Will and the Grace of Surrender
Remember Will and Grace, the comedy series? They were likeable enough characters, certainly offering glimpses of the studio’s interpretation of gay culture to mainstream America. Jack, however, I did find a bit iffy in his presentation.
I was always on guard when he was on my screen. My own internalized homophobia?
This blog is not about television.
Sorry.
It’s about will,
About
Using our will rightly.
It’s about the grace of surrender,
Being present with the
Outcome of our actions.
~~~
I always thought, as a younger person on our planet, that this was my job:
First,
To determine what I wanted,
What I knew should be happening,
Because I knew what should be happening,
(Ha!).
And to clear the way
Of obstacles.
Does anybody identify?
Well.
It was a full-time job,
To say the least.
And I was, of course,
Profoundly unsuccessful
In doing it.
Life doesn’t work that way.
Life happens.
Period.
Obstacles happen.
Period.
Let’s not even call them obstacles.
Let’s call them—what?
Life itself.
Situations.
People,
Places,
Things.
Remember that book by Mary O’Malley,
What’s in the Way is the Way?
Best possible book title, right?
Yep.
That’s what I’m talking about.
What’s happening
Is the way.
~~~
Sounds like yoga to me!
Kripalu Yoga on the mat
Teaches three stages of practice.
Stage one— will
Stage two— will and surrender
Stage three— surrender.
To willfully practice,
To learn,
To take action.
Then to release our attachment
To the outcome
Of our actions.
This process is alive both on the yoga mat
And off the mat.
This is practice of living,
Showing up with what we have been given.
Doing our best to respond.
And giving it back,
Practicing again.
Yoga off the mat.
How does this resonate for you?
What might you notice
About these Stages of Yoga,
These
Stages of life
As they operate
In your life?
Action? Not the hard part for me.
Letting go? Yep, my weakest muscle.
I’ve been working within the medical system this past week, trying to set up appointments and scheduling a test. It’s been surprisingly daunting. I take an action, do one thing, and it appears complete. Then, poof! Life pulls me off in another direction, separate from the one I thought we were headed in. Frustrating and odd, yet I know what I believe.
I believe—
We take action.
We let go of
The outcome
Of those actions.
We do it again.
With kindness.
With rigor.
Period.
I believe that.
I know that.
And living it?
In a condensed,
Constricted way?
Painful.
And
Possible.
~~~
And so we practice.
Being human,
Living in relationship to
The Divinity that Reality offers us.
Here is the song that has comforted me this week.
If I have played this before—it surely is possible—give yourself three minutes of its comfort,
Again.
The lyrics are the best explanation of will and surrender I have heard musically.
Leonard Cohen
The Webb Sisters.
If It Be Your Will
~~~
Dear Friends,
One day at a time,
May we practice
Taking right action.
One day at a time,
May we surrender
The results of those actions.
One day at a time,
May we continue to practice
With both
Kindness
And
Rigor.
May all beings benefit from our shared words.
Stay blessed,
Aruni