Monday, August 15, 2011
My yoga instructor told us this parable:
Once, 2 priests were walking down the road. It was a very dangerous road. They were accosted by robbers, who held knives to their throats and threatened them. The young priest cried out "Take what you want! Take anything!". The old priest said nothing.
When the robbers left, the priests continued down the road. When they stopped under a tree for their meal, the young priest was commenting on how brave the old priest was. The old priest said "I was not brave. It was just that, in that moment, nothing was happening." He did not look back at the knowledge of other people being killed on this road by these robbers. He did not look forward to "what are they going to do???". He simply stayed in the present moment. And in that present moment, nothing was happening.
I have thought about this a lot during the death of my Mom. I was aware that the fear of an experience is often worse than the experience itself. And every time I started to go to the panic place, I thought - "No, I need to stay right here. I have too much to do right now. I can panic later." So I stayed in the present moment. And when the thing I most feared happened - my mother's death - it was not scary. It just happened.
So I am applying this to my weight loss journey. I can handle being OP this moment. I don't need to worry about what may come up, what the scale will do, what my throw me off track. For this moment, nothing is happening. And my power is in the present moment.
Once, 2 priests were walking down the road. It was a very dangerous road. They were accosted by robbers, who held knives to their throats and threatened them. The young priest cried out "Take what you want! Take anything!". The old priest said nothing.
When the robbers left, the priests continued down the road. When they stopped under a tree for their meal, the young priest was commenting on how brave the old priest was. The old priest said "I was not brave. It was just that, in that moment, nothing was happening." He did not look back at the knowledge of other people being killed on this road by these robbers. He did not look forward to "what are they going to do???". He simply stayed in the present moment. And in that present moment, nothing was happening.
I have thought about this a lot during the death of my Mom. I was aware that the fear of an experience is often worse than the experience itself. And every time I started to go to the panic place, I thought - "No, I need to stay right here. I have too much to do right now. I can panic later." So I stayed in the present moment. And when the thing I most feared happened - my mother's death - it was not scary. It just happened.
So I am applying this to my weight loss journey. I can handle being OP this moment. I don't need to worry about what may come up, what the scale will do, what my throw me off track. For this moment, nothing is happening. And my power is in the present moment.
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