April 2020: Rivers continue to flow, Flowers continue to bloom 🌻

The Sanskrit word ‘Parinamavada’ is the teaching that ‘everything is in a constant state of flux’. Change is the only constant thing we can expect in life. Just as trees shed their leaves in the Fall making way for new buds of life in the Spring, night slides into day, day into night, the seasons effortlessly roll in and out, our bodies are constantly breaking down and regenerating, our breath flows  in, our breath flows out, and our minds experience continuous change.  

Happiness, joy and peace are important, wonderful emotions to feel, but so too are sadness, anger and loss. If we experienced only the good, then we'd really only experience half of life. The school of life teaches us just as much through light as it does through dark.  When we let the moment, light or dark, pass through us without holding on too tight or pushing away too quickly, we can truly say we're living in the moment  and relinquishing control of it. 

Aparigraha, or non attachment, is the last of the 8 limbs of yoga and I've come to the conclusion (for today) that this is what the universe is not so subtly trying to teach me right now. Aparigraha offers us so much freedom - the freedom to work and do what we love without worrying about the outcome, the freedom to rely less on external and material possessions to bring us happiness, and the freedom to experience everything life has to offer, whatever that may be. 

When I watch millions of migrant workers walking on foot back to their villages with no money, food, or health care I am filled with a controversy of feelings.  Angry, selfishly thankful, sad, scared, powerless, humbled. The world has been brought to its knees yet I have the luxury of turning this into a positive situation for myself when so many are not being afforded that choice.

So for now, I will be thankful for the abundance in my life.  I am thankful to have access to modern technology which has allowed me to take this time to connect with others in a whole new way.  I am thankful for all the food so readily available and the internet that gives me recipe inspiration.  I am thankful to have access to good health care, and to be able to afford it.  I am thankful to be in confinement with the man I love. 

As rivers continue to flow and the flowers continue to bloom, life goes on and Mother Nature stops for no one.

With light and breath in every moment,

Laura