ARE YOU TALKING TOO MUCH?
Silence is an ocean.
Speech is a river.
When the ocean is searching for you,
don't walk into the language-river.
Listen to the ocean,
and bring your talky business to an end -RUMI
SEPTEMBER 2, 2010. Are you talking too much? I'm just now coming out of a more silent period and one of the greatest learnings I've discovered is that most of us TALK TOO MUCH. And what happens when we are talking too much is that the subtle enemy of love, Talking too much about OTHER people, seeps into our life practice. This much I know, no one has gained personal insight or spiritual growth spending too much time talking about other people and what they are doing or not doing or how they are doing it. The antidote to healing this malady is to spend time in SILENCE which is why yoga, any yoga, is a form of silent meditation. When your mind is running rampant with over talking you know you are stuck in the language river and are at risk of drowning. So as Rumi writes, bring your talky business to an end. Go inside. Be Silent. Stop Talking. Realign with your attitudinal alignment. One of the vital elements of the elegant system of Anusara Yoga.
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.” -James Swindoll
You are in charge of your attitude and what you are feeling and thinking inside is where truth lies. Where ultimate Santosha, happiness exist all the time.Now what if you know you are the subject of other people's talky business and they are stuck in the river of speech talking about you, then what? How do you get them to stop? Again, all you control are your attitudes you cannot change what others say or do. They must want to for themselves. Follow the advice of Virginia Satir who says "We must not allow other people's limited perceptions to define us.” Go beyond what others say about you and make time for silence in order to remain true to who you are. As Emerson says, "Stay at home in your mind. Don't recite other people's opinions.
Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia
OUR BRAINS ARE TOO BIG
February 12, 2010: “The more critical reason dominates, the more impoverished life becomes.” Carl Jung
How can we learn to use our brains better? To shut it off when appropriate, to turn the volume down when healthy, to stop the endless repetition all so we can stop tiring ourselves out, stop hurting ourselves and stop annoying other people. When you think about it seriously Our Brains Are Just TOO BIG!
For what we have to accomplish each day we have way too much brain power. Think of the constant state of mental diarrhea that takes place in any given hour and you have your proof. Combine this with how easily we regurgitate all this brain stuff into constant verbal chatter and the case is made. Our brains really are more than we need and certainly Yoga is necessary to help us manage them better.
Kurt Vonnegut claims that thinking is ineffective not because it is obsolete but because it is OVERDEVELOPED and possibly too advanced. In Galapagos, he looks back from the future to find:
“The mass of men was quietly desperate a million years ago because the internal computers inside their skulls were incapable of restraint or idleness; were forever demanding more serious problems….”
Do you do that? Do you let your brain come up with another problem, another drama especially when you find things getting too “quiet” or happy? Why would we do this…In Wampeteres Foma, and Granfaloons Vonnegut also writes, “the human brain is too high powered to have many practical uses in this particular universe. There was no end to the evil schemes that a thought machine that oversized couldn’t imagine and execute.”
I know you know that ever powerful ability we have to form evil schemes, that somebody is mad at us, or the universe is out to get us, that everyone else has it easier. We learn from Yoga how to manage our thoughts, all 60,000 per day, and focus them on something productive. No longer giving away so much energy on the made up problems but actually time on the mat is that opportunity to listen and feel more. So today, practice some yoga…take back your thought machine and open your heart. Peace in all ways, Silvia