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Thursday, November 5, 2015

Cooling down...

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."
"I don't much care where –"
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go.” 
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

I had all the best intentions in the world last TT session -- I would get the HW packet, get an early start on it, get things done! I was turning over a new leaf.

Well I did get started on the reading quickly and did a little yoga and breathing... and now it is 2 weeks later and the next session is about to start tomorrow and I am not really sure where the time went.

It's not like I really lead a busy life.  Mostly I am searching for where all my mojos went: yoga, quilting, writing, painting, gardening... I feel like they are all hiding somewhere and any time I get close to finding them, even seeing a peek of them enough to grab hold a speck, they scurry off to another hiding place.  Squirrel
“Mad Hatter: “Why is a raven like a writing-desk?”
“Have you guessed the riddle yet?” the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.
“No, I give it up,” Alice replied: “What’s the answer?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea,” said the Hatter”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Which leads me to this week's reading about tapas. Yeah yeah, no not the Spanish plates, but the yogic niyama of heat, self-study, or will-power, discipline to put it in western terms.
 "Tapas is an aspect of the inner wisdom that encourages us to practice even when we don’t feel like it, even though we know how good it makes us feel! It’s that fiery passion that makes us get up and do our practice for the love of it, and by committing to this, the impurities are ‘burned’ away. Making the decision to go to bed a little earlier so you can wake up early to practice is Tapas; not drinking too much or eating unhealthy foods because you want to feel good in your practice is Tapas; and the way you feel after an intense yoga class, a blissful Savasana and deep meditation That’s Tapas too - ‘burning’ away the negative thought patterns and habits we often fall in to."   From: http://www.ekhartyoga.com/blog/understanding-the-niyamas-tapas

Forming new habits, or confirming old ones that I haven't been following lately. Not all of the habits have fallen by the wayside. I do still (in general) eat in a more healthy way now even though I find myself pulled again back into the carbs-sugar cycle every Autumn brings for me. 

From our reading by Mary Paffard this week on tapas:
"Plateaus occur and they need to be honored.   Especially if you have had a super firey beginning to the practice and then it’s a bit ho-hum.  The willingness to be present to each and every moment without conclusion will allow you to see this time as valuable also and at some point some new spark will alight."
That is something I am still struggling with: to be present each and every moment. Maybe then it will be easier to accept that I am not moving as quickly as I had hoped on this or that project or path in my life. I am still not very accepting of my own failures, or at the least, the slowness in which I am getting things done. I am not so sure how to get there but at least I feel I am aware of it more now. Maybe that is a start.

1 comment:

  1. It does seem that the hardest part is being patient with ourselves. I hope you find your mojos! Thanks for sharing :D

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