“Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself?
The Master doesn’t seek fulfillment.
Not seeking, not expecting,
Is present, and can welcome all things.”
~ Tao Teh Ching by Lao Tzu
We are raring to go. I know. I hear you. I’m with you. We want to will and action every idea we have into being right now. It’s understandable. We are ambitious people on a mission that the world needs fulfilled yesterday.
Retail enlightenment
I was at ISHTA Yoga last week for Douglass Stewart’s class (which by the way is one of the very classes I’ve ever taken in my 13 years of practice.) I was early and browsing around the little retail area by the entrance. I came across a t-shirt with the first two lines of Lao Tzu’s poem. I took note and went into the class.
Board member enlightenment
Compass Yoga held its second board meeting this weekend and I asked the board members to give their thoughts on whether or not we should begin to build a second program. There was a resounding call to get our program for vets running smoothly before diving in to assist a second population with serious healthcare needs. Noted. They are brilliant and thoughtful people.
Therapist enlightenment
Several days before the board meeting, I spoke to Brian about a bit of my angst around Compass Yoga. There is so much need and I’m growing impatient with the slow grind of legal, government, and nonprofit wheels. I’m looking for a way to grease the skids and get our projects moving faster. Brian listened to me with his trademark empathy and simply replied, “Christa, there are some things that are out of your control.” Noted, unhappily. I love control. Brian continued, “Go to your mat. Do your yoga and see what you find.” Okay, I like that advice better.
I finally get it
Brian, Lao Tzu, and the Compass Yoga board members are all sharing the same wise advice. It took the advice of all of them to get me to see the light. I am by nature unreasonable and restless. I have high standards for others and even higher standards for myself. Waiting is not my forte. But sometimes waiting is all we can do.
When the mud of our lives is clouding our vision and nothing is clear, we must wait for more information before we move. It doesn’t mean the right path will be easy; in my experience, the path has never been easy but I have always made more progress when the direction was clear. So these days I unroll my mat more often that usual, grab my bolster, sit, and listen. I breathe in and breathe out, and ask for guidance. The path forward will appear; it always does.
Christa Avampato 