Whew! It's been quite the week. A trying one physically since I have been hit hard with allergies. Itchy eyes, headaches and fatigued. Work is beyond busy requiring evenings and Saturday... excellent testing ground for yogic principles ( and Buddhist ones as well -- many similarities in all spiritual disciplines ). This entire week has been one long lesson: the solution is right there in every breath, right where you are, the X marks the spot -- YOU ARE HERE. Effortless action flows from the X. I love the concept, I know how it works and I know that it works. " Let go into the full texture of now ..." says Jon Kabat-Zinn in Wherever You Go There You Are (thanks Marcia). There is something reassuring in trusting this moment. If I stay fully in this moment whether on the mat, extended in triangle pose, or in bed, the moment monkey minds takes over, and just breath it all in I suddenly find that gentle smile on my face and everything softens. Knots loosen, constriction fall away -- no story attached. I love it. The more I lean into this mindfullness the more I trust it. And this is where effortless action takes place. From here I know that I will make the call, write the letter, tackle the meeting. Graceful gliding is how it feels.
Another thing that happened this week is that as I allowed the moment to unfold I started questioning misperceptions. Is this one dinner such an imposition? Isn't this student complaint just one more of many in a day's work, how big a deal is it really? I can see neurosis for neurosis and I stop somehow. Pema Chodron's book highlights this practice of recognizing neurosis, stopping and doing something different. Move, sing, whatever. Suddenly this dumb little tune came to me (la.la.la.la, la... la,la, la, la,la, la,lalaaa....everything that you do, I am so in love with you) and I have been using it to make me stop. It is so funny that it is a built-in reality check. I even used it with Jenny when she was starting to spin... we had a great laugh but we got the point. The best lesson of the week came from my teacher, Juliette. She said, "... grandma, I don't like it when you get mad at one little thing and then you get mad at everything (the last part came with a sweeping circular motion -- highlighting the everything concept). Lesson learned. MI
Another thing that happened this week is that as I allowed the moment to unfold I started questioning misperceptions. Is this one dinner such an imposition? Isn't this student complaint just one more of many in a day's work, how big a deal is it really? I can see neurosis for neurosis and I stop somehow. Pema Chodron's book highlights this practice of recognizing neurosis, stopping and doing something different. Move, sing, whatever. Suddenly this dumb little tune came to me (la.la.la.la, la... la,la, la, la,la, la,lalaaa....everything that you do, I am so in love with you) and I have been using it to make me stop. It is so funny that it is a built-in reality check. I even used it with Jenny when she was starting to spin... we had a great laugh but we got the point. The best lesson of the week came from my teacher, Juliette. She said, "... grandma, I don't like it when you get mad at one little thing and then you get mad at everything (the last part came with a sweeping circular motion -- highlighting the everything concept). Lesson learned. MI
Again your words are right on the mark. Your blog entries always inspire me. It really is the constant question I now ask myself too: "How could I see this differently." Then when I really do move into another perspective, I find I can be happy, can even embrace the moment that moments ago was really making me miserable. Really it's me making me miserable, not the moment, it just is. And then it naturally seems so simple to just do it (graceful gliding, I love that) and do it with joie de vivre! I mean look, with no angst whatever, I am now writing every day. Thank you for that.
ReplyDeleteWow, Juliette. So clear and innocently insightful. She could easily have said the same thing to me. In fact, I will hear her voice the next time a little thing tries to make me mad at everything...and I love the X marks to spot graphic. I can conjure that up in the future when needed too. Hey, if we knew how to, we put the audio of that song on our blog...
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