On falling in love with the journey
Image thanks to Trina Gadsden
If you’re on the spiritual path, you may think that putting all of your trust into an all-pervading power like the Universe or God, is all just part of the journey.
You may also believe that there’s a divine timing to which your life will eventually unfold. If that’s the case, then may as well just sit back and let it play out, right?
Well, while I do believe in Divine timing, I’m not 100% convinced we don’t have a little bit of a say in how our life pans out. While both a surrender and devotion to God (or Universe, the Divine etc) is central to the yogic teachings, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t exert energy pursuing an outcome. Not doing so would be conceding that your own free will has nothing to do with anything.
And it does, but also it doesn’t. Let me explain…
Striving to excel…
Say you’ve worked super hard in your job and have been eyeing off a promotion for some time. Absolutely you should want after that promotion, and you should work hard so to get it. Let’s be clear, wanting it doesn’t make you non-spiritual.
Or maybe you’ve just started a new business. And your very thorough business plan projects a number of strategic or fiscal outputs by a particular time. You’ve put all your blood sweat and tears into this business, and your gaze is locked firmly on the future.
But here’s where the yogic teachings fork a little… they say: Absolutely be disciplined, yes work hard and devote yourself, but try not to be attached to the outcome of that effort.
In fact, exercising non-attachment (vairagya) is perhaps one of the most vital teachings of yoga and in attaining the state of Yoga. And our ragas (attachments) it’s where we so often get tripped up as we do our best to navigate the human curriculum.
Oh the pesky mind….
While the mind is useful when it comes to things like scoring a promotion or starting a new business. We are also constantly distracted by it. And often so utterly convinced by the inner workings of it that we most often lose touch with our most authentic Self. That is, our spiritual aspect which is loving light, inherently peaceful and kind and plugged into Creation.
Instead, we get so attached to the rough and tumble of the mind, we believe the stories playing on loop, developed through our deep conditioning, are our actual lived reality and we stand idly by as they shape our worldly actions and interactions.
Just as an example, I was brought up eating meat. It wasn’t until I was in my early thirties that I made the connection between the meat on my plate and the living animal it once was. I am now much happier and lighter (physically, energetically + mentally) not eating it. Upon reflection, I had been conditioned by both my upbringing and through the media and marketing I consumed, to believe that without meat there’s no way I would survive. That right there is the brain and its inherent flight and flight response doing its good work – keeping me safe and free from harm.
I believe I had formed an attachment to this aspect of my diet, which was only realised as a fallacy through self-enquiry. I have said before that my journey to veganism was commensurate to my journey of self-[re] discovery. That is, the more I evolved internally, so did my perception of the world and my awareness of my old, habitual tendencies - such as eating meat. In the end, I couldn’t come up with a good enough reason to continue eating it.
Vairagya (de-attachment) starts in the mind. And the mind science of yoga teaches us that as we practice releasing our attachments to thoughts, ideas, beliefs and outcomes, we suffer less. The less we suffer, the more still the mind, and the more still the mind the more we see ourselves as who we really are. Which is Divine Love. And there’s so much potency in this remembering. For one thing, we considerably up our chances of discovering our soul-aligned life’s purpose and the answer to the eternal question: “What is the point of this/my life?”
But in actuality….
What happens? You don’t get the promotion, or you don’t meet your business targets, and you feel yourself unworthy. Of course, you do. You’re human and you feel sh*t when things don’t go your way. Heck, if you live in a Western developed country, the value placed upon you is quite literally measured by how much you contribute to your country’s Gross Domestic Product.
I recall trips overseas years ago scaling shop, after shop looking for the perfect handbag that would of course gift me the joy I so deeply craved from the inside. There was one expedition across Italy where I was so obsessed with visiting every Furla and Louis Vuitton shop I came across, that looking back I can barely remember the trip.
Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. So, instead of basking in the beauty of the moment we’re on the search for that perfect over-the-shoulder number.
I believe that by tying our self-worth up in an outcome or achievement, we value the journey less. Our attention has been so much on the long game, the process of giving it our best shot and finding contentment (santosha) with all that we have already achieved through the process of trying, has sadly fallen by the wayside.
Let me put it another way. We humans are so intrinsically outcome-orientated, that we find ourselves devoid of the present moment and oblivious to the intricate learnings of the journey itself.
But what if….
As you were striving for that promotion or starting that business, you had the opportunity to work with people or organisations you’d never worked with before. Maybe in all of your hard work you lifted others up. Or maybe you learned something new that (under different circumstances) may have changed your life or your perception of it. There is so much value and legacy in all of these particulars, they’re not meant to be missed.
As yogis, every moment, every breath, every menial task, every conversation is a teacher. As is every seemingly insurmountable challenge, loss or injustice. Just today, an internet chat exchange with an old friend calling me out on one of my social media posts led me to consider… how I could have done it differently? How could I have been more compassionate in posting it? Should I have posted it at all? If we fail to see the teaching in each moment of our life, then we’re not taking our yoga off the mat.
So above all else, love the journey….
Try worrying less about where you’re going and instead fall in love with the journey that, with the right amount of effort and a dusting of divine timing, will eventually get you where you desire to be.
Set goals, make plans but try not don’t take it so personally when life alters off your set course. There’s a learning in it, I promise.
And when life inevitably doesn’t go the way you planned, take solace in knowing you did your very best and that the journey helped you to grow.
Also, trust deeply that all the experiences you need to evolve spiritually will show up. And that right there, is Divine timing.
