Showing posts with label regrets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label regrets. Show all posts

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Being Mindful Here and Now

How do you feel when you are walking by a homeless?  Do you feel pity or are you indifferent? What goes through your mind when one of your relatives commits a serious crime?  Can you forgive him? How do you feel when someone in your family is doing extremely well? Are you jealous?

As we always say, walking a spiritual path is more about bringing awareness into our daily encounters than achieving anything.  When we drop our expectations we become more centered and step outside of this eternal yin and yang of desires and regrets, actions and counter-actions. We become less surprised and upset when we observe that we are stingy, horny, loveless or aggressive. We don't attack ourselves when we realize that we do something that is totally against our spiritual notions. We just suddenly understand how we are at this moment and it also dawns on us where it is coming from.

A spiritual path takes time to travel so please don't be surprised if you find it hard to let go of judgement, regret and anger. Just let all the emotions come and go. You will be surprised to find out what kind of voices, demons and memories hide inside of you. When they all come out, you get a wonderful chance to take a deep look of all this stuff.  When they all come out, and once they have passed the system, you feel that you have dropped a big weight by the wayside.

Too often we try to will ourselves to be someone, to become enlightened, to be better, not realizing that it is this drive that sets in motion the yin and yang of attraction and repulsion, the battle of good and evil. Too often, we stop ourselves when we observe something that we label as bad. We create taboos and forbidden activities, not realizing that it is these value judgements that give the demon inside his energy. In doing so, we lose an opportunity to really know ourselves.  Give yourself a chance. With a pair of curious eyes and an open mind, isn't that fun to let them all come out?  How long you think your reaction and emotion can last?  

When we think of practicing spirituality this way, we experience a relief and we transcend the yin and yang of good and evil, attraction and repulsion. We feel relaxed about ourselves and about others.  We experience everything that happens in our life with amazement!  This is our life, and we are here and now!

By Christian and Su Zhen 

Monday, April 15, 2013

Shake it Out

 Sadhguru once met with a convicted murderer. As he embraced him you could see the relief on the face of the crying man. It was as if he could let go of all his accumulated psychological baggage at this moment. Guilt is a horrible affliction, yet we can tell you that it is a senseless burden. Whatever you may have done in the past, it simply doesn't matter in the divine Now. So when ghosts of the past trouble you, pull yourself into the Now instead and they disappear like fog does during the sunrise.

But just saying that the past doesn't really exist is not good enough, you must also believe it. If you want to get rid of your guilt, you will also have to drag your subconscious brain along. There is something deep inside of you that needs some extra convincing that the bloody deed has indeed been paid for. The Tao will do this for you. Just show up when life calls you and always put your best foot forward. Find out for yourself that this way time will literally heal you. All you have to do is to shake your history out just as Florence and the Machine recommend it in their beautiful song " Shake it Out". It is always darkest before the dawn so just keep moving:

Regrets collect like old friends
Here to relive your darkest moments
I can see no way, I can see no way
And all of the ghouls come out to play

And every demon wants his pound of flesh
But I like to keep some things to myself
I like to keep my issues drawn
It's always darkest before the dawn

And I've been a fool and I've been blind
I can never leave the past behind
I can see no way, I can see no way
I'm always dragging that horse around

Our love is questioned, such a mournful sound
Tonight I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground
So I like to keep my issues drawn
But it's always darkest before the dawn

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa

And I am done with my graceless heart
So tonight I'm gonna cry it out and then restart (my edit)
'Cause I like to keep my issues drawn
It's always darkest before the dawn

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa

And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
And given half the chance would I take any of it back
It's a fine romance but it's left me so undone
It's always darkest before the dawn

Oh whoa, oh whoa...

And I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't
So here's to drinks in the dark at the end of my road
And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope
It's a shot in the dark aimed right at my throat
'Cause looking for heaven, found the devil in me
Looking for heaven, found the devil in me
Well what the hell, I'm gonna let it happen to me, yeah

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa

(Florence and the Machine, Shake it Out)