…isn’t the time to start to deal with it. The time to start is before it gets tough. In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras* number 2.16, he advises that the suffering that could come, should be avoided. Doesn’t that advice seem existential when so many are suffering from enormous circumstances that seem wholly out of our control? Like raging fires or wars. I offer you this: Self and spiritual sturdiness strengthen resilience and the ability to respond, even under the worst circumstances; potentially garner benefit from what seems like detriment; and potentially even steer the course of events favorably. Is Yoga the only way? No. However the gifts of Yoga are such that it helps us to access the ways, to see possibilities, to open opportunities. Whether your choice includes yoga or other things, know this – life will be better if you’re proactive!

Consider these examples of practical pro-action: Before a hurricane, put up the hurricane shutters, before that build/buy a sturdy concrete house, before that decide you are at peace with the potentials of tropical weather destruction. Before a snow storm, buy a shovel or snow blower or hire a service, have the right clothing to wear to dig yourself out, make sure you’ve got essentials in the kitchen, and before that decide if you are ok with living with winter weather challenges. You get the idea. Do your laundry before you’re out of clean underwear.

Self and spiritual pro-action work the same way, and are part of how you might carry out practical pro-action. When someone gives themselves the gift of truly leaning into the right relationship with their emotional parts and behavioral patterns, they transform their weaknesses, flaws, and deficits into strengths, enhancements, and assets. Self development and realization shorten the time we spend feeling helpless to our own “shortcomings” or the circumstances in the world and bolster our sense of empowerment and helpfulness, both to ourselves and others. Then, doors of other knowing’s more easily open – we’re lead to guidance on better practical solutions, better health information and support, we’re steered towards better livelihood opportunities, abundance is more accessible, we’re inspired and have energy to help others.

Worth considering is the notion of “As above, so below. As within, so without.” It means, with in us (our bodies, minds and energy systems) are reflections of the world around us, and what is with in us will be reflected in the world around us. For example, when destructive fires are raging in the world, I ask myself questions like these: Where in me might fires have raged? Is there too much fire in my system causing disease? ** Where in my mind do I rage, wreaking destruction in the wake of my aggressive reactive behavior? Also, in response to the victims of fires I ask myself: is there a part of me that identifies with being a victim? Is there a part of me addicted to fear? Have I had a secret (or vocal) wish to be somewhere else? So on go my self inquiries. (Please don’t oversimplify, most of this is on a subconscious level. It’s not that victims are to blame – these are energy and pattern constructs! I also use these strategies to gain insight into my own life, health, relationships etc.) Because, believe it or not, we are projectors! (Both as individuals, and as collectives.) So our patterns and traits are playing out. So then, when I could consider myself a distant bystander, capable of little contribution, save donating money, I step into a very subtle form of activism and use my tools of Self inquiry, self development and spiritual fortitude to work on transmuting those traits in myself so that what I project into the field of possibilities changes. One by one, if millions tap into what they’re projecting, we change what plays out. This takes fortitude!

However, this kind of fortitude is a fortitude of Self realization, the fortitude of an accurate spiritual compass, and ultimately a rare but potent fortitude begotten from radical responsibility – the knowing that in fact we are living in an energetic world and we do affect the outcomes. Annnd… we are micro pixels in an unfathomably gigantic everchanging mural so we may never actually know the whole picture, the full agenda or the real timeline. It’s our egos that want to let us be victims to that expansive vast picture and it's our egos that think we can control it. Both are not quite true and not quite wrong. So then what? So, then, do the work that’s yours to do, every day.

That is the work of spiritual development. Which is to say, things like: the eight limbs of yoga and a proper and effective meditation practice, useful and integrated therapies, a nutritious and delicious diet of food, media and company, connecting with nature, leveraging human consciousness to shift neurological patterning, engaging in acts of kindness, being in healthy community, and, ultimately, being vigilant for recognizing the irrepressible divinity in literally everything, especially the inspiring and even the deplorable. This “work”, or as I like to call it, this labor of love, is your birthright, and your duty. It’s your duty to the miracle of your forty trillion cells, it’s your duty to your loved ones, and it’s your duty to the abject – what in you suffers, or could suffer and everyone/thing else that suffers, that you get riled about, feel helpless to, criticize and admonish.

This ‘duty’ is a labor of love because lovingly is how to do it. If you see fit to clean your dishes, do your laundry, put gas in your car, go to work, get groceries or pay someone to do those things, then you can, if you choose, see fit to turn that power of enactment to yourself.

Pointing fingers at what and who is “wrong” might be gratifying, and it may (or may not be) accurate, and it certainly comes from a place of wanting better. But, (and I say this not to shame but to implore) pointing fingers outwardly, but skipping rectifying how and where you might be echoing that which you’re bothered by, will surely breed more outcomes of the same energetic signature. We must, to suffer less, change the energetic signature!

And, then, softly, gently, know most of us never won’t weave a fine enough net to catch all the suffering before it lands. If you are doing your best, and your daily intentions are built around doing your best, then turn the gaze of spacious compassion on yourself, there’s more at play than you can know – go softly. In your finer, smoother moments, extend wisps of compassion even towards what you can not condone. And, Do. The. Practices.

I like yoga because it encompasses action, but yields, when done well, accuracy, clarity, empowerment. Or at least more so. It yields, depending on the saturation of the techniques, our undeveloped “mystical” powers. Most of us will only get to sample those more ineffable attributes Patanjali’s sutras delineate in the third and fourth chapters. Yet, sampling is at least moving the needle closer to collectively experiencing these latent, mystical yet helpful attributes whole heartedly. Attributes like harnessed telepathy, self and other healing, manifestation, and much more. Remember, only a few hundred years ago, printed word was barely emerged and most people were illiterate. Societal change is always slow for a long time until eventually critical mass is reached. So I cheer you on! Be on the fringes of history and do the unusual – sweetly, but assuredly, gain the tools to suffer less. Know it is possible, be vigilant. When jolted or distracted, heal the bruises, but then, saddle up again. Because NOW, my friends, is the time to interrupt the mass patterns of suffering. NOW is the time to teach our children to be whole within themselves and leave behind spiritual and Self illiteracy. NOW is the time to harness the fire to burn away what no longer serves us. Get in your saddle, time to giddy up!

A note of (not) apology: I’ve been told I’m too idealistic, that I expect too much, that most people aren’t like me – whatever the heck that means! First of all, I’m not even always like ‘me’. Listen, I know we’re all works in progress, mostly I know it because I’m a work in progress. But I also know we ARE capable of more than we’re led to believe. More wellness, more empowerment, more harmony… but a good deal of the problem is that we aren’t lead to believe it could be true. We’re lead to believe we could be dystopian but who is daring to suggest we could be utopian? We’re hijacking our necessary attributes of compassion to suffering to permissively lower the bar far below the potentials of evolving and expansion in to thriving. At the risk of seeming too idealistic, I will be the in the minority saying “WE CAN DO BETTER!” I can do better. I am not apologizing, like the mailman doesn’t apologize for delivering foreclosure notices. But never the less, the message is, we can’t skip any more payments, its time to dig in and pay off the debt caused by the loss of our spiritual compass. I believe in you. Do you?

With Love,

Tara

*Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras are, essentially, an instruction guide as to why yoga is beneficial to quell suffering, how to recognize what suffering is and what causes it, and what the yogic techniques are to loosen it and thusly, benefit from Self and ‘God’ realization. (Or as I like to say, divine realization).

**In the Ayurvedic system, excess fire energy, Pitta, is the cause of disease, Ama – body or mind. Left unbalanced, disease build up causes disfunction, decay and eventually death. With suffering in tow. Rebalanced in right proportion, pitta becomes useful and health and vitality are restored.