Being open to new opportunities

 “Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it's less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you've lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that's good.”

― Elizabeth Edwards

It's hard to see what the universe brings us as new opportunities, new challenges.

There is always a lesson to learn, whether it's the people we meet, what we feel, how we react.

Being open to let everything we knew behind us is scary. Changing mental and physical habits is scary. Even the thought of believing that we can ever be different from what we currently 'are' can scare some of us.

Because getting out of our comfort zone, changing everything we have been taught, putting everything up in the air and rediscovering the world with brand new eyes demands constant effort, a new perspective, and trust. Trust in the Universe and in ourselves.

These habits are called Samskaras in Sanskrit. They made a cosy little home in our unconsciousness and do not intend to leave unless we challenge them.

And to challenge them, what we need to do is to live mindfully. To be in the moment. 

And as we are living in the moment, we approach life differently. Because things are what they are. They are neither positive nor negative. It's our own past experiences that make them positive or negative. And we can see this when you differ opinions with someone, or when they see something positive and that very same thing scares you or vice versa.

So how do we 'unroot' them, how do we press the button reset and create new ones? Where to start?

Through yoga practices, such as mediation, it is possible to look within and come into contact with one's inner Samskaras.

And, as we 'meet' our Samskaras, we start to understand where the root of a thought or an action comes from. It is usually embedded during childhood. But we create samskaras all the time. All we need is a repetition of actions, thoughts. They become unconscious habits. And they are here to stay unless we practice. Daily.

By understanding the why, how and result in 'reality', we can start the process to change.

Things take time and changing is hard. It feels like you get rid of all the labels you once put on you, you change literally everything. And it takes time. But we need to start somewhere don't we?

Baby steps. One minute here and there. When I brush my teeth, I brush my teeth. When I drink a cup of coffee, I drink a cup of coffee. Fully engaged in the one action we are doing.

The road is long my friends. Challenging who we are, who we think we are is the best way to keep on evolving, to grow empathy, compassion and develop our own truth.

Namaste