Mirror

truth bomb

Just like any relationship is a great teacher in that it holds a mirror for our own conditioning, expectations, resistance and opportunities for growth - our practice and our life can be exactly that. Inquiry - just like most of the topics discussed on this site - is something that spills over into all aspects of life, if we let it. The tricky part is to be willing to see ourselves fully. Naked. As is. In this moment. No lies. No cover up. No excuses. No judgement. Only response-ability to what we see. It requires a willingness to hold space, for all that shows up in the mirror that we are privileged to hold.

By incorporating inquiry into your practice and daily life, every bit of experience gets treasured in the light of learning. There is so much to see in the mirror of life, in the mirror of practice, in the mirror of our relationships. Self-study - Svādhyāya - is exactly that. Holding the mirror for ourselves, plus letting the world hold it up for us, to turn the gaze back inside. To look at what is truly ours and what can be shed. Through the lens of our practice we get the opportunity to refine our vision, to get more clarity, and the more we hold up the mirror, the less we can hide, the more honest we get, the more we move beyond our previous conditioning and beliefs. It’s really a truth bomb in that there is no where to hide. And you don’t want to. If you are really on the path to become the best version of yourself - or rather, to get beneath all your expectations of what that looks like - there is no other way, there is no shying away. Only showing up. As is.

A physical asana practice can be your mirror, watching patterns of thoughts, emotions and energies. A concentration/meditation practice can be your mirror in the same way. Climbing a difficult route can be that. Mountain biking can be that. Skiing can be that. Painting can be that. The mirror can be anything where we are pushed to an edge and where we truly have to meet ourselves - with our motivations, fears, limiting thought patterns, habitual emotional responses etc. The modality does not matter. Your transparency and willingness to keep showing up is what matters.

It is easy to quit when things get raw and real. The growth comes when you see through the tendency to want to shy away, when you stay put, when you breathe through whatever it is that makes you want to run and hide. When we stay long enough to see things come and go, that’s when we start seeing beyond the patterns. From there on out, the pattern becomes a choice for you to hold on to, or to let go of. And often, by merely acknowledging the patterns, they fall away or you see beneath them. Observing these things through the mirror of a practice is a gift. If you need inspiration, give yourself that gift. Observing these things in the midst of life is a gift. Give yourself that gift. More joy and ease comes with it. If you stay long enough. So yes, one may feel that one needs courage in times of fear, inspiration in times of doubt, etc. But once it is noticed that these qualities spring from the inside, you need to look no other way for your own contentment. We dare you to hold that mirror, to pick it up again and again. You are bound to see the beauty of what is already here. There is nowhere to go, but to stay, breathe, observe, and breathe some more. You are already home.