ACCEPTING TO BE INSTEAD OF MAKING A TO DO LIST
MARCH 19, 2011: This time of year as we transition from Winter to Spring our To Do Lists seem overstuffed. While we have more ways to make our lives easier through technology we insist on overwhelming ourselves on purpose by engineering these massive lists of stuff “we have to do” this Spring.
So today I invite you to create a TO BE list.
Say to yourself “how am I going TO BE no matter what gets done, or the outcome of this situation.”
When we focus on a TO BE List it is giving ourselves permission to do the hardest pose of all which is TO BE YOURSELF. And I can promise you that being yourself is the most important decision anyone can make. There is a serious paradigm shift that must take place especially if you’ve been used to trying to be who everyone else wants you to be. And as a result you will temporarily disappoint some people. Especially if you have been consumed on making your To Be Lists to prove your self-worth to other people.
To me the motivation for moving away from To Do Lists towards To Be is that it returns us to place where we can make peace with ourselves. That space of radical self-acceptance that demonstrates unconditional self-love. We are all a work in progress but that awareness of letting ourselves be who we are is vital to positive mental, emotional and spiritual health. Eckhart Tolle in the book A New Earth says it like this on page 184: "Accepting means you allow yourself to feel whatever it is you are feeling at that moment. It is part of the isness of the Now. You can't argue with what is. Well, you can, but if you do, you suffer."
This is isness of now is where we allow ourselves to surrender into being: no fighting, no resisting, no arguments. I can tell you during times of challenge the mat was the only place I felt like I could BE myself. And I mean my real self. And where I felt safe to laugh or cry or both at the same time. And the more we accept ourselves in this state of beingness the more we know how to accept others being themselves. It is a straightforward spiritual law. You cannot offer to others what you don’t practice for yourself. If you don’t have peace you can’t make peace, if you don’t love yourself you can’t really love someone else, if you don’t fully accept how amazing you are, you WILL NEVER accept others, if you don't know how To Be you won't allow others To Be either.
So today practice making a To Be List. And the first thing on that to be list is BE YOU! Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia
PS If you need time off to help your To Be List then come on retreat with Alchemy Tours. Allow us to support you unconditionally. It will transform your life! www.alchemytours.com
BE YOURSELF, HOW YOGA ERASES SELF-DOUBT
The Heart is the Sun of the Soul - Shine out!
November 14, 2010
The definition of self-conscious is "to be Conscious of one's self as an object of the observation of others." There are good things and interesting things about this in that every day the way we live our lives we either serve as a positive example or a warning to other people. We are under some scrutiny whether we like it or not. As Sally Field says, "It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else's eyes." It is only when we allow the good opinion of other people to be more important than our own, that this self-consciousness becomes deeply detrimental to our happiness.
As a result of coming to the yoga mat I have grown both more aware of others judgments and less self-conscious all at the same time. We step into the poses and we are alert to the presence of others but instead choose to focus on ourselves. We do the practice to be more conscious of our innate happiness and go beyond self-limiting belief. We move and breath with the freedom that only comes from the light within: our hearts dancing with joy, long-held inhibitions vanishing until all self-doubt is erased!
To be honest this process may take more than just one class.
"We live in the most self-conscious society in the history of mankind. There are good things in that, but there are also terrible things. The worst of it is, that we find it hard to give ourselves to the process." - Larry Harvey says. I agree. The day I knew this enemy of love, self consciousness was no longer driving my life was when I felt the FLOW of the yoga poses and let the breath move me. I gave myself to the process. And everything changed. I started to drop self-criticism along with being critical of others. The judgment I feared from others no longer had power over me. And in this video you can see how this translates into movement.
http://totalbodyyoga.smugmug.com/Other/Yoga-Video/14626334_ctxSf#1088205682_EJPLo-A-LB
The choices I make I now honor as my own. And with every day I get more expert at doing the hardest yoga pose of all....Being Myself. This is the pose I want you to learn more than any other too. Love yourself, love your day, love your life, Silvia
DOING YOUR OWN YOGA
SEPTEMBER 3, 2010. Can you imagine a world where everyone does their own yoga? It is something I say in class all, all the time. Just let everyone be themselves. Or as Leo Buscaglia says, “The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don't let them put you in that position.”
In a warrior pose for instance this means shorten or widen your stance, bend your knee a lot or a little, hold your arms up in any position or relax your harms by your sides look up, look straight or close your eyes. And the list goes on and on and that's just one pose. Seriously, what if we allowed others to be who they are instead of wanting them to be something different? How would their life be different? What would your quality of life be like? Let me put in perspective like this with a story told to a teacher, repeated by a teacher, told to me and I share with you... imagine the vastness of the ocean and there in the distance you see a single life preserver, just one for the whole ocean. Then imagine under the sea there is a dolphin swimming about trying to come up for air in the exact same spot as there exists the single life preserver. The chances of the dolphin arising out of the water at the one place the life preserver awaits is said to be the chance we have at being born Human.
When you think of how dramatic our winning the lotto of life is by being a human being it is remarkable that we would waste a moment forcing others to be what they are not or gossiping about what they are or doing anything besides just BEING OURSELVES. From a buddhist perspective what distinguishes humans from other beings is that we can realize our own suffering and address it. We can in effect by being ourselves, save ourselves from remaining in a state of suffering and instead enjoying constant ordinary happiness. To me this is the Peace in the world that most of us are aspiring to for our children, and for our children's children.
“Among individuals as among nations, the respect to other people's rights is peace” Benito Juarez
The single hardest yoga pose to practice is "being oneself." So next time you start talking about what someone in your life (your boss, your colleague, your partner, your kids, your parents) are doing life wrong step back and allow them to be who they are. We can only be second best at trying to be someone else. We can only be best at practicing living life as unique and wonderful as we are. Imperfectly perfect. Love yourself, love your day, love your life, Silvia
For more about me visit www.silviamordini.com or my spiritual travel company www.alchemytours.com
TO DO LIST REPLACES TO BE LIST
What we can control is showing up to our lives. The outcome however is still beyond our jurisdiction. So let’s focus on what we can control and that is HOW WE ARE BEING. How we are being is the only that we can do something about.
So today I invite you to create a TO BE list.
Say to yourself “how am I going TO BE no matter what gets done, or the outcome of this situation.”
When we focus on a TO BE List it is giving ourselves permission to do the hardest pose of all which is TO BE YOURSELF. And I can promise you that being yourself is the coolest decision anyone can make. However if you’ve been used to trying to be who everyone else wants you to be there is a paradigm shift there and sometimes being ourselves means we will temporarily disappoint those people. Especially if they are used to us focusing all our time and energy on To Be Lists as a way to prove our self-worth.
You are wonderful the way you are. And when in a state of being present, where we are being ourselves we slow down and get quiet enough To Be more human. This place of quiet helps us be with the opportunities and love surrounding us or as the poet writes, “When a great moment knocks on the door of your life, its sound is often no louder than the beating of your heart and it is very easy to miss it.”
So today practice making a To Be List. And don’t forget on it to include a moment of gratitude for Mother Earth herself, who always serves as our best example of being still and present. Love yourself, love your day! Silvia
“Let us bless the imagination of the Earth. That knew early the patience to harness the mind of time, waited for the seas to warm, ready to welcome the emergence of things dreaming of voyaging among the stillness of land. And how light knew to nurse the growth until the face of the earth brightened beneath a vision of color. Let us thank the earth that offers ground for home and holds our feet firm to walk in space open to infinite galaxies. Let us salute the silence and certainty of mountains their sublime stillness their dream-filled hearts. The humility of earth that transfigures all that has fallen of outlived growth. The kindness of earth, opening to receive our forms into the final stillness.”