What if today was the day that you stopped seeing yourself as the source of all your trouble or anyone else’s, for that fact? What if instead you saw yourself as the source of all your solutions to come? Maybe even solutions that are already present just waiting to be noticed? What might shift inside you? Seriously? I’ve said it before (and I’ll say it again I’m sure), you’ve already given the blaming yourself for […]
“If people misunderstand you, do not worry… It is your voice that they hear, but it is their own thoughts that go through their head.” I have had so many run-ins with this very concept in recent months. If I were not secure in the knowledge that I am responsible for myself alone, then I might have interpreted these encounters as messages to pipe-down. I went through a particularly rough period for about three years […]
How much fun is overthinking? I mean, good times, am I right? Oh so very not. I have mentioned a few different ways that anxiety or fear or uncertainty can show up in our lives. However, surprisingly, I don’t think I’ve tackled actual thinking patterns before. What an egregious oversight! (overthought? no, that doesn’t quite work. anyway…) In yoga, we call these unintentional, constant, whirling thought patterns the vrttis. I know what you’re thinking…”Holly, that’s […]
“Whatever happens to you, don’t fall in despair. Even if all the doors are closed, a secret path will be there for you that no one knows. You can’t see it yet but so many paradises are at the end of this path… Be grateful! It is easy to thank after obtaining what you want, thank before having what you want.” This sh!t is hard. Yeah, I said a four-letter word…hard. Because it is. The […]
Desire. Aversion. Aversion. Desire. Two sides of the same coin. We desire people, things, experiences. We are averse to pain, to suffering, and yes, some people make this list too. Have you ever thought about your efforts to attain freedom from desire as just another form of desire? Have you ever thought of your efforts to attain freedom from aversion as just another form of aversion? Desire is normal. I would say good even. I […]
“I said: What about my heart? God said: Tell me what you hold inside it? I said: Pain and sorrow? He said: …Stay with it. The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” I actually started writing something else. I got a few paragraphs into it. It didn’t feel quite right for no particular reason. I started thinking about writing something else that felt a little better but still couldn’t quite get started […]
Recently, I taught yoga on “leap day,” so I decided to theme the class around leaps of faith. I asked the students to picture an obstacle that has stopped them from doing something. I then gave them pose by pose meditations on facing that barrier. For example, when we folded forward into Uttanasana (fancy word for a forward bend), I had them imagine they were diving headlong into the obstacle. When we lifted half-way for […]
I thought it might be time to come clean lest you think that I believe everything Rumi says is pure solid gold. I do not. He is a master to be sure. He has a way with words unlike many others. I resonate with him. I groove to his beat, so to speak. But I certainly know utter shite when I hear it. Rumi was human. He uttered as much shite as anyone else. It […]
“Let the lover be disgraceful, crazy, absentminded. Someone sober will worry about things going badly. Let the lover be.” I totally had a different path planned for this month’s post but the time just wasn’t right for that one yet. At least the Universe didn’t seem to think so anyway because I could not find the poem… So I took it as a sign that the above quatrain really spoke to me while I was […]
So, you all come to see me blather on about this or that because you know how perfect I am and that I’ve always got it together, right? What? Wait…no? That’s not it? The whole notion is laughable of course. I have it no more together than anyone else. The good news is that I have it no less together than anyone else either. I choose to be encouraged by that. People often ask me […]
a falcon...for no reason 