Wisdom Day 66
Read about the 100 days of Wisdom™ Project by Tonya Marie
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“We need to see life as it is, not to hold ourselves captive to a vision of how it ought to be. We need to let go of our incessant need to impose order … to make space in our days and plans so that new things can enter our lives. Surrendering expectations opens us up for the gifts of spontaneity, serendipity, and serenity, enabling us to cast off old agendas of what’s supposed to make us happy. However, this has been one of my hardest life lessons. And yet, when I do, I am always amazed at how life surprises me with joy. You will be too.”
~ Sara Ban Breathnach ~
Selah … sigh. So a funny thing happened on the way to my 100 days of wisdom spiritual blogging practice … a thing called LIFE!
Life in the form of grading midterms and rough drafts, committee meetings, four-alarm personal and professional fires, student review sessions, drafting and grading finals and papers, the holidays (holidaze??), work outs and travel and spiritual seeking ( oh my!), and, of course, executing this well-intentioned, well laid “plan” of 100 days of wisdom at any cost … oh yeah, and exhaustion. Yep. Real life.
When I embarked on 100 Days of Wisdom my intention was to share via this blog and Twitter some words of wisdom that informed, transformed and inspired me, and my reflections about them, in the hope that my posts would also inform, transform and inspire you. And then came life.
And my wonderful disciplined practice (after 53 or so days without wavering) fell to the back burner. I continued to tweet but the “daily” blogging practice turned into something to-do. And that to-do continued to fall lower and lower on my ever-growing to-do list! Needless to say, this is an epic fail for the recovering perfectionist, whether spiritually enlightened or not.
As a result, my passion began to morph into an obligation, one I was ashamed was falling by the wayside regardless how many visitors continued to visit and re-share the wisdom. I mean, what kind of spiritual seeker and emerging teacher lets her spiritual practice and all those super important wisdom posts suffer for “real life” anyway [insert huff and judging stare in the mirror]?
So I continued to share the wisdom I was receiving and paying it forward, but in the process of trying to “keep up with the spiritual Joneses” I began back dating the messages so they would follow in daily sequential order. Talk about a Martha (versus Mary) moment. It became a real “thing” when big-ticket moments happened (like the election or Sandy Hook massacre) that were best addressed on the date they actually occurred.
And then while on the treadmill listening to Hay House Radio, I just happened to hear Gabby Bernstein talk about the very same thing with Sat Siri from Golden Bridge Yoga during an interview about yoga. They were talking about kundalini yoga and about committing to a regular spiritual practice. They discussed their feelings about “falling off the wagon” from time to time and how to get back on track lovingly and without judgment and about how the ego can really punish the eager spiritual seeker and teacher who dares to be human.
Okay, so there are no accidents in life. The Universe was clearly whispering to me the lessons and, more importantly at that time, the encouragement I needed to recommit to an authentic practice. Thankfully I heard and was open to receive the lesson and the blessing of compassion for, and forgiveness of, myself.
Gabby and Sat Siri landed on the topic of what happens when you begin but do not complete a spiritual practice, like committing to 21 days of yoga or meditation or whatever the practice is. These two clearly enlightened lights, in my humble estimation, said what I soooo needed to hear. Life happens. Forgive yourself. Move on and begin again. Wow. What a novel idea??!!
So what did I learn? I quickly realized that this is called 100 Days of Wisdom … not (necessarily) 100 consecutive days. Talk about an “aha moment”!
So welcome (back) to 100 Days of Wisdom. Sixty-six posts and lessons down, 64 to go. And this practice may take me 64 days or 365 … or somewhere in between. But it’s the journey and what I learn and share along the way not the destination, right?
It’s time to see what really is in every aspect of my life, not what isn’t or what could/should/would be. Time to be the love I seek because kindness, compassion and authenticity begin with me. I encourage you to do the same.
Be well, kind to yourself … & oh so WISE. I know I will, one wisdom whisper and day at a time.
Tonya Marie
Wisdom in the Whisper™ and WisdomintheWhisper.com by Tonya Marie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at www.wisdominthewhisper.com.
Wisdom in the Whisper™ 
ashay!
Yes indeed! And AMEN!