My Year of Hopefulness - Everything You Need is in Your Hands

This morning on the subway I was reading the most recent issue of Yoga Journal. Every month they feature a short daily meditation article about a mantra, and this month its about empowerment.

Sanskrit:

"Karagre vasate Lakshmi

Kara-madhye Saraswati

Kara-mule sthita Gauri

Prabhate kara-darshanam"

English:

"On the tip of my fingers is prosperity and abundance (goddess Lakshmi);

In the middle of my hand is eloquence and learning (goddess Saraswati);

At the base of my hand is divine power (goddess Gauri or Parvati).

In the morning, a vision of energy in my hands."

I'm always looking at people's hands - they tell you a lot about their lives. What they do for a living, how well they take care of themselves, how they spend their time. They show us the kind of life someone has led.

For the past week, I've felt overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness. I've felt fortunate beyond measure, as if everything I ever wanted for my life is within easy reach. The appearance of this prayer, this call to action, said everything I have been feeling in 10 Sanskrit words.

We spend so much time looking out, looking for signs that we're on the right track, going in the right direction. Really all we need to do is look as far as our own two hands and realize that there is enough power and grace within us to make the possible certain.

The photo above was taken by Paule Seux for National Geographic. It was taken in Kashmir, India.

My Year of Hopefulness - New Home, Sweet Home

Moving day! Once again, I had a stellar experience with Flat Rate Moving and got some much needed, much appreciated help with my own bags from the past weeks. When arriving at the apartment this morning to see the new renovations, I had the impulse to skip from one end to the other. I actually hugged the new kitchen countertop. This apartment is such a huge improvement over my last place that I can hardly believe it's mine!

While packing and unpacking are tough chores, I do relish the feeling of a fresh start, a new beginning filled with possibilities. My home isn't just where I get some sleep and store my belongings. I do most of writing here. I practice my yoga which in akin to a religion for me. It's a place where I laugh and cry and dream with my friends, where I have multiple out-of-town guests. The rest of my life springs from these walls, and with new walls, in some sense, I get a new life.

Once the movers collected my last signature and quietly closed the door on their way out, I did do a run through the maze of brown boxes that now lined my new place, and at the end made sure to do a little dance of gratitude: to my friends, Rob and Linda, who took me in for two weeks when I really needed a place to stay, for the movers who took such good care of my belongings from beginning to end, to the wonders of Craig's list that made finding this apartment possible. I was so happy that I wanted to give the world one great big hug, and I wanted to make sure that I took a moment to remind myself how good this world and our experience in it can be.

Now I'm collapsing into bed with a wide smile. My feet haven't been this tired in years and my legs aren't used to the three flights of stairs just yet. And yet none of that matters. I'm home again.

My Year of Hopefulness - Prepare Yourself

"Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world." ~ George Bernard Shaw

For the past few months, I've been thinking about preparedness. For whatever reason, my life has taken some unexpected, wonderful turns that I didn't expect during this time. And for some other reasons that I don't fully I understand, I have been prepared for them. Ready to raise my hand, ready to make time in my life to pursue these new opportunities, ready to be surprised.

We owe it to ourselves to be able to accept and relish happy circumstances. And I have found more often than not that happiness largely depends on our desire to be happy. My friend, Kelly, and I love to quote the movie Say Anything when John Cusack says, "how hard is it to just decide to be in a good mood and then be in a good mood?" If we keep ourselves always looking up, aiming high, and seeking good fortune, then we at least have a decent shot at living a life that's good, honest, and worthwhile.

This life requires that we be prepared for things to go our way. We spend so much time preparing for disaster, disappointment, and hardship. I've spent a lot of my life hoping for the best and expecting the worst. But what if I spent even a small amount of time at least anticipating if not expecting the best outcome? These last few months have taught me that the best of times can be upon us now, even when many world circumstances look so bleak. While the world may not be clean and bright, our attitude and outlook can be, and perhaps that intention is enough to change not only our own circumstances, but the circumstances of those whose lives we touch.

The image above can be found at: http://lh4.ggpht.com/_wZoiN6j9b2k/R0s8rN24ETI/AAAAAAAAALc/57869_Jfv9E/100_3377.JPG

Shifting energies

Some days New York beats the hell out of the best of us. Like a job, no matter how much we love it, it can't love us back. I got a parking ticket (unfairly I might add - so I'm fighting it), I had a hard time getting around the city for a work project due to construction (which seems to be happening in every neighborhood), the wind was blowing so hard my lungs hurt walking outside, and then I got booted off a subway due to a suspicious package and once I walked to a new train station, a racial fight broke out in the car I was in (right next to me). And this all happened in one day.

I ate dinner with my friend, Brooke, and we talked about energies that seem to be shifting in the world. Sensing that something is happening in the world that is signaling change. Big change, and not bad change. Just a movement, something new on the horizon. Brooke is feng shui-ing her apartment. I have a Dummies guide to the art and though it sits on my bookshelf, I have not once picked it up to help with my current apartment even though my sleep cycles and energies have been completely knocked off kilter. 

Yesterday I started working on the corner of my place that deals with relationships. Previously, I had my junk box there. A recycled cardboard box decorated with some lovely wrapping paper. And in that box I would put all the stuff I couldn't find another place for, and eventually it became a place that I put all kinds of things that I didn't want to find a home for at the moment. A dumping ground. My love life. Brooke looked at me with something akin to horror. "You need to fix that."

So I did. We can't always force circumstances in our lives; it could be argued that we can never force circumstances in our lives. Rather than pounding the pavement and fighting for what we want, sometimes we need to prepare ourselves and call good fortune to our door. Now I just hope that good fortune is listening.     

The photo above is from http://fengshui.happyhomezone.com/document/pics/doorway300x400.jpg