Self Worth

Beautiful Lord,

Lead me to find You

in Me.


Ah

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

If we only see our own reflection in our lovers,

I must be beautiful...


****

Poem- I Seek

I now seek to nurse to sleep and nurture my sorrow.

As I caress and worship my joy in celebration--

I now seek also to celebrate my anguish

In reverence and appreciation.

*****

Spirit That Breathes In All Things

Spirit that breathes in all things,


I’ve come seeking your light.
Spirit that sings in all things,
I’ve come to hear your voice.
Spirit that smiles in all things.
I’ve come to be an expression
Of your rapture.
Spirit of Oneness, Spirit of Love,
I’ve come to spread your peace.






(through yoga)

Lighting Incense (or Learning Patience)

I want to learn to love and to worship,
To blow the flame out and let it burn slowly,
Feeling no hurry for the rose-scented smoke to rise
and perfume the room.

  (through yoga)

Experience Life More Fully Through Non-Attachment

The lovely book “Fire in the Heart” by Deepak Chopra recounts a traditional Indian tale of the ups and downs of life.

“Once there was a man who loved two things above everything else in the world. One was his son and the other was a pony. One morning, however, the man awoke to find that the pony had run away. A search party was mounted, but the pony was nowhere to be found.

'You must feel terrible,' a neighbor said when he heard the news.

But the man looked calm. 'It's not over,' he murmured.

The next day the man woke up, and not only had the pony returned, but with him came a magnificent white stallion. When he heard the news, his neighbor said, 'You must be overjoyed. You have your pony and a new horse that's twice as beautiful.'

But the man looked calm and said, 'It isn't over.'

The next day when his son was out riding the white stallion, he fell off and broke his leg. As the boy was carried into the house moaning with pain the neighbor said, 'What a terrible accident. How much you must be suffering to see your poor son hurt.”

But the man looked calm and said, 'It's not over.'

The next day the army came. They were taking away every able-bodied young man to go to war, but when they saw that the man's son was laid up with a broken leg, the soldiers went away and left him behind. The neighbor rushed over and said, 'How fortunate you are. Every young man has to go to war except your son.'

But the man only shrugged, 'It's never over.' "

The Western world is turned-off to the way of non-attachment, because it is commonly believed that non-attachment would take away the mind-reeling dark chocolate velvet pleasure of the moment. However, I believe that the truth is quite the opposite: practicing non-attachment increases your enjoyment of life and of the present.

My guru Syl Carson calls it coming to a place of witness. In this place, there is no need for worry and suffering. This place inside of you is like a calm, still temple that is surrounded by howling winds and torrential downpour.

So how do you find the neutral mind inside of yourself? As soon as you recognize that you are becoming emotionally entangled with the world, trying to control things outside of your control, simply decide to accept what is. Accepting what is does not mean that you do not take efforts to change an unpleasant situation. It only means that you recognize that you do not know where any given road will actually lead and you trust that it will all will work out. As they say, everything will be okay in the end. If it isn't okay, it isn't the end.

Envision yourself as a peaceful witness, observing all of the turmoil that your ego is involved in, saying “Ah, interesting. My ego is afraid to surrender.”

Often, the addiction to get swept into the storm is so great with a given situation that it requires divine intervention. At these times, I recommend a prayer or meditation in which you focus on becoming a peaceful witness, and on accepting what is.

"God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference."

                   -Reinhold Niebuhr

On Relationships

We had another blissful fifteen hour weekend of yoga immersion teacher training this last weekend. In honor of the current life situations of the students, we discussed LOVE.

My instructor and guru, Syl Carson, expressed her belief that love is a mirror. We fall in love with our own image projected onto others. When we love our partner's compassion, we are really seeing and loving our own capacity for compassion.

Likewise, when there is something about our partner that drives us crazy, while they may really posses that quality, it drives us crazy because it is a trait that describes ourselves. For example, if I was enraged to see my partner sitting in front of the TV, it is really my own denied idleness that enrages me.

In a love relationship, we make an unspoken agreement to see in each other the divine love that we have for ourselves. Doing so allows us to feel safe in understanding our love for ourselves. We make an agreement to do this for one another. Our partner therefore becomes a placeholder for divine love.

This is why it is so scary to be abandoned by a lover. We then feel unable to know the Divine's love for us.

Ultimately, I would like to be able to see myself as God (God being an all-encompassing term) sees me. As Syl said, “If I can love myself as God loves me, then I have intoxication of self-love!”

Doing this takes the fear out of love, and removes the fear from being alone.

So kiss yourself.

Namaste

*Rebecca Sky*