Words on My Computer

"A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains"

"Go Ho - Go Shiki -Go Mi"

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." -Eleanor Roosevelt

"A dose of adversity is often as needful as a dose of medicine."

"You must never be afraid to go there." - Harlan Elison

"The most effective way to live is as a warrior. A warrior may worry and think before making any decision, but once he makes it, he goes his way, free from worries or thoughts; there will be a million other decisions waiting." - Anonymous



Since high school, I found encouragement and solace in the words of others. I vividly remember my friends and I writing quotations in notebooks and sharing them with each other. In our own way, our Bartlett-izing helped us cope with the hormonal and emotional rigors of high school.



As an adult, I still find comfort in a good quote. The above list comes from various aphorisms written on labels I affixed to my office computer monitor. Quotes help me make sense of my day, they direct me forward when I cannot focus.



As my yoga practice continues to deepen, I find myself being challenged to focus. In addition to the challenge of focus, I also find myself being challenged to allow the ideas and emotions that come up while I practice flow freely. I find this freedom and flow creates anxiety. Interesting that freedom should make me feel anxious. Freedom of choice ability to do whatever I want, for some reason it's scary. It's painful.

The fear rises in me and I find myself looking for words of comfort. I find myself searching for something to make this pain go away.

The yogic texts I read say that you should recognize the feelings that come up for you and move with it focusing on the breath. This is the basic yogic contradiction: allowing things to come up but not letting them overtake you... well, that's not exactly right either. You must never be afraid to go there... so go there.

Hmm... maybe I didn't really learn anything, or maybe I did...

It's an existential dilemma... sort of.

Okay, my buddy and I are just going to hang out by this tree in our bowler hats for a while... see you in act 2.