can you be comfortable where you are in times of change?
I hope your week has been with more ease than not. It seems that one thing that is similar for everyone is a recognition that there are good days and bad days. Most everyone on the planet is feeling the effects of these times of change. Are we learning to be okay where we are? Are we more invested in the idea that everything will be okay when…” Even some people I talk to whose daily routines haven’t been affected much still admit that the tone of the days unquestionably require new eyes.
In the state of waiting for this change to end, it’s easy to be more invested in a future outcome than learning how to make the best of the present moment. It’s easier to feel the void from what you are use to than it is to sense something new under our nose. I’m speaking for myself here of course. Even though it was my intention to be in India at this time, the circumstances are very different. I drive myself crazy analyzing daily what to do next. We were scheduled to participate in study, yoga, retreating. All cancelled and facilities of course are closed, restaurants and shops too, plus there is still a ban on international travel. However if I let go of what it could have been, I can still study online, do a home yoga practice and create a personal private retreat, if I’m willing to change my lens.
Within this global stay home order is ample online educational opportunities. Sure, they are not the same as studying or practicing with community, but it's better than being paralyzed by what is not happening. I’ve shared a few of my favourites that offered useful insight over the past weeks. I’m participating in another course through Tushita on healing and transforming emotions. I'm grateful for these timely teachings to recognize the importance of really listening to myself and in that observation, easing the judgement. It's impossible to hear other people non-judgementally if we don't drop our own.
When we were walking in the mountain yesterday, Daniela was saying that the years invested in work to train the mind is the greatest gift we can give ourselves. The mind is so powerful and when emotions run high, what we chose to hang on to is often more damaging that beneficial. How is it that all the positive affirmations we receive seem to need ample verifications yet criticism or triggers to negative emotions are often accepted at face value.
There was a beautiful story putting light on the fact that we are not our emotions, even though when things are really difficult it feels like it will last forever. Or when we are down on our luck, it must have simply ran out. This writer shared an observation he had when living here in the Himalayas.
He said in early monsoon he would watch with fascination the emergence of clouds in the clear sky. From the clarity of blue sky you could see puffy white clouds form and the wind would pick up. Some of those white clouds would become grey and dark with a loud rumbling voice from the cosmos. If the conditions were right, the sky would open and release it’s contents, sending people to shelter wherever it could be found. In a while the clouds would disperse and blue skies would return, just like our emotions.
This analogy really stuck with me to respect my emotions as a participant and a witness but not a victim. Like the ocean honouring the waves without being defined by them. This practice is allowing whatever arises in the present moment to be heard and respected, and most important without attachment. I feel the cloud formations come, the storms accrue and the clearings to unfold. It is the beauty of impermanence that enables us to be present in the only moment we really own, this very one.
Wishing you a glorious unfolding of this new day in any and all formations that are presented.
Peace and prayer for us all as we walk each other home,
