Once upon a time, I skipped along a beautiful path with wildflowers and possibility growing up along the edge, and popping up through the cracks of life's hard stones. I felt contented and at ease. Well, then, like every exciting path, disrupting my lovely canter, stopping me dead on my tracks I nearly tripped on a lazy poppy of potential--there it was. A glaring and menacing obstacle. And, of all things, do you know what is was?
It was me. I was perplexed, upset, horrified, scared, discouraged, disappointed, defeated, angry that this obstacle-me, was in the way. I was full of missteps. I came up with everything possible to discard, forget, toss to the side, yell and point fingers at, run away, walk around me. Nothing worked.
Finally I decided I would just have to carry me with me. And it worked! Me was great company. Me was inspiring and creative. Me had a great inner compass to help guide I further along. Me was funny. Me was fun. Me could dance and sing. Me was smarter, more compassionate, and more reliable than I had ever imagined. I began to understand me and why me was in my own way. I actually loved me!
Wow, what a relief that my own obstacle was something I could carry with me in the end. And to think I might be able to do the same with others now that I had confronted and then comforted me.
In yoga, we are taught to recognize ourSelves in others. In Chapter 6, verse 9, the Bhagvagita (yogic text of self-realization), even encourages one to be at peace with all and to treat everyone equanimously. Even the one who has engaged in wrong-action should have your compassion. As illustrated in the same chapter later in verse 29, we are not separate from those who we think are separate than us. Consciousness pervades all beings. The realized self is part of all other entities. All other entities are a part of our realized self.
All versions of who we perceive ourSelves to be should be recognized as well. We should give ourSelves our own love and compassion, recognizing of what it is we are capable, and that whether we act upon any given capability, does not solely make up who we are.
I find this helpful when trying to cope with the mistakes, the ineptitude, transgressions I see in myself, and I see in the world. There is a deeper karma, a cycle that is part of the ancestral lineage of humankind which is hard to see when we need something immediate to blame for our pain, and regressions of humanity.
If we can seek to better understand ourSelves, and we are willing to carry all parts of ourSelves-even the weight, pain, and struggle; and BECAUSE of our potential, compassion, desire to connect to the Highest, we pave the way for our understanding of others.
This is the path I want to walk on. How about you? Are you choosing to show up for yourself lately? How about for others?
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