Teacher and Student

So I went to one of my favorite Yoga teachers for class today…and the last time I went to one of her classes was about a month and a half ago. She read this poem in that class…and also read it today. When I told her about this after, and realized there must be a message there, she told me this was probably only the 3rd time she’d read this particular poem all year

I know what the message is for me…I’m gaining “flavor” as I write! Have a read for yourself. Enjoy…

Chickpea to Cook
~Jalaluddin Rumi
(translated by Coleman Barks)

A chickpea leaps almost over the rim of the pot
where it’s being boiled.

“Why are you doing this to me?”

The cook knocks him down with the ladle.

“Don’t you try to jump out.
You think I’m torturing you.
I’m giving you flavor,
so you can mix with spices and rice
and be the lovely vitality of a human being.

“Remember when you drank rain in the garden.
That was for this.”

Grace first. Sexual pleasure,
then a boiling new life begins,
and the Friend has something good to eat.

Eventually the chickpea
will say to the cook,
“Boil me some more.
Hit me with the skimming spoon.
I can’t do this by myself.

“I’m like an elephant that dreams of gardens
back in Hindustan and doesn’t pay attention
to his driver. You’re my cook, my driver,
my way into existence. I love your cooking.”

The cook says,
“I was once like you,
fresh from the ground. Then I boiled in time,
and boiled in the body, two fierce boilings.

“My animal soul grew powerful.
I controlled it with practices,
and boiled some more, and boiled
once beyond that,
and became your teacher.”

Hmmm…now where’s that soup recipe that had chickpeas in it………..

Self Reinvention

“The best path to happiness is learning to change as rapidly as life does.”
~ Don Miguel Ruiz

It feels like time is speeding up, doesn’t it? Time isn’t speeding up though…what IS speeding up is the rate of CHANGE. Things don’t stay the same for long. We don’t get a chance to get used to anything, because once we do, it changes! I’ve lived in Los Angeles now for about five and a half years…just over that short period I’ve had major shifts and changes in myself, as well as noticing the outer landscape around me. One business closes, another opens…on the corner right near me there is one Thai restaurant that has changed owners and names about 4 times, but it’s still Thai food {YUM}

Recently a cousin of mine who has lived in Los Angeles for the past 10 years and is now moving back to Massachusetts said to me ” We feel like we’ve built our castles in the sand and now they’re getting washed away….” We create, then re-create, then re-create again. Life is about change and growth. The key is welcoming the reinvention that this can create in your life.

Have you ever heard of Tantric Buddhist Mandala sand painting? These paintings are painstakingly poured grain by grain using a small funnel. Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning cosmogram or “world in harmony.” From all the artistic traditions of Tantric Buddhism, that of painting with colored sand ranks as one of the most unique and exquisite. Millions of grains of sand are painstakingly laid into place on a flat platform over a period of days or weeks to form the image of a Mandala.Traditionally most sand Mandalas are destroyed shortly after their completion. This is done as a metaphor for the impermanence of life. We would all do well to remember this metaphor! The more you try to “hang on” in life, the quicker it will get swept away, and the harder it will hit you emotionally and otherwise.

Is It Time to Reinvent Yourself? Being resistant to change is like being resistant to life itself. Life is an experience of growth, and growing, by definition, involves change. In essence, no change means no growth because the two are actually synonymous.

If you look back on your life, you’ll probably discover that you have been reinventing yourself from the beginning. When you were a child you saw a vision of the future based on your little amount of life experience…and when you became a teenager those visions had changed quite a bit. Then when you moved on to your 20s, you were again a different person because your experiences and knowledge had shaped you yet again.

When do you think this process stops? Answer: never. You cannot have growth without change! If you try to resist this process it can have a very negative effect on everything from your outlook on life to your sense of joy to your health both mentally and physically.

Don’t be afraid to reinvent yourself! When you do this you are adding to your knowledge, experience, and perspective. You don’t give up your former self…you get to add another dimension!

Enjoy life, embrace change and your own shapeshifting abilites! I can’t count the number of times I have reinvented myself during my life, and by learning to embrace these reinventions I have had so many amazing and exciting adventures. I look forward to more…and you should too.