This pretty much says it all for me today.
I’m not yet all the way back, but I’ll get there.💪
THIS. 👇
Learning to love slow progress
The quote below really hits home in terms of my present attitude toward my lifestyle regime.
Lately I’ve been feeling a combination of rebellious, disappointed in myself, and impatient with the process. And it doesn’t help that a crazy week triggered stress-eating impulses.
“Learn to love slow progress. Learn to forgive yourself for the inevitable backsliding. And of course, expect to be uncomfortable along the way.”
~ Steven Kotler
In other words, expect it to be slow; backsliding is inevitable; make peace with being uncomfortable!
And always keep in mind the proverbial bottom line:
“Slow and steady wins the race.“
Doing thyme while sharing satsang
Today we had a community work day — one of my favorite Ananda events!
Even though I woke up extremely tired, and ended up missing the opening prayer and a good part of the morning, I knew I would regret it if I didn’t go for at least a portion of the day.
As usual, offering myself in service and sharing satsang with my spiritual family raised both my spirits and my energy.
I was helping at the Ananda Farm, where we stripped the tiny leaves off a grocery bag’s worth of dried thyme.
So, we really were “doing thyme” while sharing satsang.
Feeling hopeful
Had my first physical therapy session today and came away knowing that my shoulder is not completely wrecked!
True, I don’t yet know the results of the MRI, but I now have a “stoplights” understanding of what it means to work (and breathe) through discomfort (a yellow light) versus stopping when I encounter acute or severe pain (red light).
I also discovered that there’s still quite a bit of strength there; I simply have to relearn how to trust it and build on it.
Yay!
A day of new experiences
Today I had an MRI for the very first time (this has to do with my bum right shoulder, for which I’m about to start physical therapy).
Boy oh boy was it an enlightening experience!
For one thing, I realize how extremely rare it is that I go into something with absolutely no clue about what it is or what the experience is going to be like. I still don’t understand exactly what happened.
Even the questions threw me off balance, especially the one about whether there was anything in my body that I wasn’t born with. Of course, once I thought about it I understood they were referring to things like metal plates or screws holding a broken ankle together or any number of other lifesaving tools and techniques.
It’s just that I’ve never had anything of that sort done to me, so every time someone asked the question my brain did a momentary “what?” 😂
Bottom line? I realize how extremely fortunate I am to have gotten to the ripe old age that I am with such limited experience of hospitals and medical procedures.
Reporting for duty
Lately I’ve been enjoying stopping by this statue of Master during my morning walks. It feels nice to “check in” with him before I go about my day.
But I felt a subtle shift around it this morning. Rather than a checking in, it felt more like I was reporting for duty. I even felt the urge to salute!
“Aye, aye, Master, SIR! Right away, Master, SIR!”
I feel like I’ve taken Sister Gyanamata’s quote about “Say yes and make it snappy!” to another level.
The weight of the world
This was one of those days where I felt like I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. Not for any particular reason, really. Just a heavy energy.
I definitely resonated with the first photo above, but I really love the one below! It represents what I want to learn — how to be calm and serene and smiling even when I feel like I’m holding up the world!
All the World Is My Friend
There was a community meeting in the Temple of Light this evening. The entire audience singing all together is still off limits, but our small group really didn’t want to just sing at the community; instead, we felt strongly about finding a way for everyone to participate as a community.
We had been exploring the idea of incorporating movement for some time, but tonight’s meeting nudged us into actually doing it. And it was wonderful!
As Pavani, our resident dancer, put it: “When we move in unison together, it’s unifying.”
And I believe we all got to experience the truth of that tonight.
Observing St Francis’s feast day
Because no one knows exactly when St. Francis of Assisi was born, his feast day is celebrated on October 4, the anniversary of his death in 1226.
We hadn’t thought about any of this when the music was planned for today’s Sunday service. But through a series of serendipities (in hindsight, at least) we ended up singing two of Swami Kriyananda’s St. Francis songs: Make Us Channels of Thy Peace (which we even “randomly” decided to do in both English and Italian!) and Peace.
I love it when Divine Mother organizes things without our conscious participation!
Book launch fun
We were privileged to provide music for Jyotish and Devi tonight, as they launched their latest book, “Touch of Peace.”
Being a “virtual” book launch, there were just Jyotish and Devi, Dhyan and Shyama, and the four singers, all in the Online With Ananda studio. It was cozy!
Jyotish and Devi were their usual deeply inspiring selves.
Here’s the video if you want to enjoy the event for yourself.