Changing rooms in your mind for a day

That is a line from a Hafiz poem that I posted here.

I especially like that line because it is sometimes a challenge for me to let go of patterns of thought or only seeing life from a limited perspective. Getting to change rooms in my mind for day (or infinitely) graces me with a new view, a new vantage point, like looking out of a window of different room. When I have stepped into that new room and looked not only out the window, but what's around me, it enables me to see the dwellings I previously inhabited in my mind that are not healthy, productive, or positive.

A few years ago, I came across an article in Yoga Journal magazine that explained how we get stuck in certain rooms in our mind or mental grooves -

"According to yogic philosophy, we're born with a karmic inheritance of mental and emotional patterns—known assamskaras—through which we cycle over and over again during our lives.

The word samskara comes from the Sanskrit sam (complete or joined together) and kara (action, cause, or doing). In addition to being generalized patterns, samskaras are individual impressions, ideas, or actions; taken together, our samskaras make up our conditioning. Repeating samskaras reinforces them, creating a groove that is difficult to resist. Samskaras can be positive—imagine the selfless acts of Mother Theresa. They can also be negative, as in the self-lacerating mental patterns that underlie low self-esteem and self-destructive relationships. The negative samskaras are what hinder our positive evolution."


This helped me understand how it is possible to repeat old patterns of thought and ultimately behavior. I can create new patterns and the more I follow those, the more they are strengthened. 




 When I started reading the Bible, I found so many places that tell how I can change rooms in my mind simply by accepting God's love for me. 


"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing, and perfect will."
Romans 12:2


"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Romans 15:13

the shower of all places...

We all know the expected monotony that takes place in the shower...washing, shampooing, conditioning, perhaps shaving that day. But once in a rare while, I have profound realizations about my life. They come to me out of nowhere. Literally!
I'm in the middle of rinsing my the shampoo out of my now much shorter hair and out of nowhere, I am drawn to notice the droplets of water falling off my bowed head. It was a sight I can say I've never seen and I've been in that shower who knows how many times. It was like the droplets were falling in slow motion and I could see the light reflecting out of each one, the path each one took through the air. It was surreal. The frame of my vision included my legs and feet which I noticed in different detail, set as the backdrop to these magical, beautiful droplets of water.
And while this was going on, my only thought was simply this: "this moment is your life".

I know there is a quote with this in it - Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.

I love my shower realizations. You end up getting out of the shower, glad to be clean and refreshed, and you've gained some insight. And possibly too smooth legs.

The only explanation I have to these shower moments is that I succumb to intense relaxation of my mind and body while standing under very comforting hotter-than-it-should-be streams of water and in this moment I temporarily let myself go. Let everything go - enough to be mindful of beauty that happens in each moment.

I know it's called mindfulness, but it is something that eludes me even though I seek it. I know I can't stand in infinite showers, so the thought of a meditation practice / a sitting practice is in the workings of my mind. I also know that I can sit on an idea and it never happens so I'm committed to creating moments to have more of these realizations out of the shower. If I can get myself to several yoga classes a week of which I'm reaping the benefits of, then I know I can make time to see how meditating goes. Baby steps!

When the truth hits you square in the soul...

The Invitation

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithlessand therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day,and if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

by

Oriah Mountain Dreamer

copyright © 1999 by Oriah Mountain Dreamer.  

I am very inspired by this and so much of it rings true. I can find applicable parts in almost every sentence, and some sentences take my breath away they are so true to my own journey, healing, and life. 

I share this with you all in hopes that you find truth of your own in these words, and that you find inspiration to continue on your journey inward and out.

Opening and Surrendering to Change

"As you learn to recognize and accept the extraordinary power of change and develop the art of surrender, you'll be rewarded with an awakening of the natural alignment between body, mind, and spirit that already exists within you." 


The above quote is from an article in Yoga Journal magazine. Sometimes I look to these kind of sources for inspiration and guidance. And sometimes it happens when things align just so that I am open to receive it.  An external force (a person, passage in a book or magazine, an experience) jolts my awareness and if I am open to receiving the message, I do. I know that sometimes I am not open and that is when, no matter how many books or articles I read, who I talk to, or what I do, I can not make changes that I need to make. Even if I deeply want this change or transformation, it will not happen if I do not take the actions necessary to make it happen. If what I wanted in my life came to me simply because I wanted it, then there would be no problems, no issues, no struggles, no drama. I have to take the steps, the actions necessary to bring about change and transformation. 


The challenge then is to remain open once you've started...to not turn back or give up. This is where I find myself again, like so many other times. But this time is different. I now have God with me, and this I am sure of. 
So this journey is different, I am not alone, and I strive to stay open, keeping my heart open, open to God.