Let Bygones Be Bygones

A senior monk and a junior monk were traveling together. At one point, they came to a river with a strong current. As the monks were preparing to cross the river, they saw a woman also attempting to cross. She asked if they could help her. The junior monk, in keeping with his vows never to touch a woman, ignored her request for help and crossed to the other side of the raging river. The senior monk carried the woman on his shoulder, forded the river and let her down on the other bank. The junior monk was very upset, but said nothing. As they continued on their journey the senior monk noticed that the junior monk was suddenly silent and enquired, “Is something the matter? You seem very upset.” “As monks, we are not permitted to touch a woman,” the junior monk said. “How could you then carry that woman on your shoulders?” The senior monk replied, “I left the woman a long time ago at the river bank. However, you seem to be carrying her still.” This begs the question: What baggage are you carrying that you should have left behind a long time ago?

The arrival of spring is a good time to do some mental and emotional housecleaning and to finish up unfinished business from the past. You can start by doing an inventory of old grudges you still carry, like the boss who kept you from getting that much needed raise and that much deserved promotion, the friend who never paid you back the money you lent, or the person you love who broke your heart. Your unwillingness, or inability to let go of past hurts stunts your spiritual and emotional growth and can cause stress that may lead to physical illness. Carrying old grudges weighs you down and keeps you stuck in the past. Dwelling on past grievances is a form of emotional and mental clutter and keeps you from getting on with your life.

Don’t let life pass you by. Forgiveness is an important step toward letting go of past offenses. It releases you and the other person. It creates opportunities for new possibilities either to form new relationships, or to transform the relationship with the person you feel has wronged you. If you have unfinished business with someone you need to release forgive him first and then let him go. If you need to reconnect with someone so you can begin again forgive her first and then push the reset button.

Forgiveness doesn’t happen all at once. It is a process that requires regular and consistent practice. If you are having difficulty forgiving someone who you feel has wronged you, start the process by forgiving yourself. Admit it, most of the time when someone has done us wrong, we not only blame them for the wrong doing, we blame ourselves for not being smart enough to have avoided the offense. “How could I have been so blind?” “Why didn’t I see that coming?” “What I should have done/said instead was…” Instead of blaming, shaming or criticizing yourself for something you wish you hadn’t said or done, or wish you had done differently, try forgiving yourself using this four-step process

1. Identify what it is you feel you’ve done wrong or neglected to do right.
2.  Allow yourself to feel the remorse that comes from having done something you regard as wrong or neglected to do differently.
3.  Promise and mean that you will never do it again.
4.  If you do it again, repeat the first three steps of the forgiveness process and then don’t do it again. Forgiveness is a recursive process, not something you do once and for all.

As you practice forgiving yourself, you will discover that it becomes easier to forgive others. Don’t be like the young monk whose rigid adherence to a rule blinded him to the senior monk’s kindness. Leave the past where it belongs, in the past. As Jack Kornfield reminds us, “Forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past.” Practice forgiveness. Step into the present moment. Let bygones be bygones.

Namaste

Peace of Mind

When everything around you is in turmoil, when chaos and confusion abound, how do you find peace of mind?
The ability to find peace within a chaotic situation was brought home to me most profoundly when I traveled as a pilgrim with 25 others to visit temples in South India. Being in the temples was stimulating, intense and at times overwhelming. The temples are places of ritual and worship but they are also like community centers where people pray, meditate, chant, celebrate, bathe in the temple tanks, sleep, and eat; children play there, and vendors conduct business on the colorfully decorated stone floors under gorgeously painted ceilings.  Everyone comes to the temple, worshippers, beggars, vendors, tourists, pilgrims, monkeys, goats, and even elephants.

The temples are the heart of the community and as such pulsate with life and energy. Quiet they are not. When we sat to meditate on the cool stone floors of these ancient buildings in our saris and dhotis in 90-degree heat the surroundings were anything but serene. Yet as I sat with 25 others in the midst of what felt like pandemonium, closed my eyes, focused on my breath, silently repeated a mantra I became so absorbed in the meditation that at some point all sound, movement, and any awareness of others disappeared. This, I thought, is peace of mind.

Peace of mind is not just a state of mind. It doesn’t happen automatically. It requires focused attention, commitment, and practice. It requires the 3 D’s – determination, dedication, and devotion. It means organizing and concentrating the unruly forces of the mind, sometimes referred to as monkey mind, on what can bring us peace instead of conflict. This means shifting our focus from an external to an internal perspective and contemplating peaceful responses to people, situations, and circumstances. 

In addition to a daily meditation practice one of the ways I practice peace of mind is by contemplating and meditating on wisdom that inspires me that others have shared. I especially enjoy these contemplations during the winter months when introspection seems to come more naturally. As the sun snuggles beneath her blanket of clouds to take her long winter’s nap it seems easy to turn within and contemplate the wisdom, that like a cup of comfort, soothes and calms. When I lose my way, when I become uncertain, when I become fearful, or despairing, these are words of wisdom that help me regain perspective and support me in being peaceful and serene. As we enter a new year, I hope some of the timeless wisdom that has touched my life can offer you comfort when you need it most.

Forgiveness
“Do not brood over your shortcomings or despise the lack of understanding that led you to them. In the net of experience, as well as in the net of wisdom, one can catch many butterflies of worthwhile lessons – even though it is sometimes the hard way.”  Paramahansa Yogananda

“Forgiveness means giving up all hope of a better past.” Jack Kornfield

“If you make a mistake don’t do it again. If you do it again, don’t do it again.” Gopalaiyar Sundaramoorty

Acceptance
“If you want to stop suffering, stop asking the Universe for what it’s not offering.” Buddhist Wisdom

“Ask for what you want, but don’t demand it. Accept whatever happens for now. Turn up your love even if you don’t get what you want.” A Course In Miracles

Love
“Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you love. It will not lead you astray.” Rumi

“The day will come when after harnessing space, the winds, the tides, and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, we shall have discovered fire.”  Teilhard De Chardin

“The whole problem with people is…they don’t know what matters and what doesn’t. I was gonna say, the problem is they know what matters, but they don’t choose it. You know how hard that is Lily?,,,The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.” Sue Monk Kidd, “The Secret Life of Bees”

Rather than explaining what these snippets of wisdom and inspiration mean to me, if they speak to you, I hope you will contemplate them, meditate on them, derive your own meaning, and then apply what you learn to your interactions with others and to your daily activities.

If you feel inspired to do so, please share some of your favorite inspirational messages that bring you peace of mind.

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti. Peace, Peace, Peace.

Namaste

Looking Back

An Akan proverb, or the Sankofa tells us “We should reach back and gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward.”

It is hard to believe that the close of 2013 is just weeks away. I feel like this is a good time to circle back and highlight some thoughts I’ve shared over the past 12 months. I chose past writings that speak to some of the holiday ups and downs most of us experience in hopes my words will bring you greater well being and, as always, continued growth! Enjoy…

LIVING HEROICALLY
As far as I know my father never once stepped onto a yoga mat. Yet it is through his example that I learned what living yoga off the yoga mat really means. It’s about attitudes and actions that keep you focused, calm, and non-reactive in the face of life’s challenges. It’s about doing what’s right, not what’s easy.

Lt. Colonel Frederick L. Parker, USAF

He did this throughout his military career by valiantly fighting, at his own peril, for freedoms that were not always granted to him, because it was the right thing to do. He demonstrated courage by standing up for and insisting on equal treatment for all, even in the face of overwhelming opposition. He proved that obstacles are overcome by committing to relentlessly following your purpose, no matter who or what opposes you. He demonstrated that living life heroically means living life authentically and facing your fears head on, everyday, with an open heart.

LIVING FULLY
To live life fully we are called to live a life of service to others. Ask yourself each day upon awakening, what difference you want to make in someone else’s life. It doesn’t have to be a monumental difference. It could be something as simple as offering a listening ear to a friend in need, making a phone call to someone you’ve been thinking about, or running an errand for a neighbor.

LIVING HOPEFULLY
Do not let limitations or barriers keep you from pursuing your dreams. No achievement comes without obstacles. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and continue moving toward your goal. Remember no effort you make goes unrewarded. Keep looking for a job if you’re unemployed. Keep applying to schools until you’re admitted. Finish what you start. Don’t give up.

LIVING MORE SLOWLY
For many of us doing has become more important than being. Even though we long for rest and relaxation, these are needs we tend to ignore. We have to talk ourselves into the practice of slowing down and being still. A culture of doers, we have places to go, people to meet, things to do. The only thing we think we can’t do is nothing.

LIVING OPENLY
The problem with carrying around a secret is that it can be toxic, costing you peace of mind, happiness, even your health. Keeping secrets interferes with your ability to be yourself, and to be intimate with others. It doesn’t matter what your secret is; keeping secrets is a form of dishonesty that causes harm to us physically, psychologically and spiritually, and sometimes causes harm to others.

Yoga teaches us that truthfulness is a guiding principle of our practice both on and off our yoga mat. We learn that by shining a light on the hidden places within ourselves we can safely avoid their stress-related consequences. Even though the thought of revealing a secret can seem scary, once you take that first step, it gets easier.

LIVING WITH STILLNESS
“Go to your room!” “Sit still until I tell you to move!” “You need a time out!” For those of us who grew up hearing these words when we misbehaved, is it any wonder that as adults we have an aversion to being still, to being quiet, or to being alone? When stillness, time-out, and alone time are used as forms of punishment, how likely is it that we would look forward to, much less be able to delight, in stillness?

LIVING WITH CONTENTMENT
Contentment should not be confused with complacency, which is a state of stagnation, or no growth. Rather, contentment is a sign that we are at peace with our circumstances, and ourselves. Being content does not mean that we have to settle for what we don’t want, whether it is a toxic relationship, unbearable living conditions, or inhumane working conditions. Contentment starts with accepting reality as it is, not as we want it to be. Accepting reality can lead us to make the necessary changes that result in an overall sense of well-being.

Contentment is not the same as happiness. We all face difficult times in our lives. But it is possible to find contentment even in painful circumstances through acceptance of the situation. In the case of a devastating illness, loss or other unwelcomed circumstance, we may go through various stages of emotional turmoil such as denial, anger, and depression before we reach acceptance. But it is possible to find contentment and inner peace, even then….No matter what your circumstance, there is always the possibility of living life more fully.

Contentment is the ability to appreciate how much you have, rather than how much you want.

LIVING LIFE WITH CHANGE
Change is risky and can be accompanied by sadness, fear, regret, anger, and disappointment. If you stepped on a nail, it would obviously be painful and you would want to remove it. But before it feels better, removing the nail hurts, sometimes more than staying on it. Truth be told, there are times when we’d rather adjust to and accept a familiar hurt than risk the discomfort of change, even if the change we face leads to something better. But you can’t “put the past behind you and move on” without saying goodbye to what you are leaving.

There is wisdom to be gained by reflecting on change, its inevitability, and how to gracefully accept it. The ability to embrace change is an essential part of living. Accepting the pain that sometimes comes with it is fundamental to the embrace of life itself. Where there is life there is change. Without change there is no growth and no life. To align with life, we must become one with change and “go with the flow.”

 The Rune of Termination and New Beginnings
“The life you have been living has outgrown its form, and must die so new energy can be released. May you undergo a death within your self. You are always free to resist, but remain mindful that the new life is always greater than the old. Prepare then for opportunity disguised as loss.”

Namaste

Make A Way Out of No Way

There is a popular story–some call it an urban legend–that circulates about Itzhak Perlman, one of the greatest and most famous violinists of our time. He contracted polio as a child, requiring him to wear leg braces and walk with crutches. Now, at each concert performance, he makes a slow entrance on his crutches onto the stage, sits down, unclasps the braces on his legs and prepares to play. As the story goes, one evening in a performance at New York’s Lincoln Center, he entered the stage in his usual way and began performing a challenging concerto. Near the middle of the performance one of the strings on his violin broke. Everyone in the audience could hear the loud snap. For any other violinist this would not have been a problem, embarrassing maybe, but not a problem. He would have simply gotten up, gone to the side of the stage and attached a new string or gotten another violin. The audience sat in silence waiting to see what Perlman would do. Would he have to put his braces back on and painstakingly make his way across the stage to find another violin?

They watched in wonder as he paused, closed his eyes, and remained still. Then he signaled for the conductor to begin again. Perlman picked up where he had left off and began passionately playing the piece in its entirety with only three strings. It was obvious watching him that he was creating, modulating, and reconfiguring the piece in his head to accommodate the absent string. At the end of the performance, there was an awed silence. Then the audience went wild, jumping to their feet in deafening applause. Perlman raised his bow to quiet the crowd. When the audience settled down he spoke in a reverent tone. “You know,” he said, “sometimes it is the artist’s task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left.”

Grandmothers used to call that making do with what you have; or making a way out of no way. In yoga making do with what you have, or finding a way out of no way, is one of 10 ethical principles practiced to cultivate inner harmony and strength. It is called the practice of Santosha, or contentment. To the yogi, practicing contentment is a wise way of making peace with our family, our community, and ourselves. It is a pathway to joy.

I used to think that making do was a sign of complacency, but I’ve come to recognize it as a way of being satisfied within the container of your own experience. It involves the practice of appreciating and wanting what you have instead of focusing your attention on having what you want.

Contentment should not be confused with complacency, which is a state of stagnation, or no growth. Rather, contentment is a sign that we are at peace with our circumstances, and ourselves. Being content does not mean that we have to settle for what we don’t want, whether it is a toxic relationship, unbearable living conditions, or inhumane working conditions. Contentment starts with accepting reality as it is, not as we want it to be. Accepting reality can lead us to make the necessary changes that result in an overall sense of well-being.

Paradoxically, accepting reality as it is can help us develop a greater capacity for hopefulness. It opens us to the possibility of a better situation than the one we may find ourselves in. The Perlman parable teaches us that by accepting reality as it is instead of longing for something different, we can learn to make something beautiful with what we have left.

Contentment is not the same as happiness. We all face difficult times in our lives. But it is possible to find contentment even in painful circumstances through acceptance of the situation. In the case of a devastating illness, loss, or other unwelcomed circumstance, we may go through various stages of emotional turmoil such as denial, anger, and depression before we reach acceptance. But it is possible to find contentment and inner peace, even then.

No matter what your circumstance, there is always the possibility of living life more fully. Contentment is the ability to appreciate how much you have, rather than how much you want. As we cultivate this attitude within ourselves we become more stable in our ability to remain joyful even when things don’t go as we planned or as we hoped they would. When we find a way to make do with what we have we have opened the door to making a way out of no way, to finding peace and contentment within ourselves, and to becoming joyful beyond measure.

Namaste

Go With the Flow

“Everything must change. Nothing stays the same. Everyone will change no one stays the same…There are not many things in life you can be sure of, except rain comes from the clouds, sun lights up the sky, and hummingbirds do fly.”
Benard Ighner

There is a story you may have heard about a postman on his mail delivery route who happened to see a man sitting on his porch. Next to the man was a whimpering dog. The postman asked the man, “What’s wrong with your dog?” The man said, “He’s laying on a nail.” The postman was confused. “Laying on a nail?,” he said. “Well, why doesn’t he get up?” The man replied, “It’s not hurting bad enough.”

This story is often told by motivational speakers as a way to point out the absurdity of remaining in a painful situation, and to encourage people to get off their own personal nails and make the necessary changes that will ease their discomfort. Coming off the nail could mean leaving an unhappy relationship, a dead-end job, or fulfilling a lifelong dream. But the parable leaves out an important element. Change is risky and can be accompanied by sadness, fear, regret, anger, and disappointment. If you stepped on a nail, it would obviously be painful and you would want to remove it. But before it feels better, removing the nail hurts, sometimes more than staying on it. Truth be told, there are times when we’d rather adjust to and accept a familiar hurt than risk the discomfort of change, even if the change we face leads to something better.

Whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not, change is always occurring and with it comes uncertainty. It may manifest as an unwelcomed illness, the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, or as an opportunity, like an unexpected promotion, or the finalization of an adoption, an event you’d given up hope would ever occur. You might experience a change of heart, like a vacation you thought you wanted to take with friends, but at the last minute you decide to stay at home. It could be a failed relationship. No matter what it is, accepting change and adjusting to it can be tough.

Clinging to the familiar is a normal part of the process of accepting change. Once we realize and accept the fact that change has actually occurred, we find ourselves living with the anxiety of not knowing what lies ahead. That can be disorienting. To ease the anxiety we alternate between clinging to the way things were, and frantically searching for what’s next.

Rather than remaining stuck in how you wish things were, and before you rush into how you hope things will be, take some time to reflect on how you feel right now about the change that has occurred. You can’t “put the past behind you and move on” without saying goodbye to what you are leaving. Let yourself experience the impact the change has had on you, even if it hurts.

There is wisdom to be gained by reflecting on change, its inevitability, and how to gracefully accept it. The ability to embrace change is an essential part of living. Accepting the pain that sometimes comes with it is fundamental to the embrace of life itself. Where there is life there is change. Without change there is no growth and no life. To align with life, we must become one with change and “go with the flow.”

In the spirit of embracing change, it seems fitting to share some wisdom that can help us look at change through fresh eyes. It is wisdom we can turn to for comfort, reassurance, and clarity as we courageously build the bridge we walk across into an uncertain future. Consider this:

“The life you have been living has outgrown its form, and must die so new energy can be released. May you undergo a death within your self. You are always free to resist, but remain mindful that the new life is always greater than the old. Prepare then for opportunity disguised as loss.”
The Rune of Termination and New Beginnings

Namaste