Forgiveness and Gratitude

Two monks encounter each other years after being released from prison where they had been tortured by their captors.

Have you forgiven them? asks the first. I will never forgive them! Never! replies the second. Well, I guess they still have you in prison, don’t they? 

Being willing to forgive is one of the most courageous things you and do...and it's also one of the SMARTEST things you can do because forgiveness sets YOU FREE.Take time to be grateful for the hard stuff.  Those situations are the ones that make us grow and propel us forward on our spiritual path. 
You cannot change the past. You cannot change what someone did or didn't do. You cannot change what did or didn't happen. You cannot change anyone else. But you CAN set yourself free and find gratitude  for the opportunity  to learn and grow.. 

Looking Inward

                  

Have you ever considered how much time you spend looking inward at yourself versus looking outward at all the stuff around you?  Think about it for a moment.  We have TVs, movies, books, magazines, computers, smart phones, the internet.  We have developed countless tools to improve our senses and further their reach. We have microscopes and telescopes to improve our vision so we can look deeper.  We have devices that allow us to hear better and speakers of all sorts, including surround sound, to enhance sound and cocoon us in an ever-present hum of noise.   We have computers to help us think and we are bombarded constantly by messages from the media, on the sides of vehicles, on billboards telling us what we should do and how we should think and how we should act.

But when was the last time you looked inward - not to criticize or judge yourself or engage in a  review of your past, but to ask yourself :  Who am I? 

Yoga teaches us how to look deeply inward so that we can learn about ourselves.  You may think you know yourself, but do you really?  Have you looked deep inside to discover the You that is dependent on no one and nothing outside of you?  Because if you do look deep within and begin to discover your true Self, suffering will disappear and you will experience a laslting bliss.  

 Sometimes looking deep within brings us many more questions and reveals many more curiosities before we reach some clarity.   Often we have to penetrate many layers of thought patterns, habits, and beliefs and looking inward might feel more like trying to peel the layers of an onion.  If we don’t allow ourselves to peel away our protective layer, we can’t expand to our full potential.  

Yoga,Fear,loving yourself

When we assume the best we create a safe environment for our own self-exploration and spiritual maturity.  You can see it even in our physical posture in life.  If you stand with your arms relaxed at your sides your heart is wide open welcoming the best.  If you stand with your arms crossed tightly your heart is closed in an expectation of being hurt and afraid.  It is easy to stand at the "water cooler" of life making the most negative assumptions about our jobs, our boss, our friends, our families, our life.  Or you can practice loving yourself, love your day, loving your life by assuming the BEST.  Or at the very least instead of saying no we can say maybe and give some benefit of the doubt that the universe knows what its doing and has our best interests in mind.  

There are two paths that we walk.  One in the darkness assuming that everyone we meet is out to get us or we can walk the path in the light looking for the good in others, assuming the best of people.   If you want to see the dark side of anyone you will find negativity reflected back to you.  Seek and you shall find.

Every day we have a choice.   Assume the best with a positive expectation and you'll get really good at it looking for the good all around you.  End of the day there are really only two buckets: fear or love.  The bucket you have made the most deposits of energy into will grow. Now it's a question of where do you want to receive the greatest return on your investment?  

  

The Bhagavad Gita puts it like this, "Yoga is the practice of tolerating the consequences of being yourself."