When my grandmother was dying, she said to me, “Ty, you can cry because you’ll miss me but don’t you dare cry for me. I am looking forward to this, it’s my next great adventure.”
I have always taken comfort in her words but today, they shine in a whole new way. If death was her *next* great adventure then life was her present great adventure.
Life is not a jumble of adventure and tragedy. Life, every moment of it, is adventure! Yesterday was what most people would call an adventure. I spent some quality time with my wife and with my children. The long standing rule of “Don’t talk to me about Yoga, ever” with McKenna, my oldest daughter, vanished (which is another post in and of itself). The class I taught started with the new student in the room proclaiming, “I don’t believe in yoga.” After class, this unwashed unbeliever† interviewed me for an episode of 7 Days to Something and gave the class a well hidden thumbs up. That was just the morning!
The afternoon held time spent with my confessor friend, Janisha, working on my autobiography and Yoga Secrets‡. Learning that McKenna, my Yoga antagonistic daughter, had spend time meditating that morning and that George, my youngest son, was set to join me at this morning’s community yoga class. The day continued with business paperwork and plates of cookies.
Why do I tell you these things? Do I want you to be jealous or show off how great I am? No. I pointed out yesterday’s “cool” adventures so I can contrast them with the portents of today’s “cool” adventures. An hour ago (it’s now 7 AM), I woke up and went into the bathroom to dress. As I looked into the mirror, I realized I couldn’t see clearly out of my left eye. My periferial vision in that eye was odd. By the time I reached the kitchen, I could see clearly what was happening.
What I saw looked like a braided strand of shimmering light. I don’t see those often but they mean only one thing: Migraine and a big one at that. I fixed some oatmeal and took some extra strength Excedrin. Then, I wrote this post. Today’s adventures will include teaching yoga and experiments in accepting pain. These are just as marvelous as all of yesterday’s events IF I am willing to let them be. If I am unwilling, then there will still be pain but there will also be suffering. The pain is largely unavoidable, I’ve already done what I can to minimize it, but the suffering is entirely optional.
When the experiment is done, I’ll let you know how it went.
Jai Bhagwan!
†Tongue planted firmly in cheek.
‡I’m currently writing two books. One is my autobiography. The other shows how Yoga, which was developed and has evolved over the last 5000 or so years, is equally useful in the boardroom or the grocery store.