designed to live this way for the long haul. Eventually it will take its toll. The longer we are "stuck" in crisis mode, the longer it can take us to downshift to a more restful state.
Exploring 100 years of family photos makes tangible a yoga lesson that I have grappled with on and off my mat. We cannot have love without loss, success without failure, joy without sorrow, or light without darkness. What we can have, though, is a sense of peace as we ride the ride of life through it all.