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Burn the Negatives; Make Room for the Positives

by ultrapeg

 

snaggletoothopti
Burn the Negatives; Make Room for the Positives. Photo: Herb Ryan: http://www.custerfreepress.com

By Peg Ryan
Mile High Pilates and Yoga
January 22, 2017

CUSTER, SD – Winter can feel overwhelming at times.  For example, weather can interfere with the best laid plans.  Maybe you made a New Year’s resolution to walk more.  You start off really well and suddenly the temperatures dive, the sidewalks shine with ice and the trails in the woods are clogged with snow. Even winter sports enthusiasts can be disappointed when there is just enough snow and ice to be a hazard, but not enough to support the fun stuff.  If you decide to go elsewhere to ski or swim, you can find yourself stymied by airline delays or cancellations. Then there is the busyness that comes in January after the long stretch of holiday breaks that characterize November and December.  So much to catch up on – so little time!  Despite solstice the days are still short.  Time seems compressed and suddenly everyone seems to want a piece of yours.  There just never seems to be enough to go around.

Combine all this with Seasonal Affected Disorder and (dare I say it . . .) post-election anxiety and we have the ingredients for a deep dive into depression.  Take heart, though.  Just when you think hope is pointless and the light at the end of the tunnel appears dim or even non-existent, along comes the Burning Beetle Blues Festival in Custer SD.  What a great example of turning negatives into positives.

For the past couple of decades, the forests in western states from Canada to the southwest U.S. have been ravaged by an onslaught of voracious bark beetles.  The plague has had an enormous impact on the Black Hills in general, and Custer in particular.  About 5 years ago, some Custer residents decided to turn the hand-wringing and lamentation into action.  Thus began the Bark Beetle Blues festival.  The first year of the event saw residents drowning their sorrows in music and art.  Sculptures and picture frames were created with the “blue wood” of the dead trees remaining after the beetles had their fill.  The talented musicians of the Black Hills wrote songs and performed them for a delighted audience.  School children danced and sang.  The festival became a much needed and appreciated antidote for cabin fever in the middle of January when most South Dakotans are house-bound and already longing for Spring.  The following year launched what has become a tradition of burning a huge effigy of a beetle.  Since then the festival has grown to include a variety show and fireworks display. Last year a crew from National Geographic turned up to film the event.  (Unfortunately, I could not find an on-line link to the article, but you can probably find a paper copy in a local library.)   Some years have featured bitter cold January weather, but that has not stopped a huge crowd from turning out for these events.

Witnessing this year’s event made me think of the ritual of the fire puja.  Fire is one of the five basic elements including earth, water, air and ether (empty space) that provide the energies of our known universe.  Using the ritual of fire helps us to let go of things that are no longer useful to make room for new ideas and intentions.  Of course we always want to honor the power of fire and treat it appropriately, but with safety taken into consideration, we can all create our own fire ritual.  If you’re feeling stuck, it can be very satisfying to think about the obstacles in your path, write them on paper and cast them in the fire.  Taking some time to recognize the factors in your way can be the first step to finding ways around them.

Many of us can find examples in our own lives where unexpected positives have emerged from even the most dire or sorrowful situations. This is certainly true for me.  Many of the plans I made in my life have not panned out, but other things have happened that I never could have imagined.  This has become a good reminder when I become disappointed over something not going my way.  And – yes – I need to remind myself.  It is a daily practice to remember to take each day as it comes and accept things as they are, proceeding from there instead of wishing things were different and letting negativity cloud my day.

In recent weeks I’ve seen friends of mine turn their fear into activism.  They have been joined by others who share their concerns.  Perhaps they’ve been surprised to learn that so many others felt the same way they did.  It is a confidence-builder to find out you’re not alone.  Taking that first dangerous step into the unknown can feel so solitary and isolating.  But once that leap is made, the results can be surprising.  In the fire ritual, mourning can be a necessary process leading up to the decision to let go.  But at some point it is necessary to let the mourning pass and rejoin the world.  It’s not always easy and it can be a rocky process, but all it really takes is putting one foot in front of the other and being open to the opportunities around you.  That, too, is an opportunity for practice.

So, to borrow from Shakespeare, if now is the winter of your discontent, try moving out of your own way.  Throw those obstacles into the fire and take a chance on something new.  Renew your resolve to do whatever you decided to accomplish in 2017.  And remember – if your New Year’s resolutions are already getting lost in the undertow or if weather has gotten in the way of your movement plans, there is no better time than now to find a new activity.  An exercise class is a great way to start.  Movement will lift your mood and boost your energy.  Also just like my activist friends, you may be surprised to find friendly like-minded souls who will happily help you along on your journey without judgment of any kind.  We are all looking forward to having you to join us.  Our welcome mat is always out!

 

 

Following My Own Advice

by ultrapeg

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you probably know that there are certain themes that consistently thread their way through each post. Examples include accepting who you are right now; starting where you are today and moving from there; recognizing what you can do today rather than lamenting what used to be or might have been; caring for yourself at least as much as you care for others; and perhaps, most importantly, everything is always changing.  Whatever is happening today is temporary.  That may not always mean that things will automatically get better.  But it does mean they will change.  This further implies that it is better to learn to adapt to changing circumstances than to fixate on your current situation or, perhaps worse, to hang your hopes on some elusive time in the future when things will magically revert to the way they used to be.

All of the above are words to live by.  Hard lessons and life experiences have taught me as much which is why I try to share this knowledge with all of you.  It all makes sense intellectually and even seems simple.  “Simple” yes, but that doesn’t make it easy.  It is probably safe to say that all of us struggle with these concepts at one time or another.  We know what we “should” do (there’s that word again!) but it’s so hard to actually implement or even remember.  Just when we think we have managed to master a particular technique for dealing with the way things are, something will change and we find ourselves right back where we started from, perplexed and frustrated. Not only do we forget everything we’ve learned, but we also forget that we ever learned it.  It even becomes difficult to remind yourself, “I’ve been here before. I got through it then.  I can get through it again.”  Each situation seems new and daunting.  And in some ways it is different from before because you are different from before.  But that doesn’t mean that there is no way out.  It may simply mean that a course correction is required.

All of this came home to me on New Year’s Eve.  Maybe there was some significance to that particular timing, maybe not.  But I could not help but recognize the irony.  It made me smile.  Which helped take me out of my funk.  The source of this most recent lesson is some chronic pain I’ve developed recently that has begun to interfere with my usual activities. Although I have some theories, I’m not really sure what’s causing it or when it started.  But it doesn’t really matter.  The fact is it is here, now.  So lesson number one came home to roost – accept where you are right now.  I realized that I had been resisting the reality of this situation (they call this “denial” don’t they?) expecting it to change if I simply ignored it.  Unfortunately, ignoring it has become increasingly impossible.  It began to dawn on me that I was hoping I could force things to change just because I wanted them to.  As is typical of my personality, I thought I could bludgeon my way through the pain and make it go away.  Instead of finding fulfillment from that form of wishful thinking, all I succeeded in doing was irritating it further.

So along came some additional lessons – start where you’re at and move from there.  This was quickly followed by reminding myself of another important tenet I frequently espouse – modify, modify, modify.  As I stopped lamenting what used to be, I was able to become more curious about what was actually happening in my body.  My years of connecting mind to body through studying Pilates and yoga has given me some ability to bring my attention to physical sensations as they occur.  This can be elusive, but one thing I was able to notice is that my pain is not constant. Some movements trigger it, but others are pain-free.  The epiphany that ensued should have been a no-brainer, but it just goes to show you that the most practiced people can still be just as dense and resistant as anyone else.  All of us, myself obviously included, can be great at seeing what others need to do, but not so good at following our own advice.

Many of you know that yoga is a philosophy as well as a physical practice.  The first and, perhaps, most important principle of yoga as described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is the concept of “ahimsa” or “non-harming”.  This concept does not only apply to what we do to others but also how we treat ourselves.  All of us need periodic reminders.  We are no good to others if we don’t take care of ourselves.

Moving is a vital and important part of my life.  Another frequent theme in this blog is to move while you can move because you never know when something will have happen that takes that ability away.  Through the years there have been many times when I have had to come to the realization that if I wanted to keep moving I would have to change the way I had been doing it.  That can be a tough pill to swallow, but to me it’s more important to keep moving in some way than to stop altogether.  So here I am again.  And, surprisingly, it’s not so terrible.  As soon as I was able to accept that this may be my new reality, I was able to free myself from judgment and explore new ways to keep moving. There is still so much that I am able to do.  So rather than lamenting the loss of the way things used to be, I hope that I can instead focus on and appreciate the positives of what is. There are many positives. It takes practice and consistent effort to maintain that focus, but I’m going to try to make this my New Year’s resolution.  Here’s my new mantra:  “Be here now and do what you can.”  If that sounds familiar, it should. Happy New Year to all!