John’s Sunday Blog

Uncertain Correspondence

Isn’t it funny how industry and progress, attributing to our modern life, is still adulated? And adulated by whom? The mouthpieces of the marketplace. Yet still, the more gadgets and ideas and systems we come up with, it is met with an equal of its negative effects on ecosystems, minds, and bodies. Many say that if we go on the way we are, we’ll wreck the whole place. A lot of the content in the digital world, in my opinion, has spawned more misery than good. It’s the condition it puts your mind in. Yes, it can be used to learn or enjoy music or meet a friend for lunch, a real lunch. Have you ever seen someone playing a slot machine? They are mesmerized, on the edge of their seat in anticipation of that big win while being drained. Our body does not know the difference between a slot machine or our “phones”. We switch from platform to platform looking for that next hit, that golden goodie, in anticipation (alerted nervous system).Yet, we never really win. It gives a sense of control. But who, or what, has hands on those controls? Where is the balance? Are we corresponding well to these things?

Anticipating is simply: what is to come. This connects your higher brain, the prefrontal cortex, to the amygdala, our memory center, which is connected to the emotional neurons. This is all fine, but when in a constant, low grade state of anticipation, mental patterning is formed creating an addiction. Next comes the sleep disturbances, cognitive and emotional impairments, digestive problems, etc. And guess what? Our progressive system will give you a chemical to dampen or relieve those symptoms while the cause of them remains. What to do? First, we must find out the mindset behind our problem solving. In the past few centuries we have made major “advancements” by separating things out and putting separate parts together. We have done this in a spirit of competition, like car manufacturers who pass the competitive spirit on to the consumer, “my car is better or not as good as yours”. What has this done for our world? And if we want to burn it all up, why not make a party out of it? Yet, the bigger it gets, the more unhappy it makes us.

Now, what does yoga have to do with any of this? Yoga is an ancient science or method, if you may. It means ‘to unite with the origin’. Again, this does not even need to be spiritual. We can simply look to nature for better ways to live; for we simply are nature, in the material sense.

Again, it’s mindset. If you say, “I grew a flower”, would that be true? Could it be you created the right conditions for that flower to grow?! And was there a competition involved with this growing? There was cooperation. The water, the soil, the microbes, the light, gases in the air all working together. And how did they work together? By connecting. Take one thing out… no flower.

So, what are the conditions in our life? Are we getting clean air, water and food? Adequate rest and movement? And our inner life. Are we berating and comparing ourselves, feeling separate or on edge? When we begin to correspond with ourselves in a cooperative manner, seeing what’s here, as it is, we might find that just who we are right now, is enough. Even born that way, enough.The contentment will ease your mind. And, when the mind is eased, the brain will calm down. See to the conditions within. Your thoughts are seeds and your attention is the soil, light, air and water.

A word about conditions, and change, growth

and healing (or sickness). The conditions must be?

CONSISTENT.