AWAKE

“Our life’s work is to use what we have been given to wake up. If there were two people who were exactly the same – same body, same speech, same mind, same mother, same father, same house, same food, everything the same – one of them could use what he has to wake up and the other could use it to become more resentful, bitter and sour. It doesn’t matter what you’re given, whether it’s physical deformity or enormous wealth or poverty, beauty or ugliness, mental stability or instability, life in the middle of a madhouse or life in the middle of a peaceful, silent desert. Whatever you’re given can wake you up or put you to sleep. That’s the challenge of now: What are you going to do with what you have already- your body, your speech, your mind?” ~ Pema Chodron

throughout the virtual world i wander, there is a call to claim the word that you will carry with you throughout the next year. less of a resolution, more of an intention, an awareness. i’m choosing AWAKE, or rather AWAKE has chosen me. it chose me as i tried to distill my thoughts for my students during savasana on new years eve and spoke of witnessing our cozy little ruts. AWAKE chose me as i ran on the treadmill and watched a documentary about tummo meditation. wim hof, a dutch cold-weather endurance runner training for a marathon in antarctica (barefoot. in shorts.) is a tummo practitioner. he spoke these words:

“i am not afraid to die.

i am afraid to not live fully.

and to live fully means to go deep, and for that i am up for any challenge.”

live fully. go deep. say yes. wake up.

for now, AWAKE is manifesting in this need to notice and discover my own cozy little ruts. gently discerning between rut and ritual and creating some habits that encourage more wakefulness, more fullness, more effervescence, more yes, more love.

and with that…unravelling starts tomorrow and i’m diving in deep!

:::oh and check back soon! super exciting news coming early this week! i have goose-bumps i’m so excited!:::