I read one little paragraph on the plane and felt the passion build up and had to write. It started as a personal journal and realized it was turning more into a post that I want to share. You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They KNOW its going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogma or goals, its always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt. -Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance While I see some flaws in this quote as a stand alone- in context of the reading it is more valid- I think it still holds a lot of truth and could be an easy way to check in with ourselves. Quite often when I first believe in something to be positive and life enhancing I find myself convincing others, or trying to show them that it can help them. This was first pointed out in me toward the beginning of my yoga life by a friendly acquaintance. She was quite offended by my insistence that yoga could help her. In my eyes then I was just saying yoga has helped me feel so good it would help anyone! But how she received it was more that I was insulting her, that she needed help, or that yoga is THE way and that there is no other way. While it was a shock that she got angry with me, it was incredibly important for me to see what was happening. I began to see that there are many ways that people feel fulfilled and happy, yoga just happened to be a path that really was working for me. Like everything else the more we become aware of something in ourselves the more we see it in everyone else. I started to see it in so many fellow yogis who were so passionate about what they were experiencing that they couldnt help but push it on everyone they cared about - so and so needs yoga. Even now as I write or speak in front of groups of people I see how a simple word or tone can shift a statement from a dogmatic statement to an un-offensive offer. Ex. here is a way that helps me and I invite you to try if you are interested vs you should try this it will really help you Words are words though, and really its a shift of confidence inside rather than the words you say. One can be skillful with their words and say the first statement yet still feel the second statement. In other words when you know the path leads to joy out of personal experience you no longer feel the desire to push it upon someone else because simultaneously you recognize that your path may or may not help someone else. In fact yoga or spirituality, martial arts, religion or whatever it is that has helped you on your path may NOT be powerful to someone else. So I like this quote because it reminds me to check in with myself when I am really trying to convince someone else of something. it usually means I am not firmly rooted in my own knowing, and are trying to convince myself. In short I am grateful to have this awareness to check in on this part of my mind- thankful to the person who was strong enough to point this out to me. I am sharing this for those of you who might benefit from seeing this in yourself and for those who see this in others- perhaps this might give an understanding of one reason why people of me sometimes might push things on the people we care about: we often ignorantly think that what helps us will help you, and while its partly a judgement on our behalf its mostly out of good loving intention. And secondly its simply our way of trying to convince ourselves that it is good for us because while we really feel its power we are not fully convinced yet, and we wont be unless we experience it for ourselves. :) enjoy today
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 05:01:55 +0000
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