Having it all, or not?
It’s never all there, is it? You have a love in your life, but your beloved mom is no longer around. You have great ideas, but not enough money to fund them. Or the big dream house, that you finally could afford, feels empty because your loved ones work and live elsewhere and they never come to visit you. Or, you finally figured out what a great partner you have, but he is now into someone else. You have lots of energy, but lack the wisdom to use it wisely. Conversely, you lack energy, yet have great ideas for what you would do if you had the energy to do it. You have what you want, but you don’t have everything you want all at the same time. You think about it, you deal with it with as much equanimity as you can muster, and go forward in life, with that piece missing. Should that piece come back into your life, another piece may leave.
Complementary Practices
The practice of yoga, with its postures, meditation, breath work and mantra, gives the opportunity to find equanimity amid changes, to be able to dive down, however temporarily, into that deep still part of oneself that knows not sadness, excitement, or fear.
The study of astrology gives the gift of using the mind. The mental questioning part of oneself, the part that thinks about problems and fears, will learn to identify the patterns which correlate with the changeable moods, feelings and thoughts. Astrology allows us to categorize and analyze patterns that correlate with our mental, emotional and physical states. The transitory part of ourselves, the thinking and feeling part that has opinions, takes on challenges, feels pain and expresses itself as separate and different from others becomes a field of self-observation.
Our idiosyncrasies, our uniqueness, strengths, talents, and challenges reveal themselves more clearly through the lens of this ancient complex and fascinating system.
Time to Learn
If you, dear reader, haven’t yet delved into the practice of yoga, this is an opportune time to start. There are teachers everywhere, in person, online, in apps on the computer and smart phones, on DVDs, and books.
For learning astrology, there are webinars, online classes, podcasts, books, YouTube teachers, and organizations like the NCGR, with meetings in the larger urban areas.
An Era of Opportunities
We live in a time of great unfoldment and learning possibilities. From history we learn that times of great awakening and knowledge can end, sometimes abruptly.
As the Roman Empire gradually crumbled, the infrastructure of roads, protected by loyal soldiers, also crumbled. Roving bands of thieves harassed travelers. The increase in danger prevented people from traveling, trading, and exchanging ideas. Safety was only found in sheltered fortress-like towns and in monasteries. Historians labeled that era the Dark Ages.
We don’t live in a Dark Age now, though in some urban areas, people are afraid to go out at night or to walk home from school in the afternoon. Life on this planet is changeable and unpredictable. Because opportunities right now are all around us, now, this present moment, is an excellent time to grasp them.
