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Life is Like Paper
It is made by human beings
It is blank to begin with
Over time people leave their marks on it
It captures our stories and beliefs, as well as our creativity and expression
It can be strong, yet pliable
It has many uses and can be moulded
It can transform
It can be recycled
It can disintegrate slowly over time or go up in flames in a moment
When its gone, the stories and memories stay with us.
I am back from a wonderful time in Italy, and getting settled into the rhythm of life here. These words from Lao Tzu resonated with me.
Remain quiet.
Discover the harmony in your own being.
Embrace it.
If you can do this, you will gain everything,
and the world will become healthy again.
~ Lao Tsu
A world in balance, begins with finding it within ourselves.
Make time to pause and listen inwards.
Embrace the rhythmic harmony of each breath.
May you find your Middle Ground today.
“When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent.
Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind.
When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence.
So a person who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.”
Source: WikiHow
“There is a contradiction in wanting to be perfectly secure in a universe whose very nature is momentariness and fluidity.
But the contradiction lies a little deeper than the mere conflict between the desire for security and the fact of change.
If I want to be secure, that is, protected from the flux of life, I am wanting to be separate from life. Yet it is this very sense of separateness which makes me feel insecure.
To be secure means to isolate and fortify the “I,” but it is just the feeling of being an isolated “I” which makes me feel lonely and afraid.
In other words, the more security I can get, the more I shall want.
To put it still more plainly: the desire for security and the feeling of insecurity are the same thing.
To hold your breath is to lose your breath. A society based on the quest for security is nothing but a breath-retention contest in which everyone is as taut as a drum and as purple as a beet.”
~ Alan Watts
How are your breathing right now? I’m smiling, because I was holding my breath as I read this.
When we bring awareness to our thoughts, feelings and especially our breath, we set the foundation for finding our middle ground and inner peace.
Holding our breath is a defense mechanism of the human body. It prepares us to react to a threat. However, it increases the tension and stress in the body, rather than bringing it to a state of balance.
In yoga we learn to deepen the breath when sensation increases. We breathe through tension and discomfort and allow the energy to keep flowing, rather than contracting and adding more tension.
Yoga is an invitation to become present in our bodies. We connect mind to body via our breath. It helps us relax, breathe, feel, and where possible let go.
Ultimately this helps us make more skillful, conscious choices and allows us to feel grounded and secure in life.
And it all starts with the breath.
Find out more about yoga breathing by clicking here.
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Find your Middle Ground is about stepping away from stressful days and anxious minds, and taking time to pause.
When we are mindful of the present moment and simply allow it to be, we open a door to our natural state of being – accepting, loving, peaceful, kind and content. Most of us are so distracted and moving so fast that we get caught up in the world of “doing” or worrying about what we should be doing next.
Too much doing and thinking disconnects us from our sense of “being”and who we really are.
I write about finding this place of connection, contentment and peace in the highs and lows of life. I call it our Middle Ground.
Namaste
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“The dark does not destroy the light;
it defines it.
Its our fear of the dark that casts our
joy into the shadows.”
Brene Brown
Take a moment to reflect on how this appears in your life.
Instead of wishing the dark away, how can you embrace it and shine through?
The sun came out and Meghan and I enjoyed some digging in the dirt!
