.....I don't mind

Yogis,

Life is like a roller coaster. You are buckled in and still, yet the world rushes by. The scenery in constant flux from the changing of the seasons, to the movement of the hands on the clock. The flow of people in and out of life and the irritating ever changing rules of fashion. Nothing in the external world static. Everything impermanent.

And this is why we suffer…….

It matters not if our perception of the hill we are climbing is that of perfection, because in another moment we will crest the top with only that brief still point, before the stomach dropping fall begins. We suffer. If taking that sharp curve at a high rate of speed feels uncomfortable, wait a moment and that too will change. The track cares not if we ‘like it’ or not. It simply is.

Like the handlebar, we white knuckle that which we love and push away with all our might all we have deemed to be wrong. Both are impermanent and both actions cause us tension. Nothing static. Like the ride, life has a beginning and an end, and we can’t control the twists and turns no matter how hard we attempt to steer. It isn’t the ride that produces suffering, it is our resistance.

During the women’s retreat someone shared a quote they had read by J. Krishnamurti, the great Indian philosopher and spiritual teacher.  After sharing his messages for over fifty years he boiled it all down to one sentence.  "This is my secret," he said. "I don't mind what happens."

WHAT??? How can that be? How can someone possibly not mind when stuck in traffic, sick with the flu or having financial struggles? And what about all of the troubles in our country and the world? Does he not mind when someone screams in anger at him or steals his wallet? Or the hardest…..when someone close dies leaving a large hole in their place.

I don’t mind…….

The more I sat with this simple sentence the more I realize that it is indeed the simple center of the yogic teachings. That I am not my mind, not my body and not anything that passes by me in the external world. I am an eternal spirit on the ride of life in this particular car, and when I connect to that at its deepest level, nothing on the outside can cause me to suffer. That part of me is unchanging and doesn’t mind.

Notice how the quote is not “I don’t care.” And not "I don't feel." Empathy, compassion and right action are all noble traits and make a difference to those around us when done from stillness, buckled into the “I don’t mind” mind. The place of inner peace where we can observe the world without the stories, feeling joys and sorrow deeply yet undisturbed by that next loop that turns life upside down. Allowing each moment to be what it is.

That is the path……That is the practice……  I don’t mind.

I think I will try arms in the air this time,
SARAH