For the most part I find my interactions with others in my world of relationships to be better than it has ever been my whole life! Maybe this comes from decades of study, of falling down over and over again and getting back up, of digging deep into the darkness hiding the soul and learning to say hello, come here into the light and be known, fully and completely. Decades of exploration with the help of others in this endless process of self-examination and self-study does have rewards. Keen observation not only of oneself but of others, and of relationships with others, can bring us to a place of much deeper understanding. When we see our mistakes, our errors, and work hard to improve ourselves, we will grow, even if by baby steps. Most of these relationships in recent years are through my practice of yoga, and I find people to be fun, engaging, inspiring, loving, gentle, caring, respectful. Community is so very important, in fact, critically important. In so many ways it is how we find our way in the world, it is how we transition from one phase to another, it is how we grow and learn, it is how we move into those exquisite facets of transformation that sparkle ever so brightly and lead us closer to the light of life and self. Much of this process can be difficult and painful, and while we are in it we may have no idea what lessons we are learning, but learning we are. If we can remain open, we find ourselves surrounded by teachers in the form of people, nature, animals, dreams, books, events, coincidences, and so on. But what I want to write about now are those rare interactions that are pretty much the opposite of all the things I have above described. I'm not talking about people that are inherently bad or evil, absolutely not. What I am referring to are those people who live their lives and interact with others completely unaware of their negativity, unaware that their own darkness, which they seem to never or rarely have explored, can impact others. You can observe that it is inevitable that you will encounter people that are carrying a load of manure that they themselves are unaware of. When this happens, you have choices. You can allow the psychic smell to overwhelm you or you can wisely step far enough away so that you are able to observe all that is going on from a healthy distance, have some understanding and compassion, but know that the maintenance of a certain boundary and detachment is by far your best decision. We are not acting in our self interests, or in the interests of others if we allow ourselves to fully engage in their stuff or get pulled in too close to their vortex of disorganization and chaos. Sometimes I think these encounters, as difficult and as challenging as they may be, are the ones that are presented to us for the very purpose of letting us know that we need to always be diligent in our work, we cannot become lazy, we must continuously ask ourselves if we are up to task, if we are prepared to deal with those inevitable situations in life that are going to test us, to challenge us, to force us to repeatedly awaken to the many dimensions of reality, to the many aspects of what it is like to be human living in the here and now. Sometimes it may be best to dive deep into the dark waters, feel the panic, feel what it is like to be unable to breath, but to hold on long enough to discover that we can emerge cleansed, spiritually refreshed, newly awakened, newly transformed.
I dreamt that the dirt surrounding the perimeter of the foundation of my house (my deeper self, my core) was being dug up by a badger (someone has truly been badgering me). The foundation remained fully intact, but there was a single rock that had been disturbed and there was a small hole the badger had made. The disturbance was totally superficial but it nevertheless called upon me to put the rock back in place so the badger could no longer enter. My neighbors appeared and didn't want to talk about this seemingly insignificant event, but rather they wanted to tell me that the person across the street had been parading around outside totally naked. I looked up to see a friend of mine walking down the street, naked, and we waved at one another. I was not concerned with this at all. Then I was told that a colleague of mine was in the hospital, in intensive care, after having been involved in an accident. This caused me to be concerned, and I realized that was where my focus needed to be directed. I understand the dream fully, I believe, and it parallels exactly what has currently been happening in my life. Seeing a person naked and being unconcerned about it can mean that you see right through a person and what they are doing, how they are behaving. There is a transparency that you can see even though they may be blind to themselves and their actions. Badgers can represent those people that run interference in your life, cause some little disturbances, but you know exactly what to do to resolve the problem. Your foundation is solid, and all you do is put your solid rock back in place and the issue disappears. But, to have a person that you care about deeply, a teacher that you both respect and admire, suddenly be in hospital, well, what does that mean? I think that the neighbors in my dreams were aspects of myself telling me to turn my focus back to those sources that provide me with health, with care, with nurturing, and from this one can stay the course towards healing which is never ending.
There will always be challenges, disturbances, annoyances, things that seem to want to rock our very foundation, but often these things are in fact pretty minor, and if we can see through them and see exactly who and what they are, have a clearness and clarity of sight, we can return to being "un-badgered" and turn back to the aspects or people in our lives that bring us good health and healing, that teach us good things, that help us examine who we are and how are we treating ourselves, how are we treating others.
B.K.S. Iyengar
"Had I not seen these things in myself, would I ever have seen them in others?"
Anonymous
.
I dreamt that the dirt surrounding the perimeter of the foundation of my house (my deeper self, my core) was being dug up by a badger (someone has truly been badgering me). The foundation remained fully intact, but there was a single rock that had been disturbed and there was a small hole the badger had made. The disturbance was totally superficial but it nevertheless called upon me to put the rock back in place so the badger could no longer enter. My neighbors appeared and didn't want to talk about this seemingly insignificant event, but rather they wanted to tell me that the person across the street had been parading around outside totally naked. I looked up to see a friend of mine walking down the street, naked, and we waved at one another. I was not concerned with this at all. Then I was told that a colleague of mine was in the hospital, in intensive care, after having been involved in an accident. This caused me to be concerned, and I realized that was where my focus needed to be directed. I understand the dream fully, I believe, and it parallels exactly what has currently been happening in my life. Seeing a person naked and being unconcerned about it can mean that you see right through a person and what they are doing, how they are behaving. There is a transparency that you can see even though they may be blind to themselves and their actions. Badgers can represent those people that run interference in your life, cause some little disturbances, but you know exactly what to do to resolve the problem. Your foundation is solid, and all you do is put your solid rock back in place and the issue disappears. But, to have a person that you care about deeply, a teacher that you both respect and admire, suddenly be in hospital, well, what does that mean? I think that the neighbors in my dreams were aspects of myself telling me to turn my focus back to those sources that provide me with health, with care, with nurturing, and from this one can stay the course towards healing which is never ending.
There will always be challenges, disturbances, annoyances, things that seem to want to rock our very foundation, but often these things are in fact pretty minor, and if we can see through them and see exactly who and what they are, have a clearness and clarity of sight, we can return to being "un-badgered" and turn back to the aspects or people in our lives that bring us good health and healing, that teach us good things, that help us examine who we are and how are we treating ourselves, how are we treating others.
Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.
B.K.S. Iyengar
"Had I not seen these things in myself, would I ever have seen them in others?"
Anonymous
.
