Light and Dark. Found on the mat (and track)

I’ve been playing around with this concept of light and dark in my head over the past few days, inspired by the thoughts of a yoga teacher a few sessions ago.  Her challenge to us was to accept our “dark” because it is already exposed to the world even if we don’t realize it. 

Hmmm.  So if we take this concept as truth, if only for the sake of thinking about things in another way, which quite frankly is something I LOVE to do whenever possible….then why do we spend so much time trying to hide our “dark” and assume that our “light” is all people want to see or will accept in us? Aren’t we all dark and light?  Good and Evil? Well, everyone else apparently because I took a VERY reliable Facebook quiz and it indicated I’m “100% good!  An angel!” Really?  Wow!  I must be then, right?

When I think about it, as I’ve made an effort to let down some of the well constructed fortress that surrounds me in my adulthood, originally erected to protect me from hurts and disappointments and fears and sadness in life as a child or teen or young adult, I have seldom found my effort to be ill-received or push me further into my own inner darkness.  Sure, there have been hurts along the way, sure there has been disappointments and I’ve been fearful and sad, but with each time I’ve learned if I’m to be too harshly judged or shunned by those I’ve chosen to confide, then really are they worth the effort anyway? Sometimes that has helped me to better define “who” I want to continue to have in my life. 

I sat down with my first interviewee for my upcoming book.  I love that can say that, my upcoming book, makes it sound so much more real.  In the session, I found the most beauty in her story not the times that were easy or blissful, but rather the times that we painful and dark and morose, and in those times, somehow she began to crawl her way back out of towards the light and beauty and now presents as this amazingly beautiful beacon of peace and light and joy who inspires others, daily……It opened my eyes, deepening my sense of amazement of the truest sense of beauty and peace a person is capable of having.  Accepting your dark, and moving through to light. 

Would she have been able to do that if she lived a permanent state of harmony and happiness?  And do we really think that’s possible anyway?  Isn’t life really about light and dark, joy and sorry, peace and chaos, good and bad?  I’m learning, relearning actually, that life is much more about accepting the entire range of emotions in life, as not only is it impossible to avoid the dark, it is often in the dark that we are pushed to grown and truly celebrate the light that comes after the darkness. 

Found this quote and it touched me today….

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.  Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow.  Let reality be reality.  Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” Lao Tzu

So in final thought for this moment in time, may you embrace your darkness as much as your light, for sometimes it is in the pure and innocent acceptance that we find the strength to grow. 

Peace…..

 

Flyer Nation…..it’s more than a school, it’s community.

“Invisible threads are the strongest ties.” Freidrich Neitzche

Community- a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.

This past week or so, I have been almost giddy (yes, me…almost giddy) watching and reading all the coverage on University of Dayton’s basketball team. While I understand the “Cinderella Story” of the team sells, what I find even more interesting is the reaction to the stories posted in social media by my fellow alum.  While it is fantastic they are in the playoffs, and yes it is amazing, universally the pride we feel for others getting a glimpse of “why” we all love our college is what stands out! Community.

Walking through campus, I remember loving the feeling of recognizing faces if I didn’t know names and exchanging “hellos” with passersby as if it was a cultural, albeit unspoken, norm for the student body.  I loved that feeling.  Small enough to feel like you knew everyone but large enough to have the experience of being a second semester senior and meeting a new friend.  Community.… it was all around us at UD.  So when people wonder why such frenzied flyer love is flying (no pun intended, ok…maybe intended) so freely all around the nation, it’s this tremendous sense of community that we all feel is something larger than ourselves,like “invisible threads” that connect us forever.

Isn’t that what we all yearn for on some level, to belong to something larger than ourselves?

As a young child, my family moved often.  One might think my Dad was perhaps in the military for how often we moved, but in actuality it was banking.  I know, I know….what???  While I do not begrudge my parents for making difficult decisions to move myself and my brother in hopes for better job opportunities for my Dad, it was undeniably difficult for me to constantly be the new kid in school.  As a naturally shy and introverted person (yes, I really am!), I had very little experience with what it was like to “belong” to a community.  At UD, I found it. When my parents informed me they were moving once again at the end of my freshmen year, and offered for me to transfer to another college closer to them, I politely said, “Um…no way!” and stayed at UD.  Starting and completing school, for the first time in my life, with the same group of people….my graduation day remains one of my fondest memories to date.

So how do we take what we have had in our lives and long for in some ways, and transfer it somewhere else?  I think of it as once we know what works for us, why would we want to do anything else?

I worked for almost 14 years at a cancer support community.  Seriously.  Community.

I run with a great group of women (and sometimes guys depending on the event).  Community.

I joined a yoga studio with a strong sense of community at its core.  Community.

I volunteer and practice my faith in a church, that is also where my kids go to school.  Community.

So….while these past few weeks have made me more than just a little nostalgic for my days in college, and for spending times with my friends on the roof of my sorority house drinking beverages (shhh….I am sure I was 21 when I did this!), I am thankful for the lessons I learned about the importance of community and my ability to be able to translate that into my now “not so young” adult life.

For helping me to understand the sacredness of life…..I found community at Gilda’s Club.

For helping me to be both a mentor and student, encouraging others to reach their dreams of running a marathon….I found community in running with friends.

For helping me to deepen my practice of meditation and do something on a regular basis that I don’t feel necessarily proficient, understanding sometimes that isn’t the point….I found community at Citizen yoga.

For helping me understand that with God, no matter what I go through in life, I am never alone…I found community at Shrine.

This is one of my all-time favorite quotes…my college friends have a sense of why this author has importance to me…others I will just keep you guessing….

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” Dr. Seuss

We are not meant to be islands onto ourselves, our need and gravitation towards others makes our experience as humans unique. Community. 

Peace…..& Go UD!