Get Out of Your Own Way

There’s a teaching I’ve heard most often from the Hindu faith,

“It is hard only because we make it so.”

I know most all of my problems every single day are when I live too much in my own head. One of my girlfriends actually got me to go on my third date with my now husband of 12 years by SCREAMING at me, “Oh for the love of Christ, will you just get out of your own way and let God BLESS YOU?” It's pretty amazing how powerful we are, seriously, because we truly manifest what we’re looking for, what we're meditating on. If we KNOW that our path is going to be filled with encumbrances and obstacles then we will be frustrated with each step; if we know we are supposed to be exactly where we are just so that we can bring blessings at that exact moment in time and space, then everywhere is the perfect place to be. If we anticipate every interaction with someone who lives in pain and likes to spread their pain (hurting people hurt people!) with fear and apprehension, then we’ll play right in to their need to keep the circle of punishment spinning by allowing them to plop their hurt feelings directly on our heads; if we go in to the conversation with the spirit of service (yoga), however, with the ear of compassion, with the heart of empathy, then we receive clarity that the roaring lion is just a damaged little kitty and we are able to engage in and guide the conversation to one of understanding and peace (or just ignore it altogether and step out of the way of the spew). Through simplicity we become mighty.

<Let us look to this day, for it is filled with life, with miracles, with blessings, it is filled with the very breath of life. In the brief course of this day and our span on earth lie all the realities of our existence: the bliss of growth, the wonder of being awake while we’re alive, the peace of gaining wisdom, the glory of action, the splendor of beauty. For yesterday is only a dream, and tomorrow is but a vision. But today, well lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day. - Ancient Sanskrit, sort of>