True scholars of Tantric philosophy might get some eyerolls out of this post and perhaps I will come to eyeroll myself in the future, as my understanding of these concepts deepens. For now I’ve really been enjoying framing my personal work in this way; it seems to help me keep my eyes on the prize and generate more awareness of what I need to support and pursue.

Seven Inquiries for a Darn Good Day

1.What’s actually going on?
Am I in the world, or fantasizing about black helicopters/faeries/living in the woods? Dreaming is great of course, particularly positive visualization, but am I prone to wishing for a deus ex machina to come and fix all of my problems…winning the lottery or similar? My reality-meter is most prone to breaking when it comes to people [e.g. crowds in the urban environment], so am I railing and storming against people who double-park or hit me in the eye with their umbrella-edges?

2.What have my previous experience and studies taught me?
I may mangle this quote; it’s something about how insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly but expecting different results each time. Without crossing the tissue-thin boundary into prejudice, self-knowledge is mirrored in our ability to see and acknowledge patterns in our world. Our brains aren’t in there just to keep our skulls from collapsing, even if we practice yoga.

3.Do I give myself permission to feel joy?
Many times I notice I haven’t even provided the option of being happy. It just never occurs to me. My reasoning can range from “I don’t deserve it” to “There’s too many other things going on”. Now, this doesn’t mean it’s just going to HAPPEN but make sure you’ve at least made it a possibility, ya dig?

4.Have I curtailed my inherent freedom in some way? Do I feel free to make change and shift and grow?
This is a toughie because I think it can tend towards victim-blaming or the most rank sort of privileged “Everything I have I got from pulling myself up by the bootstraps” nonsense. Just dreaming of food when you are in poverty is not enough to feed you; this world is relative [see #1] and we are in it, so our freedom is limited in some pretty crucial ways. That being said, my needs are certainly met and then some, so have I perhaps forgotten the RESPONSIBILITY that comes with freedom? Am I doing the work necessary to choose my intention mindfully?

5.Do I permit my experience to oscillate, to ebb and flow?
We’ve been watching old SuperBowls on ESPN Classic. The most amazing part of competitive sports, to me, is how the good players and the great coaches are able to process a loss. Some of them go squirrelly, it’s true [my God you can almost see Rex Grossman's mind coming apart in that SB against the Colts...it's a bit frightening] but the good ones have a healthy place for loss in their minds, a place that lets them go forward with [if anything] an increased zeal to win [viz. 1972 Dolphins]. I’m notorious for thinking that this time, this day where my energy is low, this class where I misspoke or screwed up my theme, represents a downward-plumetting slope from which it will be impossible to recover. You can’t win ‘em all, dude.

6.Do I put mental limits on the abundance and creative power of the world, and of myself? Is this world beautiful to me, even with its flaws? Am I beautiful to myself?
Another perilously Celestine-Prophecyish one like #4. Careful there, Warren Buffetts of the world: unlimited abundance may or may not take the form of market speculation or mutual funds. I did start to realize when I was learning about these concepts that my Dutch-Calvinist-Bible-Camp childhood revolted strongly at the idea that for everything good in your life you would have to pay with suffering of some sort. It was like I had a split in my mind that could’t do the math of abundance; I just did not understand where that opulence of spirit and health and love was going to come from. I am, on this matter, in progress.

Also, see #1. Over the years I’ve inexpertly ranted about our preference for exoticism and the vacation/tourist mentality that prevents us from seeing the immediate beauty that’s right in front of us. Then I go ahead and do the same exact thing. My advice to you and to myself today: Don’t wait to shell out a couple of grand before you look around you and sigh with pleasure. Even if your surroundings are somewhat seedy: I’ll tell ya, I miss Gandhi Roti at Queen and Bathurst something fierce. Now THAT’S beautiful. Practice not limiting your concept of what’s appealing to the senses. The strong correlation here to self-image is too much for this post, but you can see where I’m going with that…man, that is hard [and good] work…

7.Can I hold in my mind the paradox of the perfection and fullness of this moment, while simultaneously striving to be better and create more?
I’ve noticed this in the yoga community often: the idea that the reason why you undertake work is to correct/fix/adjust. It can be dressed up in the most flowery language and still, at the heart is this rotten nut of UR DOIN IT RONG. Admittedly, this is another paradox, but it’s so beneficial for our spirits. Do the work for the joy of doing the work. Do the work because it is our nature to grow. Nothing to correct, nothing wrong with you, no deep-seated flaws that have to be purified in the flames of doing stuff that’s weird or unpleasant or fancy. I am loving practicing in this way, even though it is tough for my brain to hold these two ideas at once. All in good time.

On that note, I’m off to class. Mmmm…yoga…

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