Monday, September 26, 2011

Do you love your life?

Another TED.com inspired post...

Ric Elias: 3 things I learned while my plane crashed | Video on TED.com

Mr. Elias said a couple of things in this 5-minute talk that brought me immediately to my practice.

1. "I love my life,"

2. We will not be here forever.

During this past summer a number of challenges have crossed my path that brought about deep and intense feelings for me: of sadness, of regret, of uncertainty. In too many of these moments, I had wished for it all to pass by me so that I could remain untouched by the overwhelming experience of emotion that I didn't trust that I could handle. Of course, in my hindsight, I know that all states are temporary and that these feelings always pass, but in the moment, they felt endless. At the turning point, I had to shift my stubborness around and use it as a tool for self-enhancement. Instead of continuing my limiting attitude in some stubborn attempt to prove my ill-feelings valid, I needed to move consciously, from a headspace of patience and of grasping a bigger idea of what was happening in my life, of seeing my life from someone else's perspective. Whenever I do this, I always come back to the fact that my life is and has been filled with really cool and interesting experiences, and when I really start to stretch my perspective to the number of people whom I know have drastically different life situations than mine, I remember that I love my life in all of its imperfection.

This gets me thinking about point # 2 - we will not be here forever. I have a lot of ambitions, many of which require resources that I don't yet have and will probably take some time to get (money, mentors, networks, experience, space)... on challenging days, this reality causes self-limiting thinking, doubt, sadness, jealousy...you know how it goes. But in my current state of realistic thinking, I know that these means can come, even if the events that will culminate to manifest them are unknown to me right now. And also, that the more I indulge in this kind of self-limiting and draining thinking, I am wasting time and energy where I could be investing them. Ambitions are great goals and ideals to keep close at hand, in order to keep up endurance for the challenges that face us in our lives. But just as it is possible to achieve our ambitions, it is just as possible that our lives will end without notice. In this gap, we live our lives.

What do you need to move or shift in order to love your life? What do you need to maintain in order to keep loving your life?

Be well!


P.S. I will be teaching a Basics class at Black Dog Yoga in Sherman Oaks this Thursday from 630 - 800pm <3

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