The Second Time Around

photo by Will Ceurvels, model, Rebecca Darling

Repeating something the second or third time around can be maddening.  It can also be gratifying if you note change, and growth.  Repetition also offers moments for choice full response.  This is often not true the first time we go through something. Many of us don’t know what to expect, or can calculate any yardstick of accomplishment.  For those of you who are wizards first time out, stop reading here.

Having been frustrated by a slow learning process, having to re-read, re-assess, and being more comfortable backwards than forward, I am a mistress at repetition.  Fortunately, I’m learning not to beat myself on processing life this way. Yes, it is frustrating, yes, it takes more time and energy, yes, one all too easily feels dumb, But on most occasions I’ve learned to elevate my POV from that bruisingly low level of “you idiot!” “to try it again another way.”  Always there are gifts in balancing the negative.  We simply need to stand higher on the mountain and see the other side.

Doing and hearing something the second, third, and forth time around allow me to make it truly mine.  Once I have gone through it backwards, I own it.  I become very clear when something is simply an opinion, or whether it has true merit. I am the person you want in your lifeboat when you are in deep trouble.

Like many who struggle, if it has not ground us down, it has made us durable. Chaos does not throw me, having lived with it, even created much of it, I know where pigs shit, and I know the waterline that must be bailed.  These are gifts of doing and re-doing, of coming in last, and turning impatience toward patience

 Every demerit has nuggets of gold, every fault a talent, every disappointment a bonus coupon.  How do we find them, honor them, and massage them into growth?  How do we honor what eludes us over and over?  Can we bow before those who come in forth and fifth?  Let us cheer on all of us who simply entered this bloody race.  

You do know that the rat-pack in back stops for beers and nachos when hidden behind the last bend in the road?

Pose with Seasonal Energies

Asana:   Eka Pada Sirsasana/Foot behind the head. There are a series of foot behind the head poses that for most of us require endless repetitions, and likely… ultimate failure. Am I willing to undertake that frustration?  Better, am I willing to not make it a frustration but a ritual? In the process of working to open hips, thighs, groin, hamstrings…what will I learn?  Is it important?  Where will it take me?  Those are the questions that must live within, not whether it will happen or not.

 (This wonderful photo of ‘Becca is not of Eka Pada Sirsasana, but sometimes simply putting on wings and the right socks, gets us to the perfect place to begin the tough stuff.) 

For a complete description of this pose, hit Yoga, hit Poses, type in Eka Pada Sirsasana, et voila!

 Health Notes:  Health is manufactured from feelings of contentment, accomplishment, and joy.  Most of the time it only takes a flip of the switch to find those points of view.  Not easy, but with practice, doable.

 Astrology Notes:  We enter Pisces waters this week, February 22 to March 21, and swim in more receptive emotions than we do in the dry, Aquarian air signature. Remember that Pisces is ruled by Neptune, king of the seas, which brings a certain amount of ceaseless motion, mystery and uncertainty.  To create a balance to this energy, contact Virgo, Pisces opposite sign. Virgo is often a sign of clarity, with a fine mind and an ally in seeing the strings behind Pisces illusion

Ayurvedic Notes: When looking at the mind, Ayurveda considers it to consist of three basic layers; inner, intermediate, and out. 

The outer mind, of sensation and emotion is water.  It is our ability to connect, to gather sensory impression and respond.  Much like Pisces energy.

The middle or intermediate mind is fire.  It is a rational and discriminating energy, much like Virgo.  It determines what is true & false, good and bad.  It mediates between the other two layers.

The inner mind is the core of feeling and knowing.  This is the place we come to through repetition, and intention.  It is the background vibration of habits and tendencies that sustain the mind.  It’s quality is air which brings it the ability to identify itself, relate and feel alive.  It is the home of the unconscious, subconscious and super conscious.