Keep Your Fire Burning; an Invitation to Stay Active During Times of Spiritual Crises.
“Ah I see you! Don't let that monster grow!” a dance teacher would shout at us when we were no longer giving our 100 percent in class. But to what monster was he referring to?
Have you noticed, when you are doing something good for you, like doing sports, reading a book or fulfilling your obligations like doing your taxes, how that voice comes in your head and puts resistance to it, telling you that you should drop it? Another example would be that you waited long for a seminar, and when you are finally there you find yourself gazing at the clock, wondering when is the coffee break? Even right now I keep finding a million excuses not to write these thoughts.“Don't let that monster grow. Stay here.”
Our mind acts like our enemy in many ways, putting us under the spell of comfort and the rule of minimum effort, taking us out of the present moment, or even telling us we don't deserve to be successful (and successful also means happy). When we are a victim of our mind, we might leave our potential unexplored. And like this, we don't share our gift with the world.
Nowadays, we might have the feeling that what we have to share is unimportant, that it was told too many times by many people. The world seems to be saturated with information and we might think that even artificial intelligence is more capable than us. We live in a society that is clearly putting us to sleep by bombing us with electronic devices, social media, even drugging us with pharmaceuticals, food, alcohol, entertainment. While living in big cities and not in a community, not in nature, isolation becomes bigger and resignation comes knocking at the door at any time. I see a lot of yoga teachers who are questioning the point of their learnings and teachings nowadays.
What I believe and why I am writing this, is that is more important than ever to share our gift to others; to be vulnerable by exposing ourselves and our human condition, that we are not perfect, but we are trying, that be are not afraid of others seeing us try.We are in such a global spiritual crisis, and therefore people who are awake, passionate, who dares even while there is fear are needed. We are in need of active resistance to nihilism, conformism and the hopelessness that the system of capitalism and war is causing human kind. Mental health related issues seem to be a hard epidemic to fight against. Therefore, as naive as this might sound, we need more workshop facilitators, more researchers, more artists, more healers, more writers and readers, more gatherings and discussions.
I realized today that it is more impactful to make one person smile, move their body or try out something new, than to keep feeding our ego by building a reputation on likes and followers. Is it important to check with our heart, what does it want to share and in which way, and let that become our life mission. Don't settle. Fight that demon that tells us that today is not the day, do it for your soul, that is not looking for validation, but connection and growth.