Are You Creating Ease…or Dis-Ease?
Are You Creating Ease…or Dis-Ease?
Do you find yourself struggling on the mat with poses and transitions? Or is it just a struggle to get to your mat?
Lucky for me, I am blessed in the area of physical activity. I do not struggle here. But I do indeed struggle— off the mat. As an innately creative and ambitious person, I envision big things for myself. This brings me a tremendous amount of fun and inspiration. It’s a part of myself I thoroughly enjoy.
However, the down side is that I do have limits. Unrealistic expectations can bring pressure of fulfillment. This creates struggle. And struggle creates dis – ease.
Ironically
, my personal yoga practice is a creative generation station. The ideas and creative inspiration flood me! Over the years, I have learned that I do not need to listen to every inspiration. I can simply watch, without responding. I can enjoy the creativity without having to manifest. I can be selective. Not every idea is meant to come to life.
Practice
My theme for this year is EASE. I invite you to join me. You can begin by asking yourself:
- Are there areas of my life where I struggle and, if so, why?
- How do I create ease in everything that I do?
- Can I filter my choices through the filter of ease before I decide?
- What would create more ease in this situation?
Share your discoveries here and learn from our community!
Be the light,
Laurel
When the heart is at ease, the body is healthy. —Chinese Proverb
One Response to “Are You Creating Ease…or Dis-Ease?”
Excerpted from Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now
THE JOY OF BEING
“To alert you that you have allowed yourself to be taken over by psychological time, you can use a simple criterion. Ask yourself: Is there joy, ease, and lightness in what I am doing? If there isn’t, then time is covering up the present moment, and life is perceived as a burden or a struggle.
If there is no joy, ease, or lightness in what you are doing, it does not necessarily m…ean that you need to change what you are doing. It may be sufficient to change the how. “How” is always more important than “what.” See if you can give much more attention to the doing than to the result that you want to achieve through it. Give your fullest attention to whatever the moment presents. This implies that you also completely accept what is, because you can- not give your full attention to something and at the same time resist it.
As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease. When you act out of present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love — even the most simple action.
So do not be concerned with the fruit of your action — just give attention to the action itself. The fruit will come of its own accord. This is a powerful spiritual practice.
When the compulsive striving away from the Now ceases, the joy of Being flows into everything you do. The moment your attention turns to the Now, you feel a presence, a stillness, a peace. You no longer depend on the future for fulfillment and satisfaction — you don’t look to it for salvation. Therefore, you are not attached to the results. Neither failure nor success has the power to change your inner state of Being. You have found the life underneath your life situation.
In the absence of psychological time, your sense of self is derived from Being, not from your personal past. Therefore, the psychological need to become anything other than who you are already is no longer there. In the world, on the level of your life situation, you may indeed become wealthy, knowledgeable, successful, free of this or that, but in the deeper dimension of Being you are complete and whole now”.