It's Just Play

Open to a broader perspective. 

Deepak Chopra was interviewed by someone wowed by his retreat center. When asked how he accomplished all of his success he answered "It's just play".

What an incredible mindset! How often do you feel weighed down by your responsibilities? How often have you wished for bigger and better? How often have you striven for something or watched someone else accomplish something incredible with a twinge of jealousy? We spend so much time waiting for what we hope will happen we rob ourself of the moment and the peace that can be found therein. 

Kids are all over this. We used to run and swim and bike and laugh all day long. We didn't know running and biking were good for us. They were just fun. We didn't stop and let our day be ruined because we fell and scrapped our knees. We got up and played more. 

I don't want to discount the mental exhaustion that comes with responsibility but a change in perspective can make a huge difference. One of my goals in life is to grow as a person and retain my sense of wonder. Having a todler helps. We are so much less restricted as children. We haven't learned the restrictions yet. 

Let's try life today with these circumstances and play. If you can navigate life with a playful mindset, then challenges become parameters for the game. Ever played with your gums after you lost a tooth? Ever picked a scab? I don't want you to do it to cause yourself pain, but I don't want to you avoid the pain if it's there either. It's all play. 

Non-attachment

We attach to so many things. We are particularly attached to our bodies, literally and figuratively. We are concerned with way we look, especially as compared to the way other people look. As we age, are injured or sick we lament what we were once capable of. 

We attach to things. We have a consumer driven culture, and I am no exception. I love shiny things. I will expend resources on new tech and be sad when I don't have it with me or can't use it any more. 

We attach to people. We may be drawn to certain personalities or physical traits. I'm reading Living with the Himalayan Masters by Swami Rama, which is a detailed account of his life with his teacher as a student of yoga. He relates a lesson he learned, his teacher tells him "Many people confuse attachment with love. But, in attachment you become selfish, interested in your own pleasure, and you misuse love. You become possessive and try to gain the objects of your desires. Attachment creates bondage, while love bestows freedom. When yogis speak of non-attachment, they are not teaching indifference, but are teaching how to genuinely and selflessly love others. Non-attachment, properly understood, means love. Non-attachment, or love, can be practiced by those who live in the world as well as by those who are renunciates."

It can be scary to let go. Understanding my neuroses better and moving past them will never fundamentally change who I am. Letting go of prior conditioning and growing as human adults can only make us freer to be ourselves. Less fear. More love. 

I am the kind of person who welcomes change to such and extent that I'm more afraid of stagnation. Living in extremes is the least healthy modus operandi. But the extremes 

can be so much fun. 

We can get caught up and attached to negative narratives. Stop devaluing yourself. What are you afraid of? Achieving your dreams? Losing out? Change? 

Be grounded in yourself. Deny no part of your being. Settle into your internal environment and watch with non-attachment. Do not work for results. You are not your muscles or your senes.

Awesome

I mean the literal definition, not the way we use it casually. 

I'm sure you've heard the phrase simple minds like simple pleasures. It is a statement made by those who think the more involved something is, the better. (Or it's something people say to be funny) The question arises for me: what do you consider simple? A sunset may seem to be a simple thing but it's existence is the result of one of the greatest mysteries we contemplate. The universe is an ever expanding, fascinating place, in which we are a speck. Speaking of contemplating, the fact that we have the capacity to see the sunset and think it's pretty, understand that it's a sunset, know what a sunset is and contemplate our place within the larger picture is amazing.

Be amazed! I have actually had someone tell me that they are no longer impressed with the beauty of sunsets. That they had seen so many it wasn't impressive anymore. Have you ever been in the mindset that is convinced that things would be better if or that you will be happy when some kind of circumstances are met? It's interesting to watch the movement of the mind in relation to how you feel. One day you may be ambivalent to the most beautiful scene, but the next seeming to see every thing in the world laid out just for you.

Embrace coincidence. Maybe serendipitous things occur in your life but you write them off as coincidences. So what? Does the coincidence make it less fun to say it was just for you? Try existing with the mentality that everything is just for you. For example, this weekend I brought home a bike to ride with my son. On the way home, there was portion of a road blocked off because a car had hit a bicycle. That's ominous and freaky. I chose to see it as a warning to be careful and diligent while riding. So I went home and had a wonderful time riding and paying attention. 

There are so many examples of things to be delighted by in the world. I'm glad my mother is who she is because this is a lesson I learned from her. Nature is amazing, beautiful and cathartic. We can also say the same of human achievement. Because we're of nature and we are capable of creating wonders; whether through our biology (read make babies) or through our ingenuity. If we have a reverence for, and a sense of awe of, the world and it's inhabitants, what we choose to do in the world will reflect that awe and will improve conditions. Apathy, being comfortable in our ruts, can't lead to improvement. It can only breed more of the same. So if you are feeling disheartened by the state of affairs, find something to feel in awe of. Move in the world from that mentality. You can try it any time you feel sad or upset. Instead of spinning your wheels and cocooning yourself into that painful mentality, find something to be in awe of. It's rainy today. I'm tired and at work. But, water creates amazing changes in life. Water has very particular properties that support life. It allows life to exisit on our planet.
What about our capacity to endure pain? What have you endured? How much have you over come? Stand in awe of your resilience.