Creative Meanderings

Day 17:  What knowledge are you grateful for?

Honestly, I am enjoying these gratitude questions as I find them to be thought-provoking. I mean when was the last time you considered being grateful for knowledge let alone a specific knowledge? 😛 As a person who hungers for knowledge as a way of coping with the craziness of this world, it is difficult to pinpoint a particular knowledge. However, what comes to mind in my current state of frenzy is that I am grateful to have learned and come to understand the role of mindfulness and meditation. I cannot claim to have full knowledge of this yet as I am not sure that anyone present on this earth has it; however, I am grateful that knowing about it came to my awareness as it has honestly saved me this past month. It is frightening to think where I would be right now if I did not know how to go into a mindful meditative state to calm me or give me perspective on my current situation. So, yes, indeed I am grateful for this knowledge.

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I must admit that my head is swimming lately and I have to remind myself to focus on one task or thought frequently. I used to pride myself in being able to sit still for hours on end and lose myself in a thought or activity. With so much unsettledness at the moment, I am struggling to keep myself centered and grounded on activities that I know will help me to induce a quasi-sense of norm into my life.

One topic I wanted to touch upon is a sense of spiritual connectedness returning to me. In my 20s and early 30s, I spent a lot of time at churches or reading the Bible and seeking a relationship with God as encouraged by Christian beliefs. When I divorced, I spent probably an equal amount of time avoiding these kinds of activities as a sense of rebellion, revenge and cutting of a spiritual connection with my ex.

Then, I began to do yoga and coaching. A new awareness of a spirit within came and I embraced it as a semi-new-age way of incorporating the concept of God into me without embracing a specific religion. No formal religion has ever appealed to me or convinced me enough to identify with it completely. Now, the more I work through the philosophy of yoga and meditation, I am drawn to the teachings that we have the spiritual greatness within us that connects us to the Universe. It is the Universal Spirit that guides us.

As I start to make sense of what this might really mean, I am finding that I am returning to some of the Christian beliefs. The Lord has now become the Lord Universe to me – a larger presence greater than man who guides us through our inner spirits. The Holy Spirit may be its Christian name, but I prefer to combine these concepts because I do not believe we need to divide into religious dogmas – rather we can rejoice in a common understanding that we have power within us to behave according to a Universal desire for union, love, compassion and greatness for ourselves and for others.

This ‘awakening’ and re-realization has helped me immensely through a time of testing my patience, my trust, my sanity, etc. With it also comes some clarity and focus. 😀

~T 😀

Yesterday I wrote on the idea of saturation within yoga. After I wrote, I began to consider this more and recalled how I have often felt annoyed towards those who simply went for a two-month TEFL certification to be ‘qualified’ to teach English as a foreign language – something that I spent two years studying extremely hard on to be able to call myself a professional in the TESOL world. Of course, I know that my qualification will likely outshine someone with only a few months training; still, it felt like such things cheapen the field.

The same sense was starting to stir regarding yoga. I am spending a year studying the way of life of yoga to gain a 300-hr certification. Some people can go (even I recently considered this) for a two-week stint to get a 200-hr certification and be “just as qualified” to then begin to teach yoga. In fact, one might say they are ‘more qualified’ because they have a certification sooner. However, someone who goes to an ashram and spends months or years there to immerse themselves into the way of life of a yogi may feel the same about me. 😐

This makes me consider, has the concept of elitism disappeared? I remember in my college days I really disliked my friends having elitist attitudes. We went to a ‘high-brow’ liberal university for Oregon and many students there were very intelligent. Still, I was not comfortable with encouraging an attitude of ‘us’ vs ‘them’. Division is not the answer – or so I thought.

However, there is something to be said about mastering a craft and being proud of this mastery. Actors who can recite Shakespeare’s many plays off the cuff are masters of their craft. Authors who compete with the classics of Tolstoy or Hemingway are masters of their craft. Artists who create original pieces that resonate amidst the greats are masters of their craft. What about all those others who also call themselves actors, writers and artists but do not reach these same levels of mastery? Is there anything wrong with having a plethora of people in these fields who are aspirants rather than gurus?

Honestly, no.

In fact, a guru is not a guru without aspirants. Thus, in my contemplations of saturation and too many people joining particular fields, I realized that the universe is very large and I would be/am arrogant to think that there is not room for everyone in every field. There is enough abundance and room for everyone to be successful at what they do – at any level. No one can take away from another’s success because we each have our own unique spin and qualities within the same fields. There are enough people in the world who will want to learn English from a variety of English teachers. There are enough people in the world who will want to learn yoga from the various styles and instructors. There are enough people in the world who will read what others write or appreciate art of a particular artist.

So, I return to my college way of thinking – division is not the answer. Friendly competition is healthy to motivate and keep us developing, but division is never the answer. We do not need to have ‘elite’ status, but rather aim to continue living life with integrity, pride, honesty, joy, compassion and the sharing of our individual talents with the world to make it a better place day by day. 😀

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Day 12:  What texture are you grateful for?

Textures…when I think of textures I immediately think of the ones I do not like when it comes to food. However, that is not the purpose of this gratitude challenge. Therefore, the texture I think I am most grateful for is fleece or something similar to this. Fleece brings me warmth and makes me feel cozy. Even though I live in the hot desert, I am often cold inside and love to pop on my fleece lounge pants (much to my husband’s dismay). It puts a smile on my face to feel the soft fleece on my skin – so thank you very much for fleece! 😛

~T 😀