#inspiring essay: Dealing with challenges? Embrace your Karma - with this tool! My 3 ½ year old son Ari has a passion for Legos – even bigger than his passion for pizza. I know this – because when Ari’s busy with his Legos, not even pizza can pry him away. Although Ari loves building Lego structures from boxed sets, he gets an even bigger kick out of taking huge scoopfuls of old Legos (which we keep in plastic buckets) then building the pieces into “One-of-A-Kind Creations.” I call Ari a Master Builder – a term swiped from the most recent Lego movie to describe someone who’s innovative – who thinks outside of the (Lego) box. So – what’s this have to do with Karma and Dharma? An interesting synchronicity united these concepts for me this week. On Monday, I started yoga teacher training at the amazing Ishta Yoga. It’s a 5 week intensive program – which starts daily at 8am. As a result, my normal morning ritual with my son Ari is now disrupted. No more waking up and leisurely dancing to fun music. I now have to be at Ishta on the mat by 8am. Every day this week as I made my early departure, my son Ari made it clear that he was not a happy camper about my new yoga camp schedule. Come Thursday morning, Ari was in total tears. In my efforts to calm him, I came up with a quirky Lego analogy – a playful metaphor I thought would help Ari to embrace going with the flow of this surprise change in our morning routine. “Life is like a scoopful of Legos,” I told Ari. “You never know what pieces you’re going to get handed to you – but whatever pieces life gives you in a day – it’s up to you to make something really awesome with these pieces.” “For example,” I continued, “in today’s scoopful of a morning, I’m not taking you to school – but your favorite babysitter Belinda is. You didn’t get the “mommy morning piece” today – but you did get the “Belinda morning piece” – and you can make something cool out of that piece. Each day you get all kinds of assorted pieces. You might not get all the pieces you want. You might even get some pieces you totally do not want. But you are the Master Builder of your day! It’s up to you to take the pieces you are given – and make a happy, beautiful day out of these pieces!” My son Ari contemplated this. “So, I’m the Master Builder of my day?” he asked. “Yes,” I said, encouraged by his question. “Yes, you are the Master Builder of your day!” Ari’s tears at that moment vanished. I’m not sure if it’s because he understood my Lego analogy. I admit it’s quite possible that I had simply distracted him with the mention of Legos, Legos, Legos! No matter. When I was done with this Lego analogy, Ari was done with his crying. Sigh. Relief. Later that day in yoga teacher training, the inspiring Alan Finger spoke to our class about Karma and Dharma –their differences – and how they relate. “Karma is the situation you are born into. Dharma is how you choose to act on what you are given – your free will in how you choose to deal with your Karma.” Alan explained. “In Tantric philosophy, Karma is why you’re here. You’re here in order to work out the seeds of action you carry within you for this lifetime.” What Alan said reminded me of the Lego analogy I’d given Ari that morning. Karma represents the random scoopful of Legos you are born with at the start of your life. There will be some pieces you’re born with which are totally terrific. And there will be some pieces you might not know what the heck to do with. And there will be some pieces you truly wish you were born with – but are completely missing from your particular scoopful of Life Legos. It’s up to you to build something awesome out of the “Life Lego Pieces” you were given. And Dharma represents your “Free Will Choice “ in how and what you choose to build out of your particular “Lego Inheritance.” CLICK TO READ MORE AND GET TOOLS TO BETTER EMBRACE YOUR KARMA - AND THEREBY INCREASE YOUR HAPPINESS!
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 01:35:07 +0000
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