Happy new year!
How are you settling back from the holidays?
Hopefully the busyness has settled and you even managed to relax a bit and now feel rejuvenated - ready for the new year ahead. If not, perhaps this is something we can examine and contemplate on. Is prioritising rest and respite something we can navigate towards in the new year?
What are we navigating towards this year? Where is our compass set to? Another way of looking at the classic new years resolution is to think about the intention of the direction we would like to be heading/ aiming for.
In class this month, our focus, quite literally, is on our Drishti. Our Drishti is a focused gaze, or concentration towards one point or direction. For instance when we are in Warrior II, our Drishti is most always over the front hand, gazing directly into the future. When we are balancing, we fixate our gaze, Drishti, on a still, single point to help us embody within us that same stillness. Where we set our gaze will make a big difference in the way we experience the pose, just like where we set our life Drishti, will make a big difference to our life experience.
Lets take a Pachimotanasana ( double leg, seated forward fold) as an example. If we drop our gaze in this pose, look to our knees or navel, our upper back is very likely to round and our heart collapses or "depresses". Who wants a depressed heart? Anyone? If we simply take our gaze forward - to our big toe or even beyond the feet, our heart lifts and opens - and our backs straighten. Change the Drishti - change the experience.
Life can follow this same rule. For instance, if making ALOT of money is the most important thing to you, you will base all of your decisions and actions according to this value. All of your beliefs, will also then reflect this. You will more than likely choose a career based on the salary rather than if it really inspires you. You may sacrifice time with family or socialising with friends to be at work as you wouldn't want to loose that earning potential. Your life/ work balance may tip more towards work than life. In some cases, even our own needs, our health and our ethics can take a back seat in the chase of making money.
On the other hand, if a work/ life balance was the most important thing to you - you would make very different decisions. You would prioritise your time with your family, friends and even yourself over picking up extra shifts at work - or taking that extra project that made you work through Christmas, regardless of what it was worth. You would more than likely choose a career based on what hours you could work and the time off you could have, over the seduction of a high salary.
Neither of these examples are right nor wrong and they are not a pick at any ones lifestyle choices. They just illustrate how the decisions we make, our life experience is based on our values compass, or as I like to call it, our Life's Drishti.
This being said, new years resolutions are great - but wouldn't it be much more effective if we took some time to get clear on our life's Drishti? It's much easier and our energy is used much more efficiently if we know where it is we are going. It's like being lost in an unknown forest, all the paths look the same and your not sure if you've pasted this rock before - your going round and round in circles. Eventually, you get tired and give up and declare you are lost. If only you had a compass! - or at least Google maps to direct you where to go.
Imagine, trying to find your way out of an unknown dark room v.s turning the light on, seeing the door, and walking straight out? Are you stuck feeling your way around a dark room? Let's turn the light on! Let's get clear on where we want to set our Drisht - our focus in 2018.
How?
1. Vision boards. Vision Boards are fantastic tools as they work both sides of the brain - the creative and the logical. Cut out pictures, words, quotes and even articles from any kind of media ( magazines, news papers, books, even print from online). Keep it where you can see and don't be afraid to keep changing it. A captain of a ship is constantly monitoring their course, making any adjustments needed as they go along.
2. Journal. Reflect on these questions:
A. What is most important to me
In Life
In my Career
In my Relationships
In my Well-being
B. What Feeling do I get from the results of Question A? (What is the means end? I.E the most important thing in Life is family - Family is the means, but what does family really give/ mean to you? love, connection, belonging. These feelings are really what we are after. Understand the feelings you want - understand your desires.) C. Now how do I get these things? Explore many different possibilities from the very ridiculous to the very practical. Only you limit yourself.
3. Meditate. How does it feel to already be going in this direction? Imagine being there already. What does it feel like, look like, sound like, taste like, smell like. Make it real and as vivid as possible. 4. Revisit. Check your compass often to make sure you are still on the right path. It is very easy to take the wrong turn, but don't worry - when you have a set course of direction, it is much easier to re-set your course of action to get you back on the right path. May your Life's Drishti help you navigate more easily 2018 :) Namaste, xx Amy Fitta