Cat From The Mat

Don't just do something, Stand there

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Created on Monday, 04 January 2016 18:00

Isn't it funny that we ask our fellow human beings, "How are you doing" rather than "How are you being?"  For most of my life I have been a human-doer, where my be-ership has been somewhat secondary.  I'm a pro-active person, and I love to make things happen.  However, when I am confronted, I get busy.  My "something must be done" default kicks in.  Just because I am distracted with doing doesn't mean that I am actually getting anywhere.

My tendency has been to jump into the gumbo of life and figure it all out amidst the thick roux.  This year, I am marinating in the broth of clarity and self-connection.  2015 was a very tumultuous yet fertile year, so it's time to repattern.  This takes patience and stillness.  I have to remind my busy, fast-moving self that just because nothing appears to be happening on the outside, doesn't mean that things are not shifting within.  When a snake eats, it appears still.  Yet on the inside, it is digesting, so much is occurring.  As a human being, I too need motionless time and space to assimilate life.  From a fixed clear stance, I can move forward with more ease, laser precision, and economy of effort.  Then my favorite well-warn path of manifesting can begin!

As I embark upon a fresh slate of the new year, I am not so interested in what specific resolutions I wish to install in my life.  As much as I love concrete details,  I am already setting myself up to fail by not crossing off all the items on my endless To-Do list.  Instead, I am placing my focus on the intention beneath any resolutions.  That way, the dreaded term "failure" isn't even on the table.  For example, if I want more rest in my life, I can resolve myself to a schedule of daily naps.  But what if I miss one day? Will I then be unsuccessful in my set plan of action?  What if I could have a plethora of ways to gain more rest…like meditating, listening to nourishing music, or going to bed earlier?  This gives me options and more innovative approaches besides that single method.

I grew up in a very creative family, where I inherited the genes for singing, languages, travel, visual arts, and humor.  My father was an avid audiophile.  We had quadrophonic speakers projecting music throughout the house 24/7.  My mother was a graphic artist, from whom we learned to not only draw and intuit composition, but we were encouraged to use our imagination.  We made thoughtful gifts, rather than to just buy them.

I still appreciate being a creator, and not just a consumer.  I love to make something out of nothing, whether a yummy meal, a dark comedic film, a connection in a different culture, or a yoga workshop about how we are rewriting our own narrative each time we step off the yoga mat and back into the world.  For the new year, I prefer to manifest qualities of being, rather than just being productive in completing a chore with a finite end.  

The strategies we choose are designed for survival.  And at any given moment, we have met and unmet needs, even within an inhale and exhale.  This is the chaotic dance of life that keeps us going.  So shift your depth of field and look not to the tasks at hand, but rather keep on your eye on the more profound desires below the surface.  Besides the basics of food and shelter, how will you feed your need for Trust, Self-expression, Adventure, Intimacy, or Contribution, to name a few?  One tactic is just one way.  What if you had several hundred game plans to get your human longings met?  What a grand design you could manifest in 2016!

Happy New Year!

Cheers,

Cat