I was inspired today by a friend's blog.
She posted about Taking responsibility, admitting fault and forgiveness. Her post reminded me of training I received, as a teen ager, from Tom Crum about the very same thing. I learned at a very young age that I am in control of myself. I am in control of my feelings, my emotions and my being. I am in control of my 'center' and that I need to take responsibility to act accordingly in order to keep 'centered' What is being 'centered'? "Centering is not an abstract term, but rather a practical tool available to all of us. We each have the ability to unify body, mind and spirit in a manner which will make us more relaxed, energized, and integrated than ever before. We can release stress rather than acquire it."
Being 'centered' means to me, that my mind and body are in synch and that I am in control of things. I am a control freak but I don't mean that type of control. I mean in control of what I let or don't let upset my balance.
Jacquie's blog entry really brought back memories of me sitting on the Aikido mat at Aiki Week, in Snowmass, Colorado, learning martial arts techniques that, at that time, DIDN'T even occur to me to be mind exercise. When we meditated, I usually found it extremely difficult to do so and my mind wandered. It usually wandered to conflict of some sort and I would get upset/angry that I wasn't able to be in the same peaceful meditation as everyone else.
I am rambling. Basically what I am saying is that certain things are just not easily done the 1st or 2nd time around. Patience, discipline, will power, self awareness, and even forgiveness are all things that are LEARNED experiences. We all beat ourselves up over those things and I learned from Tom, that it's OK because eventually our body and mind will be ready to learn to be in synch or 'centered' and that we won't have to go through life sweating the small stuff. Afterall, in the grand spectrum of life, it's pretty much all small stuff!!
8 comments:
Glad that I could inspire you Gabi girl! Guess I hadn't thought of it like that before. Different perspective on everything isn't there??
So true! I hope I can pass this on to Lu.
Great post! Its very thought provoking. Centering is a real art. Especially for those of us that can't turn our brains off. I really think that the more hectic that our world becomes, the more we need it (and harder it is to acheive!) Thanks for the food for thought! I go looking for my center this weekend :-)
You said:
"Centering is not an abstract term, but rather a practical tool available to all of us. We each have the ability to unify body, mind and spirit in a manner which will make us more relaxed, energized, and integrated than ever before. We can release stress rather than acquire it."
However,
In the words of Shunryu Suzuki from 'Zen Mind, Beginner's mind':
"when we cross our legs like this, even though we have a left leg and a right leg, they have become one. The position expresses the one-ness of duality; not two, not one. This is the most important teaching; not two, not one. Our body and mind are not two and not one. If you think your body and mind are two, that is wrong; if you think that they are one, that is also wrong. Our body and mind are both two and one"
Sorry I forgot to add,
As pertaining to the lotus position and using it in meditation to obtain a centering, if you will.
Wow, interesting to see how many of my friends have all experienced some sort of awakening, if you will, in our lives! No wonder we all get along so greatly! We have had such profound revelations that have helped us to grow and become the great woman that we are!!!
I have read your friend's blog and I realize I have some forgiveness to give too. But I am not ready for it...not even close. Sigh! I just hate how things of my childhood are mixing me up so much years later. Angryness is a big part of my daily existence...
I wish you wisdom!
You are so blessed to find that point in your life so early on! I guess it never occured to me that martial arts could be soooo profound!
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