Reflections for 2017

As a therapist, conscious traveler and yoga teacher, I have found myself inspired to synthesize and share some teachings that feel particularly relevant during this intense time of transition in our country and on our planet. I salute each of your beautiful, bright spirits and wish you light and heart-guided power on your journeys!

Recognize the Importance of Your Inner State

Personal, political and collective planes of existence all matter right now. No one is necessarily more important than another. What’s more important is the state from which you approach your current environment:

• Are you coming from a state of inner peace, compassion and unity?
• Or are you coming from a state of conflict, fear and separation?

Your state of consciousness – how you act vs. what you do – will most determine your impact. If you approach the current situation from the same vibration of fear, anger and separation that you’re resisting, then you’re not contributing to true evolutionary change – to the kind of change we most need at this time on our planet. If you maintain the energy of connection, service and love in your heart, then whatever you do will lift, heal and inspire.

Act with Authenticity and Patience

This is a time for authenticity and thoughtfulness over branding and quick messaging. The world needs people who are reflective, wise, and willing to pause without necessarily knowing the next best step to take. We need people who can contemplate and recalibrate before acting, who work to avoid knee-jerk, anger-based, attention-seeking or vengeful reactions. Be real about where you are and how you feel. Allow your genuine experience to invite others to pause and reflect. Model the importance of inner inquiry, of listening to and for one’s own intuition, and of not acting rashly from a place of “should” or fear. Trust that your patient intuition will provide a guiding light for others tempted to act in the dark.  

Take Radical Responsibility for Your Inner Environment

Take responsibility for your own inner environment. Monitor what you ingest.

• Are your inputs expanding your sense of hope, growth and possibility?
• Or are they feeding your sense of depletion, fear and hopelessness?

Note the impact of media and of your surroundings on your psyche, heart and spirit. Be selective. How can you protect your inner environment and stay at the vibration that most serves you and those around you right now? What you feed will seed; what you attend to will grow. What are you most wanting to nurture right now? What is waiting to bloom in your life?

Take Radical Responsibility for Your Outer Action

Take radical responsibility for your own decisions and actions.

• Are you acting from an empowered place, aligned with your deepest values?
• Or are you reacting from a sense of powerlessness and victimization?

First, you must believe in your capacity to help create the kind of world you wish to inhabit. You must connect to your inner authority and your deepest intentions. From this place, you will be ready to take relevant action -- action that is called for by your particular circumstance and your unique gifts. Whether your role is about protecting our planet, expressing your voice through activism or art, contributing to the awakening of others, or caring for those closest to you, the actions sourced from open-hearted and open-eyed intention are those most likely to bring about embodied and lasting change.

Think Abundance, not Scarcity

Now is the time for acting from a sense of inner abundance versus outer scarcity – from “both/and” vs. “either/or” thinking. Sacrificing your joy out of worry for the collective serves no one and dampens your own powerful light.

• Are you acting from a sense of fullness and gratitude – for things just as they are and as you are?
• Or are you acting from a sense of lack, inadequacy and fear?

The nature of the human mind is to focus on what we lack, on how we are not enough and on what we don’t yet know. It is truly rare, however, to find no reason for gratitude, self-appreciation and hope. Even if you’ve been trained to focus on the “not-enough’s,” acting from this place is misguided and helps no one – least of all yourself. You are more than enough and you have everything you need for your unique journey! When you deprive yourself of joy and criticize yourself for who you’re not, you are powerfully dimming your light and stifling your potential. And when you focus on what’s missing, how can you tap into all there is? Now is the time to connect with gratitude and with the bounty within and around you. In each moment, open to the richness of life’s gifts -- just as it is and as you are. And then watch as your actions send ripples of generosity, hope and light to those around you. Life is a gift and every moment holds infinite potential.

Engage in a Daily Practice

Pause and set intentions at the start of each day. How do you want to approach the day? What is most important for you to believe in and to convey? Do not underestimate the power of quiet and intention to set the frame of each day. You are a leader and a model for those around you. The more powerful your center, the more powerfully you will radiate. Believe in yourself and exude the energy you most want to see in your world and on our planet.

This post was written by Marilee Aronson