Found Exhortation (to Self)
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Happy New Year
May the coming year, whatever it brings, be lightened by gratitude and grace.
IRS (and Opening to Grace)
It is a gloriously cool and breezy morning of the type that is common for New England and very rare for DC, especially heading into Independence Day weekend. I had a longer and earlier walk than I usually do. I have an early morning meeting at the Internal Revenue Service.
As I walked down Constitution Avenue past the museums and federal buildings, I wondered how many of the hundreds of millions of people whose lives are impacted by the IRS ever think of it as a building with real, live human beings working inside of it.
It can be tremendously difficult to see a broader perspective when faced with things that cause us burden, obligation, or challenge. One of the key reasons to practice yoga, and in Anusara yoga to practice (it is indeed a practice we have to work on) opening to grace, is to recognize our humanity and the light in all things so that life feels more beautiful even when we are struggling.
A Moment of Gratitude and Compassion
A friend once said that when he heard sirens while he was meditating, he used it as a reminder to share the light of meditation. It is easy to think of roads blocked by emergency vehicles and blaring sirens as disruptions, inconveniences, and annoyances when they are coming for someone other than ourselves. I had a moment of thankfulness this morning that the minor problems are the kind of problems that I have. I was thankful, too, to live where if something bad happens, strangers come to the rescue. I offered healing light to the emergency workers and the person or persons to whom these workers were rushing.
State of the Garden
It is wonderfully healthy to grow some of our own food, and taking care of ourselves with diet today became that much more important. But we still all need access to medical care too. Please, if you have one, pick up the phone and call your senators to defend the Affordable Care Act and move towards a single payor system that would cover more people not fewer and would respect the rights and health needs of women.
