Everything is to prove that we belong

Everything you do, everything you are, everything that happens to you and because of you;
The people who are around you, the air you breathe, what you see, the things you love;
Your life in your body, your place in the world, the lives you touch in known and unknown ways;
The friends you love, the troubles you have, the times that test you, the days when everything is just right;
The rows you have, the people you hold, the ones who drive you crazy, the things that make you cry;
The times you bask in love, the times you feel alone, the days that you are brave and the days that you are not;
The birds you feed, the nature that you love, the animals that you keep, the world around you.

Everything is to prove that we belong.

There is nowhere else.
There is no other body, no other life, no better way.
We make choices, we live, we love, we learn and we move on through.
It's hard to believe sometimes, but it's all as it should be.
Difficult to trust in the unfolding of our one life, but
Everything is to prove that we belong.

Sarah x

Slow Change

Beware those who offer you quick fixes and promise speedy transformation. It is not that those things are not possible, so much as that speedy change is not really what we need.

What we need, and what arises naturally in us is slow evolution. I’m talking about profound change here, the kind of change which addresses how you are living, how well you set boundaries, how well you understand what choices will move you towards the peaceful, joyful life you deserve to live.

We circle around and around these lessons, coming back to them over and over again. The deepest shifts take the longest time. And it is in that circling back, retreading old ground, coming up against the same old questions that we begin to discern the answers and make the necessary changes.

It can feel hopeless. You ask, why am I here again? I thought I’d dealt with this. And then perhaps you feel like a failure for having wound up in the same sad place once again.

But you are never in the same place twice, however much it might feel that way. Each time you meet that same problem you are coming at it from a slightly different angle and with new wisdom.

You do not smash through the barriers that lie between you and peace, you whittle them away and sand smooth their rough edges. Gradually, you hone your responses to life, so that one day when your boss/ex/difficult relative says that thing (the one that drives you crazy, leads you to a hot response and then the regret for having fallen short again), you breathe, pause and … say something different, do something else, what they’ve said or done doesn’t feel so sharp any more, the barb doesn’t catch. One day when you are asked to do something that you know is not good for you, you find the word “no” and utter it firmly and kindly. One day when you are madly busy and someone comes along and asks you for your help, you say later, I can be with you later. And afterwards, what joy, there is no regret for having fallen short of what you had hoped of yourself; no exhaustion from having given too much of yourself.

Evolution creates lasting change and evolution takes time. What you seek is coming towards you at a pace that you can’t dictate. You are enough, it is enough. Breathe.

Sarah x

How do I know my inner voice?

What do you call that inner voice of yours? We have lots of names for it don’t we, whether we are spiritual seekers or not. It’s your soul, your intuition, or your gut instinct. We might call it following your heart or listening to your inner wisdom. Whatever you call it, whatever its genesis, there is something inside us that knows.

That knowing tends to come to us in the quiet moments, whether joyful or sad.  It tends to come when we have given ourselves more time to be quiet, move slowly, do less. Often it arises when we are immersed in nature and sometimes when we are at a low ebb, amidst that kind of surrender that only comes in our very darkest moments.

As yogis, we pay great attention to that inner voice and we listen for it all the time.  For us, that voice is the guide and the map and we have long since ceased all attempts at ignoring or doubting it.  It is crucially important that we keep on listening out for it.

We have long been tutored to work hard, try more, master our own destinies. This is completely different.  Any attempt you make to force your inner voice will fail. That quiet voice does not come because we demand it, it does not come when we try to hard to find it.

Instead of looking, searching, asking, what we seek instead is a peaceful kind of emptiness, a receptive and open attitude. We arrive at a patient, quiet space inside, in which certain things which have been obfuscated become clear and that clarity rises with sometimes astonishing perspicacity.

How do you tell the difference between your thoughts and your inner voice?  If you are uncertain, then wait – time will tell you if what you are hearing is the consistent clarity of your inner voice, or the restless musings of your ego-mind. Another way to be sure is to open yourself up to what rises in you immediately after yoga practice, particularly yoga practice in which you have been lead quite deeply into peace by your teacher. You can trust what rises from that quiet stillness.

We are evolving all the time and the inklings that arise within us are our guides. Your quiet inner voice needs to be nurtured, for it is easily drowned out by our familial/social conditioning, by our fear (also known as anxiety) and by our lack of courage. The world can be very noisy and everybody has their opinion.  Only you know, but you will only know if you learn how to listen.

Sarah x