: Like : Me
Posted: January 23, 2015 Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Yoga | Tags: beauty, Body Image, compassion, cycling, Daily Meditation, eating disorders, Guilt, Identity, kindness, life, love, meditation, Omaha, passion, What if?, yoga 17 CommentsI seem to have run in a great circle, and met myself again on the starting line-
“I feel a little queasy this morning before class. What if it’s cancer of the liver? What will happen to my mat, my car, my phone – if I die in class?!?”
“I haven’t heard from my friend since yesterday. What if he was hit by a car commuting to work?!?” He’s in a ditch I just know it … “
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The most unimaginative “things” in this thing called life do happen, and they create real and lasting pain in our cruel world. Although, when left to our devices, the imagined fantasies above cause senseless suffering in our hearts and minds, whether there is a once of truth in them or not. Why do we bathe ourselves in worry with “what if” thinking?
Daily Meditation:
I caught myself this morning causing my own suffering with “what ifs” … The trick to easing my own self induced pain, is acknowledging my pesky thoughts, smiling, and then moving on. I hope this post greets you with a smile as well – Have a wonderful weekend!
Spoken : Softly :
Posted: January 20, 2015 Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Body Image, compassion, Embarrassed, Embarrassment, gratitude, joy, Kidness, love, Omaha, social media, yoga 5 CommentsYou know on TV when there’s one of those awkward, shocking moments and all you hear are the crickets in the background? Well chirp f*cking chirp…this is one of those moments-
Being embarrassed in social situation(s) feels rather unpleasant. When someone remarks suddenly before class: “Your underwear is showing,” or while standing in line for a coffee … “Your barn door is open,” even better yet “Is that balsamic vinegar salad dressing in your hair?!?” Here let me smell. Few of us are likely to feel particularly joyful, to say the very least.
I’m recalling this morning with you, times during my life when I have felt the most embarrassed and to my surprise – Being embarrassed truly can be joyful!
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There are a few moments of feeling embarrassed that instantly come to mind. One, was the night my son was born about nine years ago I suppose. You see, I exude a fairly calm, cool and collected demeanor, most times that is. I was pretty chill during the birth and what stands out to me was when it was only my beautiful new-born son, myself and a caring nurse handing him to me for the first time – “Here is your son sir” placing him gently into me shaking hands, tears streaming down my face, having no clue in the world what to do. I was embarrassed in this truly joyful moment.
At the same time though, there are horrible feelings that also produce embarrassment, feelings of being humiliated …
I still remember like it was yesterday, the dreadful scene when some of my classmates in 6th grade took great pleasure in teasing me to tears, because I was “fat” and started to go through the throes of puberty – acne and all. Calling me “fatty” by the boys and girls, the incessant teasing, only served to make the humiliation more degrading. I was deeply embarrassed during these joyless childhood moments.
Daily Meditation:
What life, compassion, kindness and gratitude provide us is, if we reflect and allow the blushed cheeked, crying and shameful negative feelings of humiliation fade away. Is that, maybe, just maybe embarrassment really is an expression of – Joy.
The Fight
Posted: January 15, 2015 Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Yoga | Tags: compassion, desire, family, Gregory Djanikian, kindness, life, love, Omaha, passion, Poem, Poetry, reading, The Fight Leave a comment…
It was over a girl,
One boy had spoken to her,
Had asked her out, the other
Had been feeling with her
The twitches of something serious.
It was a misunderstanding,
Something that might have been fixed,
Talked out or around,
But the whole school had turned out
To watch them settle it.
It was too late for talk,
It was no longer just their fight,
Something irrelevant and impure
Had entered it, honor, looking
More upright than the other,
Things which had nothing to do
With the girl, or desire,
Or what she had whispered to one of them
One night in a car.
So they faced each other,
Bringing their anger up
By saying what finally did not matter
But loudly enough so their bodies believed it.
There was a sudden coming together,
There were fists flailing
While everybody, hundreds, watched.
One was cut above the eye, the other’s
Knuckles were bloodied against teeth.
It lasted half a minute until
One of them pulled back and said
Something like “This is stupid”
And the other dropped his fists
And watched him walk away
Out : Sick :
Posted: January 13, 2015 Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Yoga | Tags: compassion, Flu, gratitude, healing, kindness, Loss, love, Omaha, yoga 21 CommentsThe reason many people in our society are miserable, sick, and highly stressed is because of an unhealthy attachment to things they have no control over-
Gripped by the harsh reality of being diagnosed with the flu this past Friday I, along with many of you reading at home, are going through the tedious stages of not being able to do what we love to do.
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I am in denial … Surely these pesky symptoms will subside rather quickly, just like they have in the past. I am angry at myself this morning: This is a definitely a setback and an attack on my personal well-being. Thinking out-loud to myself as I rolled out of bed sore and stiff: If I could attend yoga class before work and get it out-of-the-way while I still have some energy? I would truly be one step closer to becoming healthier. Finally Dear Readers, I was depressed at the thought of not being able to do what I love to do.
Daily Mediation:
The flu, injuries, and the everyday occurrences of “life” do not reveal our best sides. Although, maybe the absence of compassion and kindness is adding insult to injury?
To the New Year
Posted: January 8, 2015 Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Yoga | Tags: compassion, family, love, New Years Resolutions, Omaha, Poems, Poetry, reading, Storytelling, To the New Year, W.S. Merwin, writing, yoga 2 Comments…
With what stillness at last
you appear in the valley
your first sunlight reaching down
to touch the tips of a few
high leaves that do not stir
as though they had not noticed
and did not know you at all
then the voice of a dove calls
from far away in itself
to the hush of the morning
so this is the sound of you
here and now whether or not
anyone hears it this is
where we have come with our age
our knowledge such as it is
and our hopes such as they are
invisible before us
untouched and still possible
CultFit 