yoga teaches acceptance – L O R D F L E A

This past few weeks has had many memorable celebrations, not least of which being the twentieth celebratory anniversary of Germany’s Berlin Wall coming down, heralding the end of communism and the beginning—of something new. Change, the subject of my last post, is always consistently happening. Everything else is impermanent. If you are lucky enough to have faith in a Higher Power, that too, is a consistent in life. But everything else — politics, love, health, friendships, trends in society — come and go, come and go, like so much flotsom on the waves of the ocean’s currents.

change ... we keep moving, and changing our positions

i’m still not able to “see” which pictures i insert into my blog, as I described last blog. So this is the numerical file i clicked, and — once again, it’s perfect in it’s quirky way, in that the practice of doing yoga poses (like the series known as a Sun Salute, pictured here) can help us “deal” with, or “accept” the persistence of change.

Having a yoga practice, where we let our body and our regulated breath lead us into an alternative state of being (peaceful, relaxed, open-hearted), is a wonderful way to anchor ourselves. Calmness helps us accept that change happens. Being open-minded helps us to not let change affect us adversely. Why? Because when we tune into the steadiness of yoga, perform the poses, listen to the calming always-there-ness of our own breath, somehow the infinitesimal changes of life seem — all right. change is just part of life, right? Change happens! So why resist!

Let’s try another click, and see how the next choice of a “numbered file” can fit into our conversation of accepting change.

: the essence of our spiritual strength — Higher Power depicted as a thousand-petaled lotus

it’s simply amazing how everything is connected! i could probably click on ANY of my drawings and somehow find a way to relate it to the topic. That’s what Oneness is all about. So—with this drawing above, which is a rendition of a verse from yogic scripture (in which the Inner Power of us all is portrayed as a thousand-petaled lotus, denoting the unlimited power we all have when we tap into our own inner resources)—i interpret the POWER of acceptance (whether of change, or circumstances that don’t suit us, a person who pisses us off, a job we’ve lost, an opportunity not coming, etc.) as being one of the chief attributes that occurs to us when we allow ourselves to have a spiritual point of view of life, rather than only a here-and-now, bound, restricted, unfreed and too often, fear-filled point of view.

When we ascribe to the fact that we are ALL, each and every one of us in creation, a smattering of spiritual power (Shakti, in yogic Sanskrit) contained within bodies (some of us human, some of us animals or even molecular organisms, some of us … galaxies and planets in far off unknowns we can’t even imagine) — “life” as we know it takes on an entirely different meaning. We are meant to have an experience, in whatever kind of life we are having at the moment. Right now, we are blessed to be humans, truly. Humans are gifted with intelligence, the ability to make choices, and have such exquisite temples: our bodies. It is our duty to keep our temples pure, clean, and in shape. That’s why I do yoga. That’s why I listen to the sound of my breath more than any other so-called prophet or wisdom teacher! Within each of us is our own best teacher—our inner selves. This power is called the Higher Self. Listen to your inner wisdom. To empower this connection to your inner Self, hang with others who honor the divine within, and don’t slander your own temple. Accept your temple for what it is — a temporary vehicle by which you get to experience this delightful trip called “life on planet Earth.”

And most importantly — enjoy whatever it is you’re doing. If you don’t like what others are doing, stop complaining and take action! Maybe there’s something within you that needs changing? Or if not, try thinking positively and positive results will happen. Center your thoughts on positive change, and change will occur. Even in the midst of great adversity each of us can make positive change, one person at a time.

One more random click (tonight my German friend Jens Uwe will come and fix my computer and hopefully, my “blind clicking” will change into something more, er, controllable … so this is my last shot in the dark, having fun with random clicks, and finding significance in whatever comes up. We can find significance to anything, if we put our minds to it.