march 1, 2012

in my yoga lineage, there's this saying: "selfless service will make you divine."

on the surface, that sounds like an ego trip - like it's about indulging an image of yourself as some sort of perfected being who is higher or more evolved than others, but my interpretation is along different lines. in my books, divinity is about accepting wholeness and oneness rather than following a list of rules that tells you where to place yourself in the hierarchy of moral rightness. i believe it's about working to embrace non-compartmentalized thinking, which is rooted in an understanding of the essential interconnectedness of all things. this whole "we are all one" thing isn't just something that creepy new age guys say at parties to get sex. while it's inconvenient and sometimes messy that everything is interconnected, it's just one of those universal truths.

so, yeah, the way i interpret this saying is that offering some kind of gesture of service to someone else reminds you that giving is actually receiving: you are that person, and they are you. we're indivisible because we're all part of the same whole, and taking yourself out of the centre of your thinking and action and motivation for a second reminds you that you can lift yourself up by experiencing the essential oneness we're living all the time. aka divinity. we are all divine, but we need to remember.

offering something to another person, or being, is one of the ways that i can snap out of a slump in a genuine way that's not about rejecting the emotion i'm experiencing. it always lifts me up, without fail. physical pain has been getting me down, making me feel sorta tight and anxious. i needed a lift, so i helped n.h. run some errands, picked out delicious groceries and made dinner for his household and then gave my best friend's horse some tlc out at the barn. serious heart mending, folks. like whoa. i feel all connected and content again whenever i remember that i'm part of this vast life thing that exists in me and everywhere all around me. the same life force in all of us, connecting us.

if you're feeling down, give it a try. i know it can sometimes feel like you don't have enough (time, energy, will) to do anything for anyone else, but it will give back to you, i promise. in energy and inspiration.