It's All Relative

Last week I was visiting my grandmother when she said, "Vanessa, you have your whole life ahead of you." I said, "Well, so do you." She meant it as a way of suggesting that I have so much time ahead of me that I can do anything with it. But, really, it is true of everyone. I had never thought of it that way before. You have your whole life ahead of you. This phrase has typically been reserved for young people, but if you can find space within yourself to accept that you really do still have your whole life ahead of you, you begin to increase your possibilities.

I've been spending so much time in the car lately, that I've been having most of my contemplative moments there. Last week, on my way to work I noticed, not for the first time, that people have the tendency to glob together when they drive. I've noticed this so many times before, and maybe you've had the experience when being passed by someone of speeding up without meaning to, or slowing down without realizing it. I think it interesting the extent to which we can become emotionally invested in other drivers. We have those moments of unaware speed changes because we drive relative to one another. We have been taught to drive aware of what the people driving around us are doing, because their decisions are based on what we are doing. So when we are trying to drive at a consistent speed, we use the objects around us to do that. When someone comes along who is driving much faster than ourselves, we will speed up without meaning to, because that car has become part of our relativity.
While observing my own driving relativity, I globed with two other vehicles. The choices to break the pattern are either to speed up or slow down. Speeding up can potentially lead to a race, so I slowed down. In a minute, we were all in our own space, at enough of a distance that I could resume my previous speed without the danger of getting globed with the same cars again.

This idea of relativity applies in other areas of our lives. Sangha is a yogic concept that means community. There is a great deal of importance placed on a gathering of like minded people, because we live relative to one another. Think about the people you are close to. Sometimes we must deal with people we don't want to because of certain circumstances in our lives. Some people we choose, for various reasons. Either way, who we associate with regularly will have an effect on our thoughts and behavior. Have you ever been around someone long enough to start picking up their verbal habits? We rub off on each other, whether we mean to or not.

You live your life relative to the time you have on this planet, in this form. You can look at the dwindling amount of years you have left and be daunted, allowing this vague knowledge of the "end" bog you down and prevent you from living fully. Or you can choose to look at the rest of you life as your whole life ahead of you.

This week we will practice with the intention of understanding that we live relative to everything, and opening up enough to be ourselves within that relativity. As we open to ourselves, we open to each other. Then we won't have to be daunted or upset by the passage of time, or even the movement of traffic. We will move with purpose through our lives by gradually becoming more and more aware of ourselves; taking decided action instead of mindless copying.