#love #lovealone #onlylove #shine #bestlife #yoga #bliss #kindness #personalgrowth #transformation #joy #peace #wholeness #upwardspiral #kitsaphotyoga #sweetsantoshayoga #ashesyoga #blissology #blissarmy #wound #light #Rumi #winter #Christmas #solstice #darkness #selfstudy #Svadhyaya #alcoholicsanonymous

Cheers to You!

When I was in the Air Force, I learned the magic comes from the mess.  The elite warfighters weren’t flawless.  They were the ones who saw their mistakes, owned them, and debriefed the heck out of them in order to learn and grow.  Along those lines, after watching three of her little grandkids (4-, 2-, and 1-year-olds) for five days, my wife and I sat down and discussed how we could have done better.  While I REALLY wanted to run away from my darkness and get defensive, by deciding to run INTO it instead, I received the gifts of tools for Loving Lisa better and becoming a kinder person.

I think Rumi’s observation, “The wound is the place where the Light enters you,” is especially relevant as we approach Christmas.  Among other things, this winter holiday is a story and reminder of how in the darkest of dark seasons, faults, wrongs, and hurts is where the brightest Light shines!  Facing, naming, owning, and addressing our crap is the fertile soil from which the richest and most wholehearted life grows from.  It makes us more understanding, compassionate, humble, and whole.

Part of yoga’s medicine is self-study.  The Sanskrit term for it is Svadhyaya, and I believe this practice partners well with AA’s 12-Step Program.  Steps Eight and Nine invite us to make a list of persons we have harmed, become willing to make amends to them all, and do so, unless it would bring greater injury to them or others.  As we approach the darkest day of the year, I invite us to explore our own inner darkness, and let the Light transform us from the inside out!

 

If you enjoyed this you can sign up for email notifications of future blogs on the top right.  Additionally, I have a Facebook page where I regularly post articles, blogs, quotes, meditations, etc. to encourage us to more Light and Love.  Again, to the top right there’s a link for you to “Like” the page, as well as my Instagram account if you’re interested. ❤

MUCH Love and Many Hugs,

Lang