It was day 7 of a 9 day intensive training in mindfulness. There were 50 of us and many came from other countries and were immersed in teachings that were not in their native language. Several times one of them would speak about the mental exhaustion that came with learning this way. I gave myself a mental note. I really focused on it.
“Karen, do not take a training in a second language. It is just too hard.” Reserving some of my limited mental space for this important directive.
Then, I remembered, “You don’t HAVE a second language.”
There was absolutely no risk that I might sign up for anything whatsoever in a nonexistent second language! I laughed at myself for putting so much energy into remembering something that required absolutely no energy at all.
On the last morning of the training I recognized how often I do that. How frequently I make something effortful that will unfold naturally on its own. I saw my habit of “efforting”; of outlining and planning and attempting to organize the future.
So often, what is called for is simply “being.”
Any effort that might be required will arise naturally out of the being.
A question I am holding when I am on my yoga mat now is
“Where am I efforting? Where I am trying to make something happen when I could relax into being and just watch what unfolds?
And how does holding that question shift things in my mind, body and breath?”
Karen
Photo by Mike Summers – www.mikesummers.net
