Christmas Message
Christmas Message
As a 10 year old, my daughter has been both waiting in great anticipation for Christmas to come and hesitant for it's arrival. An interesting juxtaposition of feelings for sure. She remains excited about Santa's arrival (not sure if she really believes but I know she wants to believe, which is just beautiful!) and melancholy about it all coming to an end and having to wait another 11 months for the holiday season to get going.
I see parallels between these sentiments and the emotional dichotomies experienced day in and day out. Put simply, can we truly know kindness without knowing wickedness? Can we know true peace without first experiencing chaos? Or how happiness can only be realized through feeling what sadness is? What a wonderful thing that we can understand patience only by first experiencing frustration. The beautiful thing is that in experiencing vice we are given the tools to practice our virtues. It has always been my stance that nature is always held in balance, not just through physics but, because we are a part of nature, so too our emotional states. It's like the stock market or learning new skill, the arc of progress is filled with jagged lines. Part of our work as yogi's is knowing that this is the way of things and even taking delight in experiencing an emotional downswing. Be mindful though, as toxic positivity lurks in the practice of delight during times of suffering. I would never suggest denying yourself those feelings, good or bad. feelings are meant to be felt and acknowledged not denied and overridden.
At the end of the day, as stated in the Gita, Yoga is evenness of mind. The extremes we experience emotionally are temporary and true joy comes from within.
