Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Where Have All The People Gone!?
Where have all the people gone?
Seems like an odd question, just look out the window, right? Only if it was that easy.
I was sitting at brunch with my family this morning and it was a typical scene eating and talking. My grandfather asked me a question, and before I could even get an answer out he had already looked the other way, and within milliseconds the conversation had already been directed somewhere else. I thought to myself ‘huh, that’s odd…why did he even ask in the first place if he was not genuinely interested in the answer!?’ I began to observe the conversation at the brunch table now, as if I were a fly on the wall. This same scenario occurred about 8 more times within the next hour. My family had not seen each other in over a year. Here I am sitting with my FAMILY, being asked loaded questions but no space was left in the conversation for answers.
When do we stop and listen?
If we cannot listen to someone else, how can we begin to listen to our self?
Do we even listen to ourselves?
Not even being able to stop for 10 seconds to listen to someone else is a clear indicator of what is going on in one’s own mind.
If we don’t listen to the self then…
How do you let people in and genuinely connect!?
If we don’t understand our own inner world and listen to ourselves how can we ever let anyone else in!?
Have you ever been at a party, and its just small talk, after small, talk after small talk. You leave feeling empty and exhausted. This is exactly why I have asked the question, where have all the people gone? We seem to be so caught up with so many things that come and go we loose sight of the fact we are all connected through our humanity. Instead we are busy thinking about…where is the waitress? I am starving! OH I love her shirt, uhhhh I have so many things to do today and this is taking so long… the endless mental chatter only continues.
So we hear these voices, so now you ask yourself…
So, what do I stop and listen to?
THE HERE AND NOW
HERE AND NOW
HERE AND NOW
Allowing these thoughts to pull our emotional state all over the map detaches us from any genuine connection with the self, and therefore anyone else. This connection with the self is found in the moment in which you exist. Sounds so philosophical and great right! But realistically it requires us to stop the voices of the past and future and fully engage in the present moment. If we reside in the present then we are fully open and receptive to listen to the self and those around us. Truthful and beautiful human connection sprouts from engagement in the present.
Understanding oneself is an aim of yoga and an ever-growing process. Once a window to the self has been opened, then we can authentically connect to another person, place or thing. Before then we mechanically glide through life getting caught in the mundane reality of doing. Being trapped in the mundane reality of doing disconnects the individual from the jewel of life BEING.
So, where have all the people gone? Many of us are just not there. Consumption by our own mind can be very powerful. But by stopping and listening we can override that powerful mental consumption, with the omnipotent power of being.
YOU ARE THAT BEAUTIFUL CONNECTION.
Do not let the illusion of doing come between you and authenticity.
Test yourself when you are in a conversation with someone, anyone, a family member or the clerk at the grocery store. Stop, listen take the time to look into their eyes and allow one another to be in the present moment.
Listen to those around you. We are all connected and reflections of one another. There is a reason that, that moment has been attracted into your reality that that time!
LOVE, LIGHT AND GRAITITUDE
