Dust on the mirror

So my yoga intensive last week was divine. And it did help me to get back on the path. Definitely some hippy and confronting moments. Staring into another person's eyes for five minutes ... someone you don't know ... is definitely an experience and following that with a five minute hug (if you feel like pulling back ... keep going!) can feel a little uncomfortable ...

The point?

We easily see the differences in others. And yet here they are, in our lives and on their own path with their own challenges ... and there is far more that is similar between us than different.

It's about noticing. Paying attention.

It reminds me of the story Kate shares on Everyday Calm. A world famous violinist played in a busy metro in Washington for one hour. He made $32. 6 people stopped to watch. The previous night he sold out a concert with tickets averaging $100.

What are we missing because we don't take the time to stop ... look ... and listen. Well, in my case, plenty.

Kate over at The Monday Project just wrote about the calm she's currently experiencing since she recently simplified her life and started paying attention to the little things. Inspiring!

What stops us from experiencing peace? Andrew described the three malas as the 'dust that clouds the mirror to our true reflection' and we spent time on the intensive looking at each one and how to move forwards when they're blocking your path. What are they?

Anava - sadness, a feeling of lack, unworthiness. Address with 'bhakti' - devotion to something bigger than yourself.

Mayiya - anger, separation, difference conflict, hatred. Work through this with self and spiritual study. Learning.

Karma - fear, anxiety, not being able to accomplish. Deal with this by taking action ... even small action.

What's holding you back from moving forwards on your path? What can you do right now to get moving again?

Yoga Girl, originally uploaded by pixieclipx.

Keeping it simple

I have never really been much of a goal setter. What do I really want? What if I change my mind?

However I can see the value in goals and I've read all books and articles about the people who write their goals down being a gazillion times more likely to achieve them. In fact I have done this in the past and have been amazed to read back and see some of the things that have happened.

But it can be complicated and a bit messy to think about it all and I love the idea of a bigger, inspiring, overarching goal sitting over the top.

That's why I really liked the post on Zen Habits called really simple goal setting.

Now I haven't fully taken Leo's advice yet but he recommends reducing any goals you might have to one and turning that into a 2 - 5 word mantra. He gives you five steps for the process but breaks it down to '1) choosing a goal and creating a mantra for it; and 2) focusing on shorter-term actions to make that goal a reality.' So that means just choosing one action a day. I can totally do that!

As a starting point, I think my goal is: Integrate my passions. Does anyone else want to have a go?

Patterns, signs, yep I'm noticing!

I have had a couple of experiences recently to remind me that perhaps I need to slow down a little. Of course I know this *theoretically* but it is not something I naturally do.

First of all, my brother got engaged! How exciting. A surprise to noone but me apparently. Of course I knew it would happen sometime but everyone else predicted it would happen on their holiday. Now I do live in a different state to my family however when I expressed my surprise my Mum said, 'well you are probably too busy to notice these things Kerry.' Oh.

The following day Laurence rang me around 10am. Now I did observe he left the apartment rather early but when he said 'Hi honey, I've arrived' my response was the ever so astute, 'Oh? Where are you?'

Brisbane.

I have plenty of very good reasons for my distractability. The afternoon before I travelled to Geelong for a presentation and got home just in time to log onto an online conference for work that went until 9:30. And then there's the ever present pressure of weekend study. But really. We can all find reasons to be busy.

If you have sessions over a period of time you will often notice recurring themes. It might be self esteem, communication, confidence, judgement of self or others ... for me it is that busyness and the confusion and disconnection that you ultimately create if you can't allow yourself to just be.

Surprise surprise, it is the reason I went to a Kinesiologist in the first place. In one session I've had this issue went back to between lifetimes (yes a little wacky, even for me!) I just wanted to hurry up and get started!

Sometimes we know but we don't really pay attention. Nadine wrote about this on her lovely yoga blog today. She talks about the messages her pain were giving her. In my case it's more about the messages my crazy busy lifestyle are giving me.

This is one reason I have been so drawn to Kinesiology. It always brings me back to myself. It helps me connect to my own wisdom. And whenever I am in clinic I am completely focused, centred and at peace.

And one big difference for me? Previously noticing this pattern could have been a reason to get completely upset and annoyed at myself. Now I just notice and do something about it. A much nicer experience. Havi has a whole series of posts on not hating on yourself.

I will be completely done with study at the end of this month (yipee I can't wait) but I'm really mindful that I don't want to fill the new space in my life with more busyness.

I wrote a while ago about doing the Signs and Synchronicity yoga morning intensive. And - hello sign! I found out that Andrew's doing another one next week. This time it's Progress on the Path. 'Especially for those who want to get BACK on the path'.

Ok, bring it on!

Making Space

I'm decluttering! I'm doing this lovely 6 week e-course with Goddess Leonie and Lisa. It's called Making Space for your Goddess to Shine. I've never done an e-course before so it's kind of fun seeing how it all works.

Each week I get these cute books and worksheets to download and sometimes a meditation track or whatever. It's really nice having a mental focus and I definitely like the idea of making my home a space that works perfectly for me.

There are some nice floaty Goddessy bits to the course and some clean-up, tidy-up, clear-out, de-clutter type things.

I am better at the Goddess stuff.

Make an altar? Yay! Look at Feng Shui? Of course. Burn Grandfather sage (a smudge stick) throughout the house - I'd love to.

It makes such a difference too, the whole smudging thing. Definitely try it if you haven't before. So it's the sage leaves all kind of tied up with string and you just light it and I guess think clearing thoughts as you take it around the house.

Everyone commented how clean the house was. I told Laurence I'd smudged the house. He assumed it was some kind of new cleaning product along the lines of Mr Sheen.

So I'm less good at the actual de-cluttering.

Actually I was ok at the reflective parts. Why I'm holding onto things, what I want to create space for, that kind of thing. The fluffy side of de-cluttering. The non-actually-decluttering part.

Don't get me wrong, I'm quite tidy. Especially on the surface. Just don't try to look in my wardrobe (uh - kind of overflowing) or expect that I will immediately locate some essential stationery item like a stapler.

I promise I'll work on it, there's still a few weeks to go :)