A Spirit of Reunion

Tags

lightness, poetry, reunion, spirituality, summer

I had been so busy with writing the technical paper and then putting the presentation together for the upcoming Aerospace conference that I had not walked the forest in almost two weeks. As I waited at the light at the bottom of the hill where I would normally go up the other side towards the West Gate and in to work, I glanced to my right and saw the bridge gleaming in the sunshine. Something tugged at my heart and said, come visit. We miss you.

So, I turned left at the light, parked in the first available space, and crossed over to the other side. On to the bridge, where now the clouds were playing hide and seek with the trusses. The lack of rain over the past few weeks had almost run the river aground, but not quite. I decided to turn right immediately after the bridge, with the idea of climbing the steep hill to walk the trail on the plateau above. But, it was not to be. The river had other plans for me. Ever so imperceptibly, she slowed down my walk, and brought me to a standstill.

And then, the flow of words began. I paid attention, listened, and wrote… I share a few of them with you.

The river runs so shallow
Yet the hill still rises steep
In walking these old trails
What new promises do I keep?

The air so still
Yet the singing of birds deep
I take in all the stillness
Into my core does the Joy sink deep; 

I stopped wondering long ago
Who is this muse that comes calling,
Amid the crescendo of the cicadas 
In the silence of the water falling; 

The invitation on some mornings
Is simply too powerful to resist
I try going towards the sun, 
but am imperceptibly lured by the mist; 

I came to walk long trails
Yet she has me rooted, standing still
Sit with me a while and visit she says 
Save for another day, the fragile hill; 

Summer is only here for so long
Like a firefly her light is fleeting
I am so honored that you invited me to stay
You raised my spirits with this brief meeting; 

If you will just stay that little bit longer 
Beneath the waters lie many a great treasure
So many dream of an endless summer
Yet of this moment they take little measure...

On this day, I experienced a beautiful reunion with nature, in a quiet oasis that invited me to be still. I arrived ‘empty handed’, yet left with a great treasure of poetry, peace, and a reminder to not stay away for too long. Have you participated in any reunions lately? Are you planning any in the near future? And how about your inner reunion with Joy, Awareness and Pure Existence? How do you experience That (re)union on a regular, even daily basis? Or have you forgotten…

Namaste,

Kumud @AjmaniK

I invite you to reunite with us in #SpiritChat on Sunday, July 16th at 9amET/1pmUTC on twitter – and particularly so if you have been away for a while. We hope you will bring some goodies to share.

The nature trails called, and I answered… only to stand still in reunion

On Light and Levity

Tags

levity, light, lightness, perspective, spirtuality

Two books – “Questions for the Dalai Lama” (library digital edition) and “The Mastery of Love” (library analog edition) merged into a powerful stream this week. “Light and Levity” emerged from reading them concurrently and alternately, interspersed with a few notes from walking among the profusion of Life springing up in some new areas of the local forest…

And then one day we will wake up and decide that we are done with punishing them for their long past mistake(s). We have been carrying this burden of being judge and jury for as long as we can remember. They may no longer even be the person that we think or imagine they were. For all intents and purposes, the person who heaped all that hurt and pain and suffering and grief upon us, all of which was justifiable and (still may be) very real for us – may be long ‘dead’ and gone. Yet, we remain. Transfixed by the past.

We may not admit it, but, to a large extent, we all choose the burdens that we wish to carry – and we have been carrying some of these burdens for so long that they have become part of our identity. We cannot imagine our forward motion or movement without this burden. The burden lowers our center of gravity and may even give us (temporary) added stability, like the sandbags that we throw in the back of our trucks to give us traction on icy pavements. But, is winter not yet over for us? Did we forget that it is spring time, the ice has melted, and that it’s okay to shed those sandbags which do not serve any more purpose?

Yes. Gravity has a purpose, but so does levity. When gravity threatens to whelm us, wash our joys away in an emotional current like the swiftly moving river swollen temporarily with overnight rain carrying away everything in her path – levity and light can be a safe haven for us.

We can choose a different perspective. We can choose to lighten our burden and reframe our vision. Instead of looking down upon ourselves in gravity, or looking behind at the hurts and pains of our past, we can reframe our view. We can bridge the wisdom of levity with the compassion of the future.

A change in perspective is often our friend. It can remind us to be kind to our own selves, to treat our own selves with a bit less gravity and a bit more levity. Consider: if we forget how to occasionally laugh at our own selves and smile at our own infirmities and frailties, how will we find the courage to chose to lighten our dead-weight burdens?

Light and levity beckon to us. They are like the steps leading up to ‘Indian Hill’ that come into view as we round the blind corner on the trail, on a day when we had only planned to ‘walk the flats’ to rest our aching feet from a week of walking the forest…

What is a seeker to do when invited? To climb or not to climb? Is That even a question?! Do I even need to describe the new light and levity gained from walking the forest at the top of That hill?

Kumud

P.S. Join us in #SpiritChat Sunday May 1st at 9amET (USA) / 1pm UTC for our weekly twitter gathering ~ Topic: Light and Levity ~ Hosted by @AjmaniK ~ Light, Levity, Lightness and Perspective will be our themes for May…

On Light and Lightness

Tags

light, lightness, spiritchat, spirituality

The last week of October and the first week of November usually bring a confluence of festivals and celebrations for our household. The five days of the “Festival of Lights” (Diwali) and the many variants of “Halloween” (harvest, trick or treat, scary stories and more) are enjoyed in their various forms and manifestations by the intergenerational and intercultural mixture of folks in our home and our community of family and friends. This year, the entire final week of October seemed to be occupied with light, levity, laughter and lightness.

So, it was natural that my Saturday morning “meditation” about a topic for our Sunday morning twitter chat brought me to “Light and Lightness”. The idea that Light is an important element of our existence cannot be understated. Natural light, provided by the Sun, is said to sustain the existence of all living beings. There is a lot of scientific evidence which shows that the presence of natural Light influences our mood, our activity levels, our ability to heal, and more.

The idea of “inner” Light also finds favor among those who have experienced it as part of their spiritual practice. When I consider the concept of enLightened souls, I think of individuals who have succeeded in removing all “darkness” from their words, their actions, their being. The notional lighting of lamps in the “Festival of Lights” emerges from this striving – to help us remove “inner darkness”, also called tamas. As I try and connect Diwali and Halloween traditions, I find it interesting that pumpkin décor follows a similar notion. The “inside” (of the pumpkin) is removed, and a candle or light is placed within to make the pumpkin glow from the inside out 🙂

Light creates a feeling of Lightness in our spirit, doesn’t it? When we see the sunrise, or the full moon on a dark night, it tends to elevate our spirit. Darkness creates a feeling of heaviness. There is perhaps a good physical reason for this. Physics tells us that Light particles, called photons, are perhaps the lightest “particles” known in existence. Is that why exposure to outer or inner light, has the ability to alleviate any heaviness that we may be feeling in mind or spirit? Like the enlightened master, Osho has so eloquently stated on the role of lightness in attaining wisdom:

“Wisdom is light”. We many not need any more proof of the importance of being light-hearted, shedding our heaviness, our unnecessary seriousness, so that we may rise in our lightness, like a photon of light.

We will explore the interplay of Light and Lightness some more in our weekly #SpiritChat. Join us Sunday, November 2nd at 9am EST / 2pm UTC / 7:30pm India for our weekly conversation on twitter. Note the time shift to 2pm UTC because of a one hour time shift in most of North America on November 2nd.

Until then, I wish you the best of Light, and a Lightness of being that inspires your spirit and all those that you connect with,

Kumud

A Spirit of Good Humor

Tags

humor, lightness, silliness, spirituality

Our everyday spiritual practice is usually considered as a fairly serious pursuit. The conversations about mindfulness, self-awareness, meditation, silence, stillness and such, tend to invoke a sense of deep inner reflection. There is rarely a notion of humor or lightness in our sometimes intense chats. However, it need not be so.

A few weeks ago, in the chat titled “stillness and silence”, one of our participants, @LoisMarketing came into the chat and commented that she had misread stillness as silliness! A few more tweets later, here we are. Ready to explore the idea of silliness, of play, of humor, of laughter – as a spiritual practice, in a full conversation in #SpiritChat 🙂 In the context of healing, we have all heard the adage that “Laughter is the best medicine”, haven’t we?

Swami Vivekananda has said in one of his lectures that spirituality has very little to do with seriousness. In fact, he says that the more spiritual progress we make, the ‘lighter’ we tend to become internally. When we get rid of the heavy baggage of anger, resentment, desire that controls us, extreme attachment, pain that causes inordinate suffering, and more – it would imply that we would become ‘lighter’ within, wouldn’t we? And then, our lighter being within emerges as a lighter attitude and aptitude without. We tend to smile more, we tend to be more kind, we tend to uplift others more, cheer them up more – for when we are cheerful inside, it spills over and floods the senses of those around us 🙂

In the context of living a healthy life, the phrase good humor used to imply the physical state of health, as also the ‘state of mind’ of a person. If the mind and body are in good humor, can the heart and spirit be that far behind? It is no coincidence that when we read a funny joke, watch a movie full of great comedy that makes us smile from ear to ear or laugh out loud, that our entire being feels is uplifted! Being in good humor seems to awaken something deep within us – a sense of abandon, of exploration, of discovery, of optimism, of the goodness of life and living it. A spirit of good humor attracts all that is good, because very few people or blessings want to be around those who are in bad humor, don’t you think?

It may not be easy for us, surrounded by, and feeling weighed down by, all that is happening in the world, near and far, to retain our good humor. Sometimes, our good humor, persistent as it may be, may be misjudged or misinterpreted as a pollyanna attitude. However, if we acknowledge that Joy is our natural state, our inheritance, our birthright, then a sense of good humor opens the door for us to return to it. There is no other path to truth, to an open heart, to lasting joy, without the help of good humor, is there?

In the context of our Sunday conversations, this Sunday, September 28th 2014, we will have some fun, with a sense of good humor. We will play. We will be silly. We will laugh and make others laugh. I hope you can join us at 9am ET / 1pm UTC / 6:30pm India on twitter in #SpiritChat – and don’t forget to bring your sense of humor. See you then!

Kumud

Here are some questions contributed by @LoisMarketing for our conversation – we will draw from these – Thanks, Lois! 🙂

1. How does humor play a role in your spiritual life? Or does it?
2. When has a sense of humor helped diffuse a difficult situation in your life?
3. What makes you laugh? How to you 'escape' life's pressures?
4. Everyone has their favorite comedian, movie comedy, classic TV sitcom. Share some of your favorites.
5. Do you perhaps take life a bit too seriously? How can you relax and unwind more? 
6. Is humor missing from your life? Or someone else's? How can you rediscover it?

The Lighter Side of Spirituality

Tags

being, humor, lightness, spirituality

“Seriously, Dad?”

Those two words always bring my thoughts to a halt. It usually means that I have made some inter-generational, cultural faux-pas and that there is a ‘lesson’ coming my way. It makes me smile, because I am a big fan of pausing, being awoken from my reverie of thoughts, being made aware of my need to learn something new. It makes me smile, because I know that I will walk away from this conversation with a new perspective on something that I thought I understood very well.

And all that smiling momentarily “lightens” my mental load, puts me in a better frame of mind. A “lighter” mental load can lead to better clarity, and better clarity can lead to creativity and innovation. What wonderful mental benefits to lightening our mental load, don’t you agree? However, the benefits aren’t just in our mind. There is the old adage that “we exercise a lot more muscles to frown than to smile”, and hence it is good for us to smile more. Or is it the other way round? Some scientists are doing more research! But, it doesn’t matter. Either way, my hypothesis is that those smiles, which lighten our burdens, are always a better idea than frowning. And I intend to prove it to you…

I don’t know if science can precisely quantify the effect that outward smiling has on our inner being. It is perhaps hard to genuinely smile, that deep smile of joy and contentment, without affecting our heart and spirit in a positive way. Every genuine expression of joy will relieve a little bit of our inner stress, help us shed some of the “burdens” that we carry around. Every genuine act of giving, of helping will help us lighten our “load”, and propel us higher on our journey. Every random act of kindness, particularly one that makes the other person smile, tends to make us smile too, doesn’t it? But wait, there is more.

It is when we smile, that we invite others to smile with us. It is a gentle way of injecting a sense of humor into a life situation. It is when we have a sense of humor, a lightness of being, that we attain great power of heart, body, mind and spirit. Where does this great power come from? Here is a quote that I recently read, that says it best:

“Our sense of humor, our lightness of being, gives us the armor which protects us from being humiliated. When we refuse to be humiliated, we become invincible” – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Art of Stress-Free Living

So, there it is. Ample proof of our invincibility, if we choose a sense of humor and get in touch with the lighter side of our Spirituality. How will you use your sense of humor in the weeks to come?

Kumud

P.S. If you are still not convinced about the value of “lightness”, cue up a clip of the MAVEN rocket launch. You will get the idea – no transition to “lightness”, no going into orbit 🙂 Join us for our weekly twitter chat Sunday, November 24th at 9amET in #SpiritChat for more lightness…