Once again I’m on a plane. Since I’ve flown over 75,000 miles this year it’s starting to feel like my office, or my meditation cushion, or my yoga mat. I’ve discovered it’s a great place to plan, to think, to reflect, to dream, to imagine, to hope, to let go, to rejoice, to cry. It’s all there at 36,000 feet.
This time I’m on my way to Kuaui to go on a 4 day hiking excursion and then get some R and R on the Big Island for a week. So my mind is spacious, and my heart is light. Especially when I reflect on the amazing year that 2010 has been. I love this time of year, the ending and the beginning all kind of happening at the same time. Just like the continuum that life in reality really is, I suppose. But it’s so important for me to acknowledge and embrace all that was and all that will be. Funny isn’t it, how we never really know how the year will unfold. We set intentions, make New Years resolution, and then bravely step forward into possibility. From a Buddhist perspective, there’s also that element of ripening karma to consider. But that’s a big unknown as well.
Looking back into 2010, I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude, joy, and humility when I sit in stillness and absorb all that was and continues to be: my perfect health, my loving family and friends, the wonderful teachers who have guided me, the wonderful students who have inspired me, my generous friends Jared and Maite, who have provided me a home, my yoga practice, my meditation practice, my surprisingly successful business. So many gifts, so much richness. My own little Pure Land in LA, where the peaceful externals have matched the peaceful internals. I’m not sure it takes much a spiritual practitioner to accomplish that. But I’ll take it and simply, humbly, say Thank You.
Of course who knows what 2011 holds. My wish is that I will be able to embrace whatever unfolds with the same mind of gratitude, humility and joy. My yoga teacher starts her classes asking us to set an intention. “What do you want to bring in? What do you want to get rid of? And be as specific as possible. Plant that intention like you’re planting a seed.” Specifically, I would like to bring in more healing. Both to myself and to others. Once a nurse, always a nurse as they say. My practices of yoga, breathing, and meditation have opened that door beyond my wildest imagination this year. More in 2011 please. Specifically, I would like to get rid of judgment. Both of myself and others. It’s such a painfully useless mind, and it blocks the flow of love.
These are my wishes. I resolve to accomplish them as best as I can. But if I don’t, or if I don’t accomplish them in the way I imagined, my only wish is to surrender, to forgive, and accept. It’s so very OK to be human. I seem to forget that sometimes. So maybe a better goal this year is simply to embrace humanness.
Namaste
