CHECK YOURSELF OUT EARN A PhD IN YOUR LIFE
JANUARY 21, 2010: This is the year and decade we stop analyzing everyone else around us trying to figure out who WE are by what other people do or don't do. The first chapter, first verse of the Yoga Sutras: “With humility and an open heart and mind we begin the study of Yoga. This study is using the Self to study ourselves first.”
"The proper study of mankind is man." (Alexander Pope) from my new book News of the Universe (Poems of Twofold Consciousness chosen and introduced by Robert Bly). That's what we do in yoga. We are when we come to the practice essentially making a commitment to get a PhD in our own Humanness. Nischala Joy Devi says "As students of life we often need to look at where we have come freom to see where we are going. Our present position has been determined by the past - all those crossroads where we made decisions, each path we've taken that brought us to our life as it is."
Blaming other people for the choices we've made or how we came to be what we are won't help us evolve towards greater happiness. We have to accept accountability and just look inside. Rumi writes:
"If you're lugging a heavy bag,
don't fail to look inside it
to see whether what is inside is
bitter or sweet.
If it's really worth bringing along,
bring it;
otherwise, empty your sack
and redeem yourself from
fruitless effort.
Only put into your sack
that which is worth bringing."
When you think about it what do you keep lugging around that is weighing your life down? Unless you start looking inward and stop blaming others for the quality of your life, it won’t change for the better. Maybe in the past you thought “I'm not something enough” to do this important work of self-exploration and self-discovery. BUT NO MORE. Be honest with yourself: you are young enough, old enough, smart enough, rich enough and you have enough time. If it is really important to you to set positive intentions for yourself you have to slow down enough to look inside. Take to heart the words of Rumi: "There is a life-force within your soul, seek that life. There is a gem in the mountain of your body, seek that mine. O traveler, if you are in search of That don't look outside, look inside yourself and seek That.” Yes, SEEK THAT. In the new year, a time of setting intentions just remember this – it is near impossible to set an intention for your life until you study yourself and where you’ve come from first. Otherwise it’s like trying to get a PhD when you haven’t finished First Grade yet. And in this PhD program, there are no grades, it is simply pass/fail. And this subject (YOU) is not one you want to fail at. Life is too short to fail at being you. So starting today get real, look at your life, study yourself as you really are and ignite the beauty of who you are yet meant to be! Love in all ways, Silvia