Going through the ‘motions.’
We are rolling toward the end of 2023, and I have been reflecting on so much.
I have been reflecting on how it feels like 2023 has been both the worst and simultaneously the best years yet.
It’s interesting to hold both [seemingly contradictory] sentiments at once.
I have met face-to-face with some rough emotional experiences, some that even rippled down (or up) from my very early years.
There was a bit there that felt like a dark night of the soul, followed by nervous system balance and care-out of the dorsal state I was in.
The beautiful thing about it all is the growth and expansion of self through the process, which is on-the-job training every day, right?
I allowed myself to ‘Feel it to Free it.’ I allowed myself to find the wisdom that resides deep within the wounding.
We do not always have control over what happens to us, but we can use our reaction to transmute the suffering into love. *Total lotus style
And for that, I am grateful. It’s liberating to begin to see things from brand new perspectives and then to truly let them be. Let them flow~
Or let them go.
I think of the hang-man card in the tarot, asking us if we have considered a new angle to a situation or person. Or ourselves…
We can all be blindsighted by our beliefs. Sometimes, even if we desire to be open-minded to new possibilities, we aren’t sure where or how to look.
In my somatic/yoga classes, I remind my students of the importance of presence and curiosity.
When we go into a pose, for example, child’s pose.. how the pose looks aesthetically is the absolute last thing I am concerned with. One of the few things I am concerned with is presence. Treating this experience of child’s pose as one you have never experienced in your life.
Because, the truth is, you have not. The day is different, and there may be other things going on in the context of our minds, bodies, and emotions.
If you go into the pose already so sure that you know how it feels and how that pose relates to your body, your mind, and your emotions… then you have limited yourself by closing the door to curiosity.
How often have we/or do we do this in our relationship in life? In any relationship, not solely romantic.
Like in life, you go through the motions in auto-pilot.
Instead of going through the ‘motions’ registered in the brain from previous times, can we participate intimately in reality, just as it is now? Can we allow ourselves to be surprised?
Having experienced something once, we form a Samskara (a Sanskrit word for expectation, imprint, or impression) that guides the subsequent experiences.
Of course, to a certain extent, we know this is advantageous. After that, it is a dis-service or a life-force drainage. It does not bring life into our reality; it takes from it.
I’ll leave you to marinate on that. It is definitely a good one to contemplate many times throughout our lives, especially when things get stagnant.
