In the end / you won’t be known / for the things you did, / or what you built, / or what you said…
What you’ll want a thousand years from now is this: / a memory that beats like a heart – / a travel memory, of what it was to walk here, / alive and warm and textured within.
Sweet brightness, aliveness, take-me-now-ness that is life.
You are here to pay attention. That is enough.–In the End by Tara Sophia Mohr
I spent the early hours of Monday morning as a Breakfast Criminals smoothie sidekick, slicing strawberries and spreading some breakfast love for the Glossier team in NYC. Ksenia is a soul sister and inspiring girl boss; I’m always pumped after our hangouts to keep moving forward in the direction my heart is steering me toward.
Which begged that existential question: what am I here for? As the CEO of my own life and partially my own career boss: how am I calling the shots, what do I want to do, how do I want to feel about it all?
A few days before the Glossier breakfast, my sweet friend Aditi sent me the powerful poem above. Especially in this time of Mercury retrograde and introspective inquiries, it was another sly reminder from the universe/Heavens/Mother Nature [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][etc] to check in instead of check out.
I started to dig and take a look inward. I think I take pretty solid care of myself and do my best to tune in by eating well, staying active, meditating, maintaining good relationships with others – all the things we read about that provide healthy benefits, which all continually evolves.
At the core of all of this – something I think we can all tend to sweep under the rug – is the relationship with myself on every level and how it relates to my existence in the present moment, instead of identifying with or gripping on to the future and past [or anything out of my immediate control].
I began considering present-day answers in lieu of goal-oriented objectives for questions like: Why do I take care of myself, why do I want to stay active and meditate and eat well? How do I want to feel about myself, and why? Why am I doing the work I do?
I let the black hole of existentialism envelop me, out of which imploded questions for all of us currently on this earth:
- Do we do what we do because we think we “should” be doing it based on what we think we want, or based on what our hearts desire in this moment [not tomorrow or in 5 years]?
- What if no one ever saw our faces, knew our names, or held expectations for us – would we still be doing what we are doing?
- Is it our life’s defining factor and purpose to look or be a certain way, to complete a specific task before we peace out?
- Would we accept ourselves even if we don’t finish our to-do and to-be lists before our clocks stop ticking?
After planting these overly-curious seeds of self-inquiry and our relationship to the present moment, some comforting guidance has begun to sprout:
- Whatever our case, the often oppressive and subjective “need” to look and feel a certain way is not worth it, unless it makes our hearts feel real good, right now. It takes us out of the current moment and sucks our attention up like a vacuum into Judgement Town, a perpetually overcast place where we act out of fear of NOT being or doing what we think we need to be or do.
- The pressure to be a precise weight or shape, to hit a specific goal by a specific time is not what we will be remembered for. Even if it is, I doubt we will care when we have passed on.
- Goals and landmarks are all well and good until they steer us away from our heart’s truest desires to simply feel good in this lifetime and this moment, or our craving to feel and be love. We do this through full, whole-hearted acceptance, first and foremost of our Selves.
- What we all long for, ultimately, is love. Deep down underneath all the stuff that has accumulated over the years, love is what we are made of and what we desire in any given moment, in whatever form it presents itself during this lifetime, person place or thing.
The second and third lessons of the Yoga Sutras explain that the practice of ceasing the constant churning of the mind will help us notice the clear, true Self – the Self we all entered this world as, the Self we can sometimes leave behind when the dust starts to accumulate and we get caught up in our thoughts. It reminds us to check into and accept the present moment, and to notice when we are checking out.
There are even legit studies now that show how acceptance and compassion can help fight chronic inflammation from stress, and the health problems that go along with it. Science says so.
And so when I got judge-y recently about my appearance and the work I have yet to accomplish, I asked myself what I want to be remembered for, if anything, and what makes me feel good in the now.
I realized that if we don’t feel good and can’t recognize love or acceptance as part of the moment, then how can we ever expect to offer love and acceptance to anyone or anything else?
Lastly, I invite you to consider the following foodstuffs for thought:
- Will you care if people remember the shape of your body or the amount of boxes you checked off your lists of accomplishments in this life, or would you rather they remember [if anything] the services and support and love we all shared?
- The moment we’re toast, why would we give two shits what anyone else thinks or thought of us?
- Accept yo Self now, all of your bits and pieces, every day. This is what we can offer each other as a reminder to act from that clear, infinite, expansive, undying place of love in every moment [and when we forget, to forgive and cruise onward in the direction our heart is rowing us].
- Consider acting and reacting, as often as possible, from a place of acceptance and clarity instead of expectation, and watch life unfold a little less stressfully.
Bluntly laid out for us in the beautiful poem above: We are here to pay attention. That is enough.
What do you do to stay present and accept every part of your Self?
Read the newsletter for a clean cacao treat, delicious music, wellness happenings and more.
Photo: Renee Choi, wearing Hyde Yoga at Lucent Yoga Brooklyn.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
No Comments