Depends how you look at it

I stepped into a bright sunny morning on Kensington a few weeks ago; it had just been raining for three days. A chipper fellow sitting on a bench reading the news-paper said good morning to me immediately. I returned it and asked him how he was on this beautiful morning. “Miserable, how can anyone be happy in this rotten country. And you?” he asked. “Oh, I’m good, how could anyone be miserable on a morning like this. Toronto’s been great to me.” I replied. His response was: “It all depends on how you want to look at it.”

He was reading the news and thinking about business, I was looking up at the bright blue sky anticipating an aimless wander thru the city. He was standing between the past and the future. I was in the moment. Nature and beauty are natural techniques for attaining the moment. We all know this. Awe too functions in this way. So does excitement. We kinda loose control of ourselves and forget about the past and the future and we are hardy able utter a “wow.”

In yoga we want to have this feeling internally. The same wow we have for a majestic mountain should be felt when we stand before Ourselves gazing at the majesty of our own minds; our inner levels of consciousness. That’s where it’s all coming from: the perception, the mountain; the past and the future undoubtedly.

Or where else is it coming from? A question for everyone to ponder. And then where does it go?

So many thoughts arising and then passing away. It’s the ones we grab hold of that cause problems. These are the ones that dominate our thought and lead our perception away from what’s really going on. It’s not just the moment that’s happening, but our desires and our capabilities are continually fulfilling themselves. We are being fulfilled we just don’t see it. Our “true paths” are no different than the normal course of our fate; what differs is how we look at it.

This is where self-knowledge comes in. If you know what you really want from life and what you’re really willing to put effort towards, as well as knowing the pattern of your luck, you will get exactly the thing you expect. Awareness!

Inner awareness begins to blur: the line between inner and outer. From where does it all arise and to where does it go? The thought? The past and the future?

Some mornings we cant see the sky because we’re too busy looking at the news or planning our days. The sky isn’t in us so we just don’t see it. If it’s in us, if it’s what we were expecting, what we’re looking for, bam, it will be there as plain as day. You can’t miss it if you’re looking for it, but if you’re looking for other things, the sky won’t even exist.

It all depends on how you look at things!