This book, Meditations on Intention and Being, by Rolf Gates, is a great book to help bring peace, thought and mindfulness to your daily life.
Imbalance – Our world is in chaos, from air, water and soil pollution, the growing need for more, from money to things, to how governments protect corporate interests rather than the people who created it (and allow it to still be). We give up our power, become complacent in what is rather than what should be, what can be.
A great example of on this topic was our 2016 election, I watched, mouth agape, as people voted out of fear rather than voting for who they really wanted in office. I heard things like “Jill Stein will never win” for example. I know this election was a hot mess and I wanted Jill personally because she didn’t have a bunch of weeds she was coming in with, and her platform was about what, to my mind, matters the most; our earth, saving it, getting corporations out of bed with Government, being kind, ethical and fair to all people and animals. But I am not here to argue party, I am here to make a comment on what I witnessed. I heard this comment made from several people I knew that really wanted Stein in office. So why didn’t they vote for her then? Because she wouldn’t win was the answer back to my question.
I have been called pompous, naïve and stupid over this but I am going to say this once more: When we make a choice NOT to do something, NOT to vote where our heart is on anything that really matters to us, we are NOT doing right by ourselves and further we, by that act, that inaction, make it so!
Politics aside, apply what I just said to anything you choose. It can be going vegan or eating less meat, working out more etc. It can be about anything you really want badly that somehow, you feel you don’t deserve enough. We over think things and lose it in the process. We have got to make the choice to make it so. To effect change, we must choose it. From the top down, we are no longer balanced.
The good news is that we can still shape ourselves and our family and friends by what we choose to model, how we choose to live each and every day. Many of us do not fully grasp our imbalances until injury occurs. Yoga is fabulous for helping to awaken mindfulness to the imbalances all of us have, finding what side of our body (and brain) are dominate, adjusting ourselves so that we don’t grasp the hands or cross the legs exactly the same each time or to simply be aware that in the similarity of a pose, each day we are different in it.
Yoga is not just for stick figures or the super flexible, my friends, I am a robust individual and do yoga regularly. Whatever your size or shape, yoga unequivocally is for you. You just need to find the right form, and always honor your body. Growing up, I learned to fight with my body rather than embrace it, which is silly when you think about it, but that is what most of us do. We are never happy and thankful for long with what our shape is or age is or anything, always picking at the imperfection. Give yourself love and compassion and space and time to heal. Do this for you because you matter. When you come from a place of strength, you can share that strength with others and help life them up too.
The holidays (holy days) are divine markers of time, place holders for not only what they represent, but to allow a moment of pause in our earthly pursuits. Each holiday pushes us toward a new year as the old one is closing out and the New Year is unfolding before us. Not everybody is excited about this. But I ask, what really are the alternatives? I must age, therefore, I celebrate my birthdays! Why the hell not? Does it not beat the alternative of 6 feet under? Celebrate your life and time here. Enjoy these small moments of time and joy, whether that is a page of meditation on the book suggested above, sitting by the fire on a cool evening with friends or hanging out with your cat. You being here right now is a miracle.
Be Blessed.