I have a cold. A fact - a simple fact. I have a cold. I have chosen not to attach misery to that fact, and have, thus, been quite at peace with it. I am aware of congestion, sore throat, upper respiratory distress. But, those things are... well, just things. They don't make my day, my life, or my being good or bad. I have, in fact, stayed home from work and experienced a great sense of peace in doing so. I have observed my body, aware of the battle between my immune system and the virus. I have practiced yoga, surrendering to the release - body, mind, spirit.
There is one thing I wonder about, though. If I don't attach misery to a cold, does that mean also that I shouldn't attach happiness to hiking on a beautiful day? That seems sort of sad - it would mean living on a stable plane, but one that is rather boring. Perhaps, I can choose when to attach my perspective, then by virtue of that perspective, my feelings. I can choose - isn't that the most powerful thing? Choice?
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Perception
I just read a wonderful Contemplation Theme by Rama Berch, the founder of Svaroopa Yoga, which I practice. The theme is a lovely articulation of the concept of perception and how it effects our lives.
We don't see things as they really are. Everything we see, every event, is perceived by us through the buffer of our own opinions, judgments, biases, and baggage. Sometimes that helps to make the event, or subject, 'good' and sometimes it makes it 'bad.' In reality, it just is. Without adding our rules, we allow ourselves to perceive in a more peaceful way. I hesitate to say it is a more true way, though that's actually what I almost wrote. It's more peaceful because we let go of the judgments. It is peaceful for us, and peaceful for whoever else is a participant.
In yoga we start and end each session with a guided awareness exercise in which the teacher asks us to bring our awareness to our toes, outside and inside, our feet, our calves, etc. It seems like a guided visualization, but Rama points out that it is a practice of awareness. This really transforms the practice for me. I will follow that awareness more closely in the next yoga class.
Meanwhile, it is important to recognize that where our thoughts go, so goes our energy. When we allow our thoughts (and the heuristics that go with them) to subjugate our awareness, our joy, our life satisfaction follows that thought pattern. We have the ability; indeed, we have the response-ability to re-learn awareness and allow those perceptions that hijack our awareness to drift away on the clouds of a gentle breeze.
We don't see things as they really are. Everything we see, every event, is perceived by us through the buffer of our own opinions, judgments, biases, and baggage. Sometimes that helps to make the event, or subject, 'good' and sometimes it makes it 'bad.' In reality, it just is. Without adding our rules, we allow ourselves to perceive in a more peaceful way. I hesitate to say it is a more true way, though that's actually what I almost wrote. It's more peaceful because we let go of the judgments. It is peaceful for us, and peaceful for whoever else is a participant.
In yoga we start and end each session with a guided awareness exercise in which the teacher asks us to bring our awareness to our toes, outside and inside, our feet, our calves, etc. It seems like a guided visualization, but Rama points out that it is a practice of awareness. This really transforms the practice for me. I will follow that awareness more closely in the next yoga class.
Meanwhile, it is important to recognize that where our thoughts go, so goes our energy. When we allow our thoughts (and the heuristics that go with them) to subjugate our awareness, our joy, our life satisfaction follows that thought pattern. We have the ability; indeed, we have the response-ability to re-learn awareness and allow those perceptions that hijack our awareness to drift away on the clouds of a gentle breeze.
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