My teaching theme and hence my thought for the week has been about “Shining Your Light” out to the world. It was inspired by this week’s new moon (meaning “no moon”) and a completely darkened night sky which signaled the beginning of Diwali, a sacred holiday in India. To quote yoga teacher, Saul David Raye:
“Diwali is a sacred festival from India, honoring the victory of light over darkness, of good over evil, wisdom over ignorance and hope over despair. It is a time to pause and reflect within, to remember the light within our hearts and that truly we are made of light. With the flame of awareness, we light the lamp of wisdom, the lamp of love, the lamp of peace within our hearts and invoke the power of the Oneness.”
I love the image of light illuminating darkness and the metaphor of us sharing the light that lives within each of us, yet it is the same light that lives within all of us. We all have something to offer, some unique way of sharing our gift with others and when we tap into that and feel our individual offering we begin to express the deepest and most soulful aspect of ourselves. This light is the light of love. So instead of us focusing on our suffering, of what needs to be better or our own darkness, let’s take this lead from Diwali to focus on the light.
A good way to practice bringing our focus onto our shining light is by asking the following questions:
What is going well in my life?
Why is this going well?
What have I done to invite this manifestation into my life?
When I asked myself those questions, one thing that arose was my past and current yoga teacher training courses. As I sometimes focus on what’s next or what could be better, the questions above bring me back to my original intention of why I created the course in the first place. It allowed me to sit in recognition of something I have worked hard at, given many hours to and find deep satisfaction in doing. Why is this going well? I know it is when I hear the stories of graduates bringing yoga to their community, when they share what has been challenging and fulfilling. I know it’s going well when I hear trainees ask insightful questions and show up with incredible curiosity and a hunger to learn. I know it’s going well when I feel that deep sense of doing what I am here to do, to walk my path of dharma (purpose). It’s as though my heart swells and gratitude is what is filling it.
And what have I done to invite this? I listened to that inner voice that whispered many years ago, take a chance, trust what you know and follow your path. Instead of just saying, “oh that sounds good, but I doubt I could do it, it seems too hard.” I took a chance, did the groundwork, built the foundation and put it out there. Being passionate drives us to do great things in our lives…the beautiful and true saying, “if there’s a will, there’s a way”. We find a path that supports our desire and try to make it happen. It also means taking a risk in that it might be different to what we imagined or it might take a turn in a direction we never could anticipate.
Letting our light shine is a fulfillment of our soul. We dig into what truly will bring meaning to our lives and radiate it out there. The more we do it, the easier it becomes, the more fulfilling it is and has greater impact. My thought for the week is for all of us to trust our inner wisdom, to expand our awareness of what’s whispering inside our hearts and to let the peace and love flow out of us from the deepest source of our being.
Let’s hold Mother India in our hearts for lighting the way and let’s all shine our light and illuminate the Universe.
