Let yourself be open and life will be easier - Buddha
I've been on a journey for the last two years toward regaining balance in my life between health, happiness, creative fulfillment and satisfying the basic needs of the body.
The BIGGEST thing that I have learned is that you create your own experiences. Loving yourself and surrounding yourself with love and only loving positive people is the only way to live a healthy life. Meditation, prayer, exercise, being hugged and laughing are daily needs, not something that you do if you get around to it when everything else is done.
Parents especially often leave themselves last in the list of people to nurture.
So today I'm reminding everybody to nurture themselves first, it's not selfish, it's just good common sense.
Fall is a great time to explore new things. To let old habits die off with the leaves falling from the trees, to take winter as a restorative time for the soul and to look forward to the renewal of spring.
He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise - Lao-Tzu
Take time to know yourself and be happy.
Namaste
13 comments:
Thank you for the reminder! And THIS picture is why you love the seasons... Doesn't ever quite do this where I live.
We've talked about this many times I know Judy, but yes, I'd have a hard time living anywhere that stayed static year round.
I LOVE the seasons. I love the dramatic differences from day to day, I love the anticipation of what's just around the corner....
I had a couple of people email me and ask what Namaste means.
It literally means "I bow to you" but it is used in yoga to acknowledge the divine spark that all people have within them.
When Namaste is shared between people it's a lovely reminder that we are all beings of infinite wisdom, learning and continuing our journey every moment of every day.
I do love autumn, this natural reminder to pare away, to empty, to be quiet, in order to be refilled.
And I do miss the Midwest at times. But even here in Central California, if you look quick, you can see this raucous autumn splendor and it reminds me of the Dylan Thomas poem, "Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage, against the dying of the light."
But the dying of the light is necessary for renewal of the flame.
The very first thing that struck me was the amazing photo before reading the text.
I love both :)
And I agree, people need to take care of themselves too not just everyone else around them.
Thanks you for reminding us, as we tend to forget about this while being carried through life's hectic ways!
I love the idea of everyone taking a walk in the leaves and kicking them like they did when they were a kid. Or picking just the perfect one out of a bunch and ironing it between wax paper or pressing it into a book....
Fall...glorious time of multi colored beauty...fleeting...but packed with so much opportunity for noticing change and creating shifts inside of ourselves....
Oooh Linda,
I LOVED this very poetic line...
"But the dying of the light is necessary for renewal of the flame."
Thank you for that thought.
Karen :0)
Oh and Estrella,
Feel free to swipe the photo. It's one of my favorites.
The trees, the color, the bend in the walking path that almost certainly leads the way to a new adventure...
*happy sigh*
I wish I would have seen this last year when you posted it originally.
But... now, still -- it's what I need.
So happy you found it then Becky.
*Big Smile*
*Snort!!! She said "…basic needs of the body" *
Heck! Who let my inner frat boy out - bless his little cotton socks? Actually, I never had an inner frat boy. For a very long time I was terminally serious. Very difficult, for me and those around me.
"…be open and life will be easier…"
Easier, he said. Not necessarily less painful. In fact, being open may lead to more pain - the lows can be lower, but then…the highs can also be higher.
Or not. And even if not, it doesn't matter. "Easier," he said. And easier it is. Easier to relax. Easier to be open.
For it takes energy to be closed, to protect yourself, to guard against pain. Energy that is stolen from being. Just being. Being open. Open to possibility.
And even if there is virtue in such protection - again, it doesn't matter. Because (and here I may have to disagree a little with Karen on her own blog *Oh, you just can't take him anywhere*) sometimes we don't get to create our own experiences. Things happen.
Even after all the care and effort we put into protecting ourselves from everything we can think of…things happen.
And it helps to be relaxed, to be fluid, to let yourself be. We have surprising depths, surprising reserves, surprising resources. But to reach them is…surprisingly simple.
I know little…but what I do know is…this comment has rambled on too long. :)
Namaste Karen
and thank you for such a thoughtful post.
I don't think you disagreed with me Kevin and I certainly didn't mind the rambling.
*smiles at you*
It's AFTER the things happen to us that we get to choose how we react to them. That's when our experience is totally in our own hands.
I once read a quote:
"Would you make today's dinner out of yesterday's garbage?"
I choose to lay things down and leave them in the past if at all possible.
Living in the now is so much healthier. I'm safe in the now. I'm loved in the now. I'm free to be me in the now.
*expansive sigh*
Glad you don't mind the rambling, Karen. Anyone who interacts with me has to have a certain level of tolerance for rambling, I'm afraid. *grin*
Yes, we own our reactions - and that is freeing. Trying to own and/or control anything (or anyone) else is like...what's the old expression? "Like trying to teach a pig to sing. It doesn't work...and it annoys the pig."
Liking the idea of a freewheeling Karen.
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