‘You can take a horse to water but you can’t make it drink’. Until such time as we are ready to face our fears and our doubts we won’t want to change. We won’t want to move out of that comfort zone that we continually complain about. We won’t want to change and face something new. ‘Better the devil we know!’
Life may not be everything we want…but we can cope. We question and are fearful of the unknown. Ok it may potentially be amazing..but it is also safer to stay with what we know. Safe may not be exciting, but it’s less terrifying than facing our doubts and our fears. Staying with what we know is often an easier option than change.
For change is scary. Yoga teaches us to accept that the only constant is continual change. That you come to your mat afresh each day and try to do so without expectation. Yoga practice teaches that just because something was feasible yesterday doesn’t mean we can expect it today. It teaches surrender to a deeper knowledge of where the space can be found, rather than forcing into places that do not want to open to us.
Dharma…is that path you choose which lights up your eyes and fills you with a deep internal sense of satisfaction. The choice to make a change to follow your dream & trust your intuition. The feeling that surrendering to what is meant to be had allowed doors to open and the path to clear, not of obstacles but of doubts. The wondrous moment when you realise you have found your true calling.”
So many of us struggle to fit into what others expect of us. Unfortunately while we do so we don’t realise that actually those others haven’t noticed all our hard work. All they notice is the effects of us not following our dreams…the unhappiness or even depression, the negativity or resentments. For it is hard not to be resentful. when you are turning yourself inside out to be what is expected of you and others apparently fail to notice your sacrifice. It is hard to smile through the greyness of continual dissatisfaction. The idea that to find love you must first love yourself is true. It is hard to be truly honest in relationships with others when you aren’t being with yourself. It is hard to be smile, be kind and loving when your heart is breaking.
However like with relationships with others, so with ourselves. Some things are easier to see from the outside, like the truth about a relationships. Just as mothers and good friends can often see when a partner is not a positive in our lives, so they may see if we are not being kind to ourselves. Whether we listen to them is another matter. It is often only with hindsight we see the wisdom in their words.
Sometimes all we need to find our dharma is to open our minds and our hearts. However to do this we need clarity of vision and love enough of the self to have faith.
Luckily for us, that clarity of vision and faith can come from an external source. At least initially. I know for myself that without the support and continual nudging toward my true path I would never had believed I could achieve it. I am lucky for my comfort zone was so uncomfortable that it became unbearable. Hence I took that first step onto the corridor from which so many doors of opportunity beckon. I am lucky and continually grateful to those who accompany me on my journey along that corridor. Sometimes merely opening doors to glimpse the possibility beyond while deciding they aren’t for me. Sometimes having the support and strength to kick that door open and jump feet first into a whirlpool of exciting potential knowing that they hold the rope that keeps me safe so I won’t drown.
So appreciate your friends and family’s wisdom. Know that with their support it may be easier to explore, recognise and have the faith and the strength to find your path in life. Your dharma. Your unique fingerprint which you are to place upon the amazing world we live in.
