365 dAys of aRt. DAY FOURTEEN.

traffic never stops
and i play traffic cop
to my own thoughts

Last night while doing yoga in a TV-lit living room at midnight, I had a profound moment of insight about fear and being in the moment. It was a wonderful little bit of inner wisdom that struck me all at once and instead of just letting it settle in I started thinking about it. Now as some of you know when you are given a moment of great unfolding the worst thing you can do is to start thinking about it. Immediately I lost my balance in tree pose and went tumbling to the mat (luckily, no one was watching). I picked myself up and I couldn’t even resume the pose without falling. I had to laugh because I knew what was causing my instability. My mind was so overflowing with thoughts that I could not hear my own breath or even begin to notice the muscles in my legs. See, when you’re thinking about what you observe instead of just observing it, you’re really judging it (whether it be good judgment or bad). It’s like meeting someone for the first time and instead of listening to his or her name you're trapped in thought about the person’s appearance, or the weather that day or something else on your agenda. It’s not that it’s bad to “observe” the person or plan the day but it's not the observing we get stuck with… it’s the thoughts about our observations. Next time you meet someone or perhaps when you are overcome with some wonderful new wisdom try to just observe. Put all the analytical thoughts aside for just one moment and enjoy the art of being.