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I have a problem.........

7/27/2014

What I mean is that if it's in my world; it is mine. The entirety of our lives are here for us to experience and to see what we can do with it. I am convinced more and more with each passing day that there is no limit to the richness of life.

But if I assign a problem to someone else; then the range of possibility for me is 0. All I can do is wait and see how everything plays out and observe. Actually, I have taken this approach for a period in my life and I can see that it did serve as a middle ground on my way to here.......

There was a time when I got all upset and spun around problems...mine and everyone elses. Not that I took responsibility but rather it was more about assigning blame and ranting about someone else having caused it and them needing to solve it all. After wearing myself out and having some self awareness; the first thing I did was to start to accept everything ....... There is a little prayer that had a big impact upon me.

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

I'm not sure who gets credit for this little prayer..... most people have heard it before. I probably heard it many times before the time I really heard it. At some point, everything lined up and I was ready to get off the "blame and redemption" cycle I was on. Though I feared that taking responsibility for my life and everything in it would render me a failure; it's turning out that accepting responsibility opens the door for me to be soft, intuitive, compassionate, creative and helpful.

Acceptance of everything was an important step for me.......expanding the range of possibility to limitless is my new quest. Now it turns out that once I have that acceptance, I can move all the way to the other side and see my opportunity to take responsibility and know that........

The more I can see myself as responsible the more those boundaries stretch and thin out and

more and more possibility emerges!

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kinship

7/19/2014

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On Sunday I took my daughter shopping. She had earned quite a bit of money and wanted to buy a new purse. (She knows that I will not spend hundreds of dollars on purses so she has to earn money for that on her own.) We had a nice time shopping and she indeed found a purse she liked. I used my card to make the purchase so I could earn points and she handed me 10 $20 bills.

On our way out of the shopping center there was a woman holding a sign asking for money.....it said she did have a job but needed money for clothing.

I usually do give money to people who ask or hold signs on the street..... a couple of dollars. And, generally, I don't carry much cash. I rolled down the window and opened my wallet and saw all those $20...... How could I not give her one? I instructed my daughter to hand her one and she gave me a look like it was too much but in my heart I felt it was right.

As the woman took the money our eyes met and she sincerely thanked me. I thought I could do more....but she thought it was a lot.

Though there are old thought patterns housed in my brain regarding how other people are and whether we should give money out and what people actually do with the money, ect......

My boundaries expanded.....

There seemed to me to be an exchange between this woman and me......like each of us felt our humanity; our sameness; a kinship........

I trusted her to live her life.

She trusted me to live mine.

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compassion and joy

7/14/2014

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Recently I learned that joy is compassion turned inward.....( I believe compassion is a pure, honest, heart offering of unconditional loving kindness; without guile.) and I really want that joy to be my most common experience of life.

In my youtube travels I encountered the founder of the Metta Institute, Frank Ostaseski.

"Compassion allows us to move toward the experience or suffering that we would rather escape from."
-----Frank Ostaseski

I notice that I am still in this familiar place and my most common reaction to life is to look for the escape...............

Yet my new resolve is to let the boundaries of what I think is possible stretch until they break and I can feel my mind and heart continually opening up.......

So when I encountered Mr. Ostaseski I was moved to consider his point.

Being willing to move toward suffering instead of away from it seems almost dangerous at first glance; like holding your hand too close to a flame. But many of us have learned that there is no escape from the pain of life. And, we have noted that pain and suffering are not the same thing......we have learned that suffering often increases when we try to escape the pain.

If I am to feel joy, I must, with compassion, move toward whatever pain or suffering comes up within me.

The great possibility that may come from this? With practice, my most common reaction to life could become compassion, loving kindness and joy..............

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Slow Down and Make Space

7/11/2014

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Yesterday I skipped class; not to avoid practice but to make space. Although yoga classes are one hour and fifteen minutes where I practice, it honestly takes about 3 hours of my day in order to go to class. There is no doubt in my mind that it is time well spent.......I do it daily.

AND.....

....... there are other arenas that need attention. There was one particular task waiting on my "to do" list that wasn't getting done and as I evaluated my week so far as it had gone, I had the thought that I could make time on thursday morning if I didn't go to class (a radical thought). As I got up and started working on chores instead of dressing for class a couple of my kids asked me what was up----- my routine didn't look right. I responded that I just decided to take the morning and get some things done and one of them said, like a sincere compliment (not sarcastically at all) "good for you mom"

It was a very productive morning and I arrived home around noon having set up a new floor installation.

My yoga practice has been a lifesaver......and if I cling to it, to the exclusion of my actual life, there will be a shift......like the rebellion leader that becomes a dictator.......

One of my favorite teachings of the Buddha is that if we use a boat to cross a river, we would then get out of the boat and walk on without it. The boat did it's job and now we are on land again. If we cling tightly to each thing we learn we are not free to learn more.......

Yoga brought me to a place where I could slow down and make space in my body and my mind to find expansion. Each time I get on my mat and feel it I am grateful........ bringing all that off the mat into my life is the real beauty.

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Adding Legs to a Snake

7/4/2014

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Two months ago, before I went "on vacation" I could do Eka Pada Koundinyasana......at least somewhat. Now I can't. Our practice went there yesterday and it just didn't happen at all.....

First, "on vacation"......I did leave home for 3 weeks and I did visit family and friends and had fun with my family. It was a lot of work. It was a lot of driving. There was very little opportunity for me to get on my mat.

Second, Eka Pada Koundinyasana.... this is a not too difficult arm balance but it was impressive to me. Here is an opportunity for me to be honest with myself. Practicing yoga changed my life, in fact saved my life, long before I could do one single arm balance.....long before I could press up into Urdhva Dhanurasana.......long before I could place my palms on the floor by my feet. The honest truth is that it doesn't matter what poses a yogi can do. It doesn't matter how far a yogi can come into a pose. It doesn't matter HOW a person practices the linking of body, breath and mind.

To value a yoga practice by what we can perform is like adding legs to a snake....... they are appendages that it doesn't need........could possibly get in the way......

Yoga practice is completely individual and has to be tailored to each body. As yogis we get to feel each pose in our body and use it for our health. Sure, there are textbook instructions for all poses AND with those instructions we all modify to our own body .... in it's current state.

My body is currently in it's post vacation state and that is a fact of now....... Fortunately, that has no bearing on anything! My yoga practice brings me to center, to present, to now and to possibility and that is more than sufficient.

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Lucy Facer Bernstein

I am a committed yogi and community member. I believe in the goodness of humankind and that as we discover our ultimate connectedness we can all find peace....within and without.

I have a problem.........

kinship

compassion and joy

Slow Down and Make Space

Adding Legs to a Snake

Lucy Facer Bernstein

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