Ahimsa: Courage

Courage

To walk lightly requires confidence--confidence in ourselves, confidence in our decisions and the courage to carry out those decisions.  We really have to trust ourselves.  

Often in the midst of a uncomfortable situation, deciding what to do is not the hard part.  Making the right decision and knowing what to do is usually pretty simple.  The difficultly arises in the follow-through, in the actual doing.  The decision making gets the blame because we are afraid or made uncomfortable even thinking about what the decision requires of us.  Sometimes we need real courage for that follow through.

Just last week my daughter was hit by a car while crossing a busy street.  She was bruised and shook up but sustained no internal injuries and no broken bones.  For this we are so very grateful.  Unfortunately her deepest injury was to her sense of self and personal safety.  She was given several days off to heal up but had to return to work, and normal life, yesterday.  She lives in the capital city of a foreign country and her daily commute involves bus changes, heavy traffic and negotiating several busy crossings.  Having been a little haunted by the accident, stuck in the instant replay loop she was terrified.  In time all this will fade but the idea of going to work, going any where, really had her upset.

The decision to go to work, to continue with life, that's easy, a real no-brainer, but to actually step out into traffic takes real courage.  I got a little note from her yesterday letting me know she survived.  I am very pleased and very proud.  It will get better every day, each time she faces her fear and crosses the street successfully her confidence will grow until this act of courage becomes routine.

Having courage does not mean we are never afraid, it means we carry on in spite of our fears.

Ahimsa

Ahimsa

Ahimsa  is the first concept of yoga's ten ethical guidelines, the yamas and niyamas.  Ahimsa

 literally translates as "do no harm".  Stated simply it entails much, from all facets of life.  It comes from the belief that all life is connected and sacred--to do harm creates karmic ripples affecting all.  

To do no harm is to walk a gentle path through life.  To step lightly is to find balance.  Balance between courage and powerlessness and  love of self and compassion for others.  We take tiny steps toward this in the practice of yoga by letting go of expectations, for our selves and others, and by letting go of competition, our selves and others.

Please join my visual conversation as I work through a beautiful book by Deborah Adele, "The Yamas &Niyamas".  Please feel free to comment and join in this journey.

Namaste.

Just Breathe

Breathe

It really is that simple--just breathe.

in haste, in confusion

 in anger, in doubt

just breathe

 close the eyes

find the stillness

 as you come into your breath

inhale

exhale

inhale

exhale

repeat

Karma

Trust in what will be.

Lama Surya Das explains karma as an ongoing process. 

 "Something happens to you.  You respond with an action, a word, or a a thought.  This action leaves an imprint in your mind (in your stream of being) that creates further karma.  When you become accustomed to behaving a certain way, or being treated and reacting in a certain way, you become conditioned to it.  This conditioning is part of your karma."  

He then likens this to creating a rut, a rut that deepens through use.

"New karma is being made all the time.  When one acts with a positive motivation, goodness is furthered.  When one acts out of negative motivation, negativity is furthered...The important thing to understand here is that your are not a victim.  You are your own master."

Lama Das explains that there is free will as well as karmic patterning. 

 "This is a joyous liberating message because every moment we are presented with the possibility of changing our future.  We change, and our future changes too."

Change yourself, change the world.  If I can accept the reality of situations I am confronted with and let go of negative reactions, replacing them with positive action--I am changing and the world around me is a little brighter.

Let Go

Let Go

In yoga we practice letting go with each exhalation.  Let go of

competition

expectations

frustration

ego

stress

sorrow

anger

fear

By letting go of what is not needed, desired, wanted

we make room for something 

beautiful

and

unexpected

to take its place.

art journal 2014

New year, new project...

"Surrender to what is.

Let go of what was.

Have faith in what will be."

S. Ricotti

  

I ran across these words and could not get them out of my mind.  They struck an instant chord and became my mantra, a string of words that brought me out of the darkness.  

I have never kept a journal but I think I can keep a sketch book.  Wanting to celebrate this mantra I began creating around it.

mantra

Because I am a person of action I decided to create an art journal.  Creating a collage helps me sift through my thoughts and feelings as I work with color, texture, words and images--deepening my understanding.  (It's cheap therapy and a whole lot of fun.)

fearless Creating: Red and more Red

Today we celebrate vernal equinox--joy in the longer days, warmth and sunlight, sorrow as my studio becomes dormant.  Already the farm has taken over--deliveries, orders, harvesting, planting, long days spent outside working soil.  Bittersweet.  I do not have the time, energy or attention span to paint--so I "paint" with my camera. 

 

This is the second experiment exploring red, painting Rococo tulips.

 

 This is the third session, I doubled the size of sheet and tried to make looser brushstrokes and let them bleed over the sheet.

I worked awhile longer after this photo.  It only needs three or four brush strokes, unfortunately it requires hours of contemplation to lay those strokes in perfectly.  It has been lying like this for a month now, my goal is to finish it before August.