If you haven’t read ‘Rabbits in Your Garden?’, go back, and read it here: http://shawnashakti.com/rabbits-in-your-garden/
This way you will understand the start of this blog.
Did you consider what your “Rabbit, or Rabbits” are? I did. I have a couple of theme nibbling at my roots to the garden of my heart. As I looked, something happened. I started to wonder about others. As I was becoming curious about other Beings pain and suffering, it made me also more present to my own. This created a moment of grace. That age old saying hit me again, “we are all one”. We are more alike than we think.
From that moment of grace, deep gratitude poured in. The knowledge that we are not alone in our separate lives began to soften me. It didn’t rid the rabbits from the garden, but there definitely not nibbling right now, and they see the way out. This gratitude soften my anxiety and worries.
And so, I want this invitation of practice to be simple; practice gratitude for your life today. Parker Palmer writes, “The Spiritual life is about becoming more at home in your own skin.” He isn’t talking just about your physical form, he also means your life. He goes on to suggest, says Mark Nepo, “that the aim of all spiritual paths, no matter their origin or the rigors of their practice, is to help us live more fully in the lives we are given. In this way, whatever comes from a moment’s grace that joins us to our lives and to each other – this is spiritual.”
So, isn’t it fitting then, that Mark Nepo states, “anything that removes what grows between our hearts and the day is spiritual.” For me, its my babies smiles, my four year old’s laugh, holding my husbands hand, and even catching a smile from a stranger as we pass on the sidewalk.
And, yet, I didn’t feel complete with these ideas. It’s hard to express for me. I was wondering HOW am I going to invite people in this weeks yoga classes, now last weeks classes, to practice just being grateful for their life? And, to let it be that simple; not needing to go into your life stories or dreams, but just their life, period. And, to feel that gratitude in awe within their hearts? Then, I found it again in Mark Nepo’s book…
“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weaknesses…And so, it is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”-Gandhi
Mark Neop expands: “This great spiritual teacher reminds us that prayer of the deepest kind is more a pledge of gratitude for what has already been received than a request or plea for something not yet experienced. Such an effort refreshes the soul.
Implicit in Gandhi’s instruction is the need to surrender to our lives here on Earth. By admitting our weaknesses, we lay down all the masks we show the world and as we do so, what is holy floods in.”
As the seasons change here in New York, and more darkness fills the days, let’s be proactive in our practices to support the light in staying present within ourselves. Like a UV lamp for the soul, practice gratitude! Let the light pour in! Namaste.