Spiritual Aerodynamics

Things don't always go as I plan. I hate when that happens. At first it seems like things would just be so much easier if it all just went according to my great master plan. But sometimes a meeting for which I spent hours preparing is canceled. Or I drop and break my favorite mug and have to either forgo a cup of tea or drink one out of a Styrofoam cup--I chose to go without. Sometimes I plan to go to Yoga after work and end up stuck in traffic or just plain pooped and I don't make it.

"Not according to the plan" can be a good thing also, however. Sometimes a meeting I dread is cancelled. Or someone gives me a gift of a new coffee mug out of the blue. Sometimes evening plans are cancelled and I get to go to Yoga when I didn't expect to be able to.

The point is: my plans mean little to the Universe. My plans about my career, my plans about my stuff, and my plans about my practice...

The good news is: I still get to go to work, I still get to deal with my stuff, and I still get to trudge the road of my spiritual (and physical) practice....

What it means to me is this: there are no big deals. And that's what all of my plan-making not meaning a thing to the flow of the Universe has to do with that nifty term I think I coined.

The idea of no big deals is of great help for me when it comes to both life on and off the mat. Whether it's great news or terrible or something in between it will pass and it doesn't have to be something that will knock me over. Maybe today work was no fun but tomorrow could be different. Maybe I "got" a really tough and fancy posture during Yoga class tonight but that doesn't mean a thing about what my practice will look like tomorrow. Either way, it's just something that happened and there's no reason for my flame to flicker wildly.

At first that sounds kind of boring. As though I have no feelings and nothing but nothing has any effect on me. Believe me, it's not boring. First and foremost because this aerodynamic state of mind of mine is much more theory than practice but also because when I am in that place, it's the greatest place in the world to be. On those occasions when my spiritual practice and connection to the Divine are sturdy enough to hold me up I can be satisfied, fulfilled, and given joy from everything. I hope you can experience it soon. I hope I get to as well...

Namaste