Lately the idea of “not dying an unlived life” has continually permeated my sphere after returning home from Costa Rica. And this next quote from Carl Jung just makes me feel more empowered in my choice for myself and for my children to have gone to Costa Rica:
“One of the greatest influences on their offspring and of themselves, is the unlived life of the parent.”- Carl Jung
For me, if I had held myself back from my passion of leading the yoga retreat, of sharing the practice and meditations and healing energy with others, then I would not have fully lived. I heard this quote this week from Tara Brach, inside my training. She said it gives her peace of heart and has held her throughout her lifetime, and it now holds me in this lifetime. It holds me especially as a mother, and because I am still my own person beyond my children. And, I offer that deep love, regard, respect, and empowerment to my children as they grow into their unique, divine selves! It’s not easy, lol, but it’s so worth it!
So, let us choose to live!
“I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance;
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.“
‘I will not die an unlived life’, by Dawna Markova, above, is one of my favorite poems of all time. I came across it because her book of the same title was required reading in my life coach training back in 2012. The book is equally as wonderful!
The idea of choosing to continually be an active participant with life is profound, even with the companion of surrender.
Deborah Adele talks about surrender in this way in her book on the Yamas and Niyamas, how surrender also means that we are “an active participant in our life”. To see where life is leading us and then life wanting us to take action in that direction. To listen to our heart and that our heart wants us to take action towards it’s aspirations.
Isn’t it so incredible how the Divine and our earthly self work together to create something beyond our imagination!? Things that are so beautiful that we cannot even think them up.
Synergy is the interaction and the cooperation of two or more elements to create something greater than what each element could create separately.
Synergy is the card that I pulled before one of the classes while in Costa Rica. It came with the Green Man archetype which is the yang for the yim of Mother Nature, Gaia. Again, the idea of living, and not dying an unlived life. The idea of being an active participant because we too have a role in creation with the Creator!
A little excerpt from the card that is entitled, Green Man, reads, “As a representative of the plant kingdom, Green Man reminds us of the incredible synergy required for Gaia to maintain her delicate and dynamic balance among the various beings on the planet. Synergy is the interaction and cooperation of two or more elements that produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate efforts. We witnessed this in the complex and cooperative interaction between plants, humans, and animals. For instance, fruit trees propagate by being eaten by an animal that then deposits it back into the earth. After digestion. As a new plant grows, bees pollinate the flowers, and the cycle begins once again in Nature’s simple, yet remarkable synergy.” -Earth Magic Oracle Cards (see pictures)
I read this section during savasana in that Costa Rica class because as synergy would have it, the family of spider monkeys were playfully chasing each other and running across the canopy of our yoga shala. Our savasana quickly turned into all smiles and listening with wide open eyes to the playfulness of these monkeys. We felt in complete connection with the aliveness of nature around us. Pure Synergy!
How we choose to show up, how we choose to think and act, become a synergistic force. May we always aspire for that force to be for the greater good of ourselves, and all things/beings.
Now I’ve started in this idea on a very macro level in relationship with life, but we can also use this concept of synergy and bring it more closely home.
We can see how our interactions with others create amazing organizations, pieces of artwork, collaborative dance works, whole systems, and infrastructures that become the pillars and supports of society!
And we can bring it even closer to home still. We can use this concept of synergy and work with it within our own self. That class in Costa Rica, I used it to create connection with the chakras; so profound and deeply meaningful.
This concept and these ideas have really brought me into contemplation around choice. It feels like a good follow-up to last week’s blog around the spider, patience, trust, and remembering that all is not lost, you can read it here: https://shawnaemerick.com/golden_silk_spider/
We have a choice in how we perceive things. We have a choice in how we tell the stories. We have choice in our happiness. We have choice in our lives.
A beautiful real life story that embodies this choice and how we see things happen just this past Sunday inside our ‘ Sunday morning special’ class…
The story I had brought into The Morning Dharma discussion was around the arduous and harsh journey home from Costa Rica that I, and four others experienced. I shared how there were so many plane flights, delays, and ultimately a need to sleep on the floor of the El Salvador international airport. Not where we wanted to be when we were dreaming of being back home and with our loved ones.
I went on to share that the morning we woke up in the El Salvador airport, the five of us magically created our own synergy. We used the chairs to do sun salutations before getting on our last flight home! It was a most beautiful and magical moment. I will not forget it anytime soon.
I’m grateful to the Journey to the Peak member who pointed out during our discussion just this past Sunday, what type of community and people we are because of the way that we chose to see the experience. She said that in any other space the focus would have been on how awful it was. The focus would have been on what a crappy experience it was.
And instead, here we are in a space where the conversation is on that same experience but choosing and looking at it through the lens of Light, connection, and beauty. This is huge. This is the center of us interacting and being in cooperation with life!
“What will you do with your one, while precious life?” Thank you Mary Oliver for such a question!
All my love,
Shawna
Breathe and Believe.