Feel The Rhythm

[Brian Critchley]

Have you ever noticed that sometimes your life feels totally in sync? It’s as if all of the moving parts in your universe seem to align themselves perfectly. That opportunity you’d been waiting for knocks at just the right time. You connect with that old colleague who becomes a valued business associate again. You’re in the right place at the right time to meet a new potential client and forge a lasting relationship. Life feels like a miraculous symphony with all of the players beautifully playing their parts.

Maybe you’ve also noticed that sometimes you feel like there is very little synergy to life at all. Projects, deadlines and tasks seem to pile up in a chaotic and difficult way. Nothing seems to mesh just right. Your work or personal life (or worse yet both) seem to be in a rut.

I think that perhaps one of my favorite one hit wonders from the 90s put it best. Take a listen to Dog’s Eye View’s “Everything Falls Apart”…

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Maz6jFdvn2Q&ob=av2el

 

 

Look past hunky(?) frontman Peter Stuart’s over-the-top gyrations and hear the message ring true: Sometimes your up, sometimes your down and know that there’s little you can do to change that. When you’re feeling on top of the world, undoubtedly misfortune is around the corner. When you’re down and out, just hold on for one more day (thank you 90s supergroup Wilson Phillips) and things will turn your way. That’s the way of the world, right? Right?

What if there’s a way to keep yourself dancing to the rhythm of life no matter what happens? What if we can always feel we are in “the flow” creating the best possible present out of the seemingly random circumstances of life. Or better yet, what if there was a way we could actually create the best possible world in which to live just with our own positive attitude and actions?

It would be all too convenient for the yoga teacher in me to offer yoga practice as the all-purpose tool that could keep our lives on track – full steam ahead. However there are certainly yogis among us who power through a physical practice of yoga without much intent upon nourishing themselves in a spiritual way. I’m not pointing fingers at particular subsets of our yoga community. I just know from experience that there are as many reasons to practice yoga as there are people practicing yoga. Some folks are just not that interested in the spiritual potential in yoga practice. Yoga can be a very powerful life-changing tool that can probably give us that feeling of being at one with the fluctuating rhythm of life. However, I believe that any practice that awakens our own mindfulness to our own internal rhythm would do the trick nicely – mediation, yoga, prayer, chanting, tai chi (heck, I’m sure even knitting or baking or breakdancing could work too). When we become aware of our internal rhythm (our breath deepening, our thoughts slowing down, our body relaxing) and our actions become more instinctual and less “heady” we probably make better choices than when we overanalyze every move we make. We’ve all heard folks say that “going with their gut” has led to positive outcomes. If we sustain that oneness with our internal rhythm we probably notice that the external rhythm (the ever-fluctuating ups and downs of life) are not that different from our own internal experience — our breath causes the abdomen and chest to expand and contract, the passing of day and night causes our energy to wax and wane, the change of seasons causes adjustments in our body’s systems, etc. Our body is full of the rhythm of the universe.

So how to “put things back together when everything falls apart”? Or better yet how do we keep things from falling apart in the first place? Find the rhythm. Feel the rhythm. Start the journey by closing your eyes and being at one with your breath. From there you can watch the dance unfold!

TODAY’S KARMA SCOREBOARD

I’ve been very lousy about making time to post my thoughts here at this blog as I’ve gotten caught up with the “busyness” of business (-5)

I posted today and all we ever have is today. Livin’ in the now bonus: (+10)

[Brian Critchley]

I'm so glad you guys enjoyed this post....and I've missed you too, Deb! Hope all is well with you in your neck of the woods :)

[Ann]

Thank you for a very thought provoking and inspirational post.    Joy and Peace!

[Deb~ Community Manager]

Hey! I have missed you Brain! Great post.. You always inspire me when I read your blogs. Hugs to Dash and so happy to hear from you xoxo