Worry ~ The World’s Favorite Past Time

swami

Life can be excruciatingly painful. So much so, that it becomes difficult to deny the pain that exists within our human condition. This awareness reminds us that we are not always in complete control of the circumstances of our life, no matter how hard we try.

As I began delving into the idea that “Suffering is Optional”, I felt a heavy sense of responsibility looming in the distance.

If suffering really is optional, why do we allow it to exist within our lives?

As Human Beings, we continuously allow our minds to be contaminated with thoughts that are ruled by

worry

These thoughts then control our emotions and they wreak havoc within all aspects of our physical life.  I began to realize that we cannot always prevent or avoid pain, yet suffering (physically, mentally and emotionally) are all completely within our control.

We believe that pain causes our suffering, but the truth is,

our refusal

We simply cannot let the “person, place, memory, feeling, emotion, desire, choice, conversation, action, regret or frustration” go.  We must drown in it, roll around in it and beat this dead horse to the point of pure agony before we release it. And often times we refuse to release it at all.

Once you have done all that you can do in any situation, you must let it go, release it and refuse to allow it to continue to affect your mental and emotional well being.

How many times, within each and every day, do you cause suffering within your own life?

How often do you focus negatively on things that you cannot control?

how much

These negative thoughts contaminate our mind, control our emotions and perpetuate the suffering within our physical life.

We must make a conscious effort to release all suffering.  While the circumstances of our life are not always within our control, our thoughts always are. We must understand that worrying promotes suffering.  The very act of worrying does nothing to positively effect the outcome of our life, or the lives of those around us.

to suffer

We must understand that we are the cause of our suffering, therefore we are the only cure. It is time for each of us to take responsibility for our suffering.  We must stop allowing ourselves to become engulfed in the self destructive process of worry, fear, doubt and anxiety. We all hold within us, the power to stop all suffering within our life.

It is time to take your power back. It is time to release your pain, anguish and trauma once and for all. Every being on this planet has suffered long enough. It is time to find a new past time, a new hobby, a new way of life. It is time to stop the self sabotage, self destruction and self inflicted suffering.

You owe it to yourself to let it go.

Welcoming Discipline And Grounding My Guru

Can I just be real with you for a minute?

I am notoriously flaky and non-committal. I have been this way my entire life. I chalk it up to an overwhelming character flaw that has plagued my very existence.

Yet the older I get, the more I am driven to be something more. This overwhelming desire to complete something, to finish something, to see something through to the end has become an incessant nagging that refuses to go away.

And then one day, I found something that I knew would would fix all of my problems.

I swore to myself that

yoga

would be different.

Yoga would change my life. Yoga would bring me inner peace, balance and oneness. I would become a Yoga Guru, who would perform amazingly difficult poses with ease and grace. I would study Yoga, practice Yoga and fully embody all things Yoga.

Full of Shit

Don’t get me wrong, I always start every endeavor with the best intentions. Completely unrealistic and overly exaggerated expectations are my forte.

But then, life happens.

Life can be busy, stressful and frustrating. It can leave even the most ambitiously inclined person up a creek, without a paddle. Before I knew it, I got sucked in to the current of my usual habits, daily routines and busy work schedule. My dream of being a Yoga Guru took a back seat to, well, life.

As a Gemini,

air

is my element.

My head is quite literally in the clouds and my heart is never far behind.  I flow effortlessly from one thing to the next and I welcome change with pure, childlike excitement.

It is no wonder my life has become a series of un-finished projects and good intentions left floating in the wind.

There is one element that I just cannot seem to wrap my head around…

earth

 Earth, is needed to maintain grounding, stability, growth and nourishment. Balance can never be achieved without these key ingredients. I had to find a way to incorporate these aspects into my life.

Yoga, quite literally, forced me to take time out of my extremely Air influenced existence, to plant my feet firmly on the ground.

Through Yoga I created

sacred space

I became grounded and rooted within the Earth element.  I began planting seeds of knowledge, wisdom and desire. I would return, each day, to nourish and perfect everything I’ve planted.  As these seeds of intent grew, I became more firmly rooted in my perspective of self. I found my place in this amazing existence. I became one with all that is. I became whole.

bodhi

This is it.  This is my reminder.  My mantra that encompasses all that I truly desire.

When I am feeling lost, frustrated and overwhelmed, I can find my purpose and motivation here.

yoga 2

It is so easy to let life get in the way of our journey.

I realized that I could no longer continue to do the same thing and expect different results. Sometimes we need to get out of our own way. We must welcome the discipline we know we so desperately need and focus on grounding our Inner Guru.

Yoga did not change me. The practice and discipline that Yoga provides, allowed me to change myself.