November is Renunciation
Welcome to November!
It would have been Tyler’s 28th birthday today. It is always a tender time on the holiday’s and birthdays of those we no longer can hug in the physical realm. We find ourselves really missing our loved ones more as each year passes and missing the joy of seeing them grow and change.
When reflecting on love and loss, we realize the impermanence of life and its circumstances is the very fabric of our experience. We have to learn to love what is, as much as what was, or what we imagine will be.
And this impermanence holds one of the most powerful spiritual practices we possess.
Gratitude.
As humans, we tend to have an appreciation deficit. Our brains developed with a bias to identify what is wrong with our environment in order to keep us safe. Its a very helpful skill, this critical eye. If we are in danger.
But on a normal day, it tends to be a joy suck.
When our critical inner voice runs rampant we can feel the negative energy it creates. Our macchiato has too much cream, we spilled on our leather seats, our belly is too full of macchiato.
Its ongoing. And it will become the dominate thought pattern if we don’t bring intention and mindfulness to practice gratitude for our abundant blessings.
This is why nothing can stay. Because the more we understand that each person, experience, moment of this life is fleeting, the more we appreciate what is happening right now.
Our daily thought habits can train our minds to notice what we love. What we value. What makes us feel the way we deserve to feel. And nothing feels as good as gratitude.
Don’t worry. We can’t over do it. Appreciation is like spiritual Miracle Grow for our lives. It always helps, it always adds, it always enriches.
In contrast, criticism should come with a warning label. Like most toxins, it should be used with extreme caution and only in cases of emergency.
November is the month of renunciation. Letting go. I let go of the pain and grief of my son’s transition and choose to celebrate the 19 years I was lucky enough to spend with him. I let go of my desire to have a different past, in order to fully appreciate the loving “present” I receive in each mindful moment.
Today I choose to release all criticism of my experience, replacing a peaceful acceptance for this impermanent and precious moment of life. I breathe in gratitude and breathe out criticism, clinging, and grief over the past.
The holidays are coming, but each moment is holy in gratitude and appreciation. We can transmute our pain into purpose through the renewing of our minds. We can create a more abundant and joyful life through the commitment and intention to notice each blessing and to treasure the gift of the present. And so it is…