December 2024 Week 2

I was listening to a meditation this morning and it started with the definition of patience: the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. This is not always easy to do and I find it very Interesting how lessons are always lining up and giving me what I need even if I don’t want the lesson!!!
As I wrote the last couple of weeks I was returning and celebrating my 5 year post breast cancer anniversary, however on that day I found myself in an oncologist office scheduling a biopsy of my uterus. I then spent the next 10 days in a big old pause! Doing my best to enjoy Thanksgiving with family and friends and a mini trip for a big wedding anniversary. Our intention, Pause What a Pleasure, became very, very appropriate and relevant for me and I repeated it multiple times trying to find the grace of faith in the pause. I had moments of reprieve from the scary stories I was telling myself and if I am completely honest moments of reprieve from being an emotional baby and absolutely not wanting to deal with any of these health concerns at a time when I wanted to celebrate!!! No fair the immature me said lol!
I had to physically recover from the procedure which required another aspect of Pause What a Pleasure! I had to sit, I had to stay out of the ocean and I had to simplify all during the week after Thanksgiving which started the short holiday season of preparation.
The good news is, all is well with my health, and so far I am getting done most of what I need to do for the holidays even though I had some setbacks of my time and attention.
Which aspect of Pause What A pleasure is relevant for you right now? Are you waiting for something to unfold? Are you doing too much and getting run down or possibly not able to be present to who or what is in front of you because you are not pausing?
Our Sutra this month, 1.15, addresses the 2nd part of Patanjali’s solution to the roaming busy mind: The consciousness of self-mastery in one who is free from craving from objects seen or heard about is non-attachment. Last month we discussed the solution of practice - having something we each do daily to help tame our minds. This month he is giving us the 2nd part of the solution of non-attachment. If our mind is attached to expectations, worries, regrets etc - all the practice in the world will not help our mind settle and with a restless mind a steady practice is very difficult to maintain. This was my experience over those 2 weeks. I continued all my practices and although I may not have been distracted while in meditation, yoga or prayer as soon as I left that comforting place my mind attached itself to the fearful projections and resistance to where I was and what I was having to deal with.

Take a pause and contemplate how this sutra can help you ease your busy mind and help you find pleasure in whatever aspect of pause is happening in your life right now.