Remember the road rage that was so prevalent several years ago? People were getting hurt, some seriously. Drivers were nervous about any little irritation shown by other drivers. Road rage still exists. But recently I heard about a new rage. It’s call “sidewalk rage.”
Apparently some young people are getting upset by “old people” who are walking too slowly on the sidewalks. Sometimes older folks cause traffic slow down on sidewalks by socializing with their friends. The impatient young folks suggest creating special “Old People Sidewalks”. Some of them even plan to knock the old people on the back of their heads and push them aside.
When I first heard this report, it took me a while to realize that it is real, and then it dawned on me that impatience has become viral. We live in a world where everything becomes instantly available, or at least people expect them to be instantly available. The electronic age has created generations of young people impatient for instant results and instant gratification. That they even cannot appreciate the beauty of slowing down to socialize with friends and neighbors, like the old folks do, is a sad testimony of impatience overtaking the enjoyment of living in the moment.
My friends and I have a Sunday hiking group when we explore different parts of the island. Some hikes are easy and some very challenging, but always enjoyable. Not only do we get a good work out, we also take our time exploring the surroundings, finding exquisite flora and fauna, birds and bees (and stung by them). Through sliding on muddy slopes, stumbling among rocky hills, we learn to appreciate what we have, sometimes right in our “backyard.”. We don’t rush around to get the hikes finished as soon as possible, rather, we slow down.
Sometimes I hear yoga students grumbling on the slow progress they are making in reaching certain level of accomplishment. I like to point out that it is the “journey”, not the destination, that we yogis and yoginis look for. In fact, there is no “destination” in yoga practice. It is a life long journey, sometimes easy, sometimes hard, but always a present-moment experience. Patient dedication to our practice is accomplishment in itself.
I found this wonderful quote by James Keller, “Three hundred years ago a prisoner condemned to the Tower of London carved on the wall of the cell this sentiment to keep up his spirits during his long imprisonment: ‘It is not adversity that kills, but the impatience with which we bear adversity.’”
Let the old folks linger on the sidewalks.
Namaste,
Clarie
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Lifes' Unexpected
Dear Yogis & Yoginis,
On the way back from a party one evening, a day after New Year's, I tripped on the wet, rain drenched, brick steps leading from the garage to our back yard (no, I had not been drinking!) Ordinarily, it's no big deal, I would just stumble a little and continue on. But that evening, I was carrying a large ceramic salad bowl, my favorite blue and white. As I stumbled, it slipped out of my hands. I stepped up, and reached down to catch the bowl. It hit the step, shattered into pieces in a split second. I stood up, dumbfounded, and upset that my favorite bowl was no more. Only a moment later, when I left the scene of the accident to open the door, that I saw blood all over the floor. One of the broken pieces had popped up and slashed my wrist, and my right foot was caught on the step and was cut as well.
After several stitches, and bandages were applied to my wrist and toe at the hospital, it was clear that I would not be able to apply any weight on my right hand and right foot for a while.
Suddenly, life had taken an unpleasant turn. Yoga and weight training had to stop; I had some difficulty walking and hiking; both of those were temporary inconveniences. Worst of all, I had a gash on my wrist that looked like a suicide attempt!
How often have we run into an unexpected happening, without being prepared for it. We have taken so much of our lives for granted. I was making good progress with yoga practice and weight training and was assuming that it would continue. Then suddenly everything had to stop. I could almost feel my newly gained muscles shriveling, my flexibility tightening, and my confidence dropping. Of course those "feelings" were mostly mental acrobats playing with me. I had to calm down and re-program my schedules to accommodate the new situation. It taught me a lesson to appreciate wellness and health. It also taught me to let go of the anxiety of not being able to continue "business as usual" by doing what I could for the time being as my wounds healed. Both wounds did heal, and despite the scars, I am happy to be back to my routines.
Embracing the constant changes we experience will allow us to become more flexible physically as yogis, but also more flexible and healthy mentally, able to let go of expectations, judgments, and cravings.
"There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in traveling in a stagecoach, it is often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place."
---Washington Irving ---
Namaste,
Clarie
On the way back from a party one evening, a day after New Year's, I tripped on the wet, rain drenched, brick steps leading from the garage to our back yard (no, I had not been drinking!) Ordinarily, it's no big deal, I would just stumble a little and continue on. But that evening, I was carrying a large ceramic salad bowl, my favorite blue and white. As I stumbled, it slipped out of my hands. I stepped up, and reached down to catch the bowl. It hit the step, shattered into pieces in a split second. I stood up, dumbfounded, and upset that my favorite bowl was no more. Only a moment later, when I left the scene of the accident to open the door, that I saw blood all over the floor. One of the broken pieces had popped up and slashed my wrist, and my right foot was caught on the step and was cut as well.
After several stitches, and bandages were applied to my wrist and toe at the hospital, it was clear that I would not be able to apply any weight on my right hand and right foot for a while.
Suddenly, life had taken an unpleasant turn. Yoga and weight training had to stop; I had some difficulty walking and hiking; both of those were temporary inconveniences. Worst of all, I had a gash on my wrist that looked like a suicide attempt!
How often have we run into an unexpected happening, without being prepared for it. We have taken so much of our lives for granted. I was making good progress with yoga practice and weight training and was assuming that it would continue. Then suddenly everything had to stop. I could almost feel my newly gained muscles shriveling, my flexibility tightening, and my confidence dropping. Of course those "feelings" were mostly mental acrobats playing with me. I had to calm down and re-program my schedules to accommodate the new situation. It taught me a lesson to appreciate wellness and health. It also taught me to let go of the anxiety of not being able to continue "business as usual" by doing what I could for the time being as my wounds healed. Both wounds did heal, and despite the scars, I am happy to be back to my routines.
Embracing the constant changes we experience will allow us to become more flexible physically as yogis, but also more flexible and healthy mentally, able to let go of expectations, judgments, and cravings.
"There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in traveling in a stagecoach, it is often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place."
---Washington Irving ---
Namaste,
Clarie
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