Heeeey, buddies. How's your week going? (take a deep breath, relax your shoulders, soften your jaw) How's your week going for real?
My brain is mostly consumed this week (and lots of weeks lately) with - what's next?
There seem to be a lot of precipices at the moment. Globally, personally, professionally, all the "ly"s. You know how there are those phrases we've heard a million times over the last two years, that no longer have any meaning, and you just want to roll your eyes every time you hear them now?! --in these unprecedented times, etc-- The one that's with me a lot is the 'pivot.' It's become such a buzzword for how we've adapted to pandemic life, the things that have changed, the new choices we've made. And I get it. It's quippy, it's simple, it's a point of reference we all share. But I just keep getting annoyed at how EASY 'pivot' sounds. I just keep getting annoyed at how IN OUR CONTROL 'pivot' sounds. I just keep getting annoyed at how 'pivot' dismisses the messiness of dreams and survival and choice and circumstance and longing and urgency and patience. Which is to say, I'm thinking a lot about dreams. Balancing wild dreaming with reality and truth. Predicting how some next choice might play out. One of the core tenets of a yogic life is abhyasa, or practice. Steady effort in the direction you want to go. Taking each tiny step one at a time. Another is recognizing shakti -- the dynamic, ever-changing, cosmic, feminine energy that brings things into being, swirls them around, then dissolves them. How do we make steady effort in any one direction if everything is constantly changing? LOLZ. Dunno. Isn't that what we ask ourselves every day, trying to live a life?? Which is why the obsession with 'pivots' drives me nutso. I make fun of myself a lot for all the different lives I've led. I've changed my path sooo many times, had so many different career focuses, passions, interests.
My question becomes - IS THAT EVEN CHANGING PATHS?!? Or isn't it just (probably I think most likely duh) -- HOW LIFE WORKS. The path you're on is your path even if its constantly shifting directions. Even if sometimes there's a clear path, sometimes you forge a new one, sometimes you backtrack and revisit old places. It's still all just your path. WHAT A RELIEF. Because if we're making steady effort in the direction of a dream, while recognizing that life is dynamic and swirly, our dreams can change, our circumstances can change, we can leave things behind or try things entirely new, something we had dreamt of can be taken away from us, we can do something well or do something poorly or decide we don't like it or change our minds And it doesn't have to be so dramatic! AND SO Not any one point along this path has to define who we are. My dreams have almost always included very passion-fueled careers. It's easy for those to become how I define myself as a person. But I am not any one dream. You are not any one point along your path. We are not defined by a single moment. My invitation is to recognize how your life has always been made up of 'pivots.' Find a way to celebrate all the weird things you've chosen to do throughout your life. Gaze out a window and think up a dream. Big or small. And if you're in a moment where life is choosing for you, my invitation is to remember that this one moment doesn't define you forever. Do what you need to do and know that it's all still taking you in the direction you need to go...you'll be able to guide your path again soon.