Nov 1, 2024
Greetings yogis,
My mistakes, melting away like snowflakes falling on warm ground. My regrets, eroding like washed away footsteps on the beach behind me. Any successes, floating away like a mountain breeze through pines. Fears of the future, gently acknowledged and then set down. Letting go, over and over again. The sacred art of surrender.
A dear friend recently asked, 'How is your heart?' I didn’t know what I’d say but let the words pour forth nonetheless. ‘It is making peace over and over again with what I can’t change, it is learning to decipher what weight is mine to carry, and what is not. With this, it seems more expansive and whole than ever.’
We’re all holding so much right now, wouldn’t you agree? Need we? I’m not sure anymore. Part of the great gift of waking up is learning what to carry, and what to set down – continuously training our mind to let go of that which has already transpired, whether good or bad. Building the capacity to release past experiences is what ultimately sets us free to be here, now.
Two monks were traveling a great distance through Nepal and along their path they encountered a woman who urgently needed help. The monks, sworn to never touch a woman, were in a conundrum. However, one of the monks leaned over, picked the woman up and proceeded to carry her for many miles to the next village for safety.
The two moved onward from there, but the other monk was stewing for days. Finally, unable to hold in his anger anymore he exclaimed, ‘How could you have carried her!’ The other monk smiled, ‘Brother, I carried her to safety and did my duty. You are the one still carrying her.’
Go lightly, dear. The Universe is a vast, mighty and wondrous thing. You need not carry it all, nor carry all of another’s weight and healing. That is your birthright. Let us wrap up this year with some levity, shall we? Love the ones you’re with. Make peace with all that you can. Set down what you’ve been carrying for much too long. Practice, practice, practice.
Train the mind and be free,
Nat K
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
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