The holidays and year end create both excitement and disappointment, the weeks are filled with emotional highs and lows. The day after Christmas (I was raised Catholic, so that is our family focal point and tradition) is said to be one of the most depressing days in America. For some, the depression starts before the Holidays and for others it begins the moment that the last present is opened.
For many, the holidays are a stark reminder of the difference between an idealized vision of how our lives should be and the reality of the how we live most days. It is important to note that the holidays merely bring to our consciousness an underlying truth that escapes our attention most of the time. The truth is that the reality of our lives and the envisioned results that we want for ourselves are not the same much of the time.
Our families and friends and our connection or disconnection to them becomes a major part of the fabric of our end of year holiday experience. Aloneness plays tag with loneliness if we are apart from our loved ones. Not only is anxiety in the air, but so is reflection. This is for many a time to build energy into resolutions to change in the coming year.
The challenge here is twofold. On one hand, the difference between current reality and a desired result is empowering. It empowers one through the very tension that is experienced. On the other hand, the emotions that are brought up can be difficult to both feel and endure.
The cycle of creation and destruction of love and loss has been studied deeply by both students and teachers on a spiritual path. While it can be explained simply, whether in Buddhist or Western terms, it is quite another matter to live through it.
How can you remain a fully engaged and compassionate person and not be overwhelmed by both these internal storms?
The person committed to creating must be open to the true difference between reality and desired results, but must build inner strength to function when the awareness of the gap between the two causes pain in the heart. Inner strength comes from being both attached to life and yet detached from our efforts. Some efforts succeed and other efforts fail. Some help us move forward in creating and others take us backwards and yet we are only guaranteed to fail when we cease in our efforts.
Putting forth a good effort, an effort which fully reflects your passion, your values and your creativity, is all that you can control and all that really matters. Paying attention to the results but accepting that the world in which you create lies completely out of your control and only marginally open to your influence. Treating the failure of results as an opportunity to learn and then applying learning tools such as critical thinking and analysis will keep you moving. Even so you will need to rest and rejuvenate and find a peaceful place to do so.
Peace is found at the center of the storm. Peace is found when we both acknowledge the grace we receive every day and accept the eventual loss of every thing we possess or attempt to possess. We move out to create and experience both creation and destruction. We move inward to find peace and experience ourselves.
Build or find a small place or space where you can retreat to during these times and then pay attention to the signs and signals that it is time to go there. When you can find peace alone with yourself you are on the path of building inner strength as well as cultivating the experience of inner peace.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Spiritual Practice Releases You From Reactivity
While there has been hype and mysticism as well as cultural miscommunication, yoga has gained mainstream popularity in the United States because it works. That is, when hatha yoga is practiced people experience benefits.
The benefits of spiritual practice are not limited to yoga nor even alternative paths as all of the great religions have within them traditions and practices that have been handed down through the generations by the the more serious devotees of each religion. The catholic practice of praying the Rosary is an example of such a spiritual practice.
Yoga's roots 5000 years ago in India have given us a body of practices that have been refined over hundreds of generations. Active experimentation has led to the adoption and discarding of elements based upon the their active testing and the observed benefits of each specific practice. The teacher-based lineage of practice playing out over time have presented us with many flavors of yogic practice and in the United States someone interested in yoga has a variety of options.
When doing hatha yoga, the body is manipulated into postures (asanas) and your breathing is manipulated as well. The specific manipulations both stimulate and relax various systems in the bodies as you work muscles, oxygenate blood, massage organs and glands and then relax. An experience is created using just your body and breath. For many this experience is transformative even if only temporarily.
When I say that yoga works, I mean that it transforms one's primary experience from the external to the inner world. It does so by detaching the inner experience from being a mere reaction to the external world and allowing the inner experience to be a more direct experience of yourself in your true natural state of being. Experiencing your own body through your own senses without judgement or reaction is a powerful and surprisingly novel experience for many.
Although yoga is unique in many ways, its capacity to release you from reactivity is not. Reactivity is what happens when a human being (with an ego) struggles for happiness or joy in a challenging if not downright hostile world. It is also a reaction to the suffering that comes from loss of love, of loved ones and your own fears of mortality.
I think it is important to note that a spiritual practice is not just a temporal release from the pressure of the world but rather a true spiritual discipline also builds inner richness and inner strength. Which are keys both happiness and self-empowerment.
The benefits of spiritual practice are not limited to yoga nor even alternative paths as all of the great religions have within them traditions and practices that have been handed down through the generations by the the more serious devotees of each religion. The catholic practice of praying the Rosary is an example of such a spiritual practice.
Yoga's roots 5000 years ago in India have given us a body of practices that have been refined over hundreds of generations. Active experimentation has led to the adoption and discarding of elements based upon the their active testing and the observed benefits of each specific practice. The teacher-based lineage of practice playing out over time have presented us with many flavors of yogic practice and in the United States someone interested in yoga has a variety of options.
When doing hatha yoga, the body is manipulated into postures (asanas) and your breathing is manipulated as well. The specific manipulations both stimulate and relax various systems in the bodies as you work muscles, oxygenate blood, massage organs and glands and then relax. An experience is created using just your body and breath. For many this experience is transformative even if only temporarily.
When I say that yoga works, I mean that it transforms one's primary experience from the external to the inner world. It does so by detaching the inner experience from being a mere reaction to the external world and allowing the inner experience to be a more direct experience of yourself in your true natural state of being. Experiencing your own body through your own senses without judgement or reaction is a powerful and surprisingly novel experience for many.
Although yoga is unique in many ways, its capacity to release you from reactivity is not. Reactivity is what happens when a human being (with an ego) struggles for happiness or joy in a challenging if not downright hostile world. It is also a reaction to the suffering that comes from loss of love, of loved ones and your own fears of mortality.
I think it is important to note that a spiritual practice is not just a temporal release from the pressure of the world but rather a true spiritual discipline also builds inner richness and inner strength. Which are keys both happiness and self-empowerment.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Developing a Personal Creative Vision
What is the source of meaning in your life? As Viktor Frankl discussed in Man's Search For Meaning, each individual brings or grants "meaning" to their own life. Dr. Frankl gained deep insights into the human condition while a prisoner at Auschwitz.
If one was "lucky" enough to survive the initial selection process at Auschwitz, a short life of brutality, starvation, hard labor and hopelessness was bound to follow. Yet, among this alien world, Dr. Frankl saw hope, love and humanity. While an individual was constantly subjected to the prospects of a random death over which the inmate had no control, the key factors for survival in Auschwitz emerged, which were a rich or strong inner-life and a sense that one had unfinished work to do if they managed to survive.
Dr. Frankl addressed both of these by collecting examples of expressed humanity at Auschwitz and designing lectures to be given regarding his observations in the future after his release. He would imagine teaching his future students and engaging in dialogue with them.
If you were given a finite lifeline, what unfinished work would you want to accomplish?
For many people, this work will have nothing to do with how they earn a living. For some, it will be a modification or refinement of what they primarily do for a living.
Some helpful clarifying questions are:
What are you passionate about?
If you had the power to change the world, what would you change about it?
How would you ensure that your values or perspective or abilities are passed on to others.
Your creation can be a work of art or a fictional story, a business or institution, a book or a movie, a forest or park, a new law, a solution to a problem.
The important part is to have enough clarity to begin to envision (if only in your dreams) a desired result.
As Robert Fritz discusses in The Path of Least Resistance, the more clarity and detail you bring to your desired result the more tension and power you create. When you climb a cliff the rope tightens under the tension of your weight and your progess or lack of progress becomes painfully clear to all.
Many of us use being vague or unclear to keep us emotionally "off the hook" for producing a result. No one wants to fail. Most of the time, we actually prevent failure by avoiding the competition. We do not even enter the race or step up to bat. (Please excuse the sporty metaphors.) I plead guilty to this myself.
So to avoid the pain of failing at something that we put our heart and soul into, we stay vague about what we truly want, keep our distance from the tension of wanting something that does not exist and ultimately guarantee that we will fail just a little bit each and every day.
I want to create, build and lead a successful alternative adult education institution that addresses our spiritual needs, general well being and professional abilities in a holistic way. I have taken some risks and followed up on some of my opportunities to further this vision and yet I have held back and delayed much energy and commitment as well.
What fires you up? What fires you up on an ongoing basis? Of the things you were passionate about as an idealistic teenager or youngster, which of those things still hold interest?
The first step in developing a personal creative vision is looking inward for that spark and then envisioning how that spark would grow if you fed it and breathed your life's energy in to it.
If one was "lucky" enough to survive the initial selection process at Auschwitz, a short life of brutality, starvation, hard labor and hopelessness was bound to follow. Yet, among this alien world, Dr. Frankl saw hope, love and humanity. While an individual was constantly subjected to the prospects of a random death over which the inmate had no control, the key factors for survival in Auschwitz emerged, which were a rich or strong inner-life and a sense that one had unfinished work to do if they managed to survive.
Dr. Frankl addressed both of these by collecting examples of expressed humanity at Auschwitz and designing lectures to be given regarding his observations in the future after his release. He would imagine teaching his future students and engaging in dialogue with them.
If you were given a finite lifeline, what unfinished work would you want to accomplish?
For many people, this work will have nothing to do with how they earn a living. For some, it will be a modification or refinement of what they primarily do for a living.
Some helpful clarifying questions are:
What are you passionate about?
If you had the power to change the world, what would you change about it?
How would you ensure that your values or perspective or abilities are passed on to others.
Your creation can be a work of art or a fictional story, a business or institution, a book or a movie, a forest or park, a new law, a solution to a problem.
The important part is to have enough clarity to begin to envision (if only in your dreams) a desired result.
As Robert Fritz discusses in The Path of Least Resistance, the more clarity and detail you bring to your desired result the more tension and power you create. When you climb a cliff the rope tightens under the tension of your weight and your progess or lack of progress becomes painfully clear to all.
Many of us use being vague or unclear to keep us emotionally "off the hook" for producing a result. No one wants to fail. Most of the time, we actually prevent failure by avoiding the competition. We do not even enter the race or step up to bat. (Please excuse the sporty metaphors.) I plead guilty to this myself.
So to avoid the pain of failing at something that we put our heart and soul into, we stay vague about what we truly want, keep our distance from the tension of wanting something that does not exist and ultimately guarantee that we will fail just a little bit each and every day.
I want to create, build and lead a successful alternative adult education institution that addresses our spiritual needs, general well being and professional abilities in a holistic way. I have taken some risks and followed up on some of my opportunities to further this vision and yet I have held back and delayed much energy and commitment as well.
What fires you up? What fires you up on an ongoing basis? Of the things you were passionate about as an idealistic teenager or youngster, which of those things still hold interest?
The first step in developing a personal creative vision is looking inward for that spark and then envisioning how that spark would grow if you fed it and breathed your life's energy in to it.
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