Yes. I've been holding "memento mori" as a mantra these days. Truly - nothing is certain but the fact of the inevitable end of this lifetime. Thanks, Maia 🕊️
Hello Maia , I also post meditations and ways to Soul Connect and nourish internal safety during the inevitable crumbling of the old era. I’m eager to read yours. I just saw your posts for the first time and that you had contact with the Tewa . I was honored to take care of two Tewa elders in a nursing home in Payson Arizona where I co ordinated meaningful activities for the residents . Frog Woman Joy Navassi was in my care for 8 years and her cousin Jack I also got to know Jack’s brother Thom who lived in Payson and had his own business there . I learned from her and her visiting family .
When I first began studying yoga and its philosophy, I believed it would make my journey easier. How naive I was. It did help me accept the truth of impermanence. Not that I don't still resist it, but I now better appreciate life's fragility and try to live more fully.
Perhaps we’ve had this conversation before, Paulette, but I often have the Five Remembrances from the Upajjhatthana Sutta in the back of my mind, they serve the same purpose:
I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.
I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape having ill health.
I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.
All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.
My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.
Thanks, Maia. Slowly and deeply, and after many years and challenges personal, professional and physical, I am getting it that my focus first needs to be internally with myself and cultivate the understanding that I am equal to my life. If there is any real sense of stability or groundedness in the midst of uncertainty and changes, it really does start with me, and perhaps end there. Maybe the better word for me is resilience and understanding its opposite as resistance. Something I've had to learn and keep practicing.
Maia, I couldn't resist the title, given the uncertainty of our times. I love how you interwove these valuable quotes with your own insights to lead us toward embracing uncertainty rather than resisting it.
Thanks, Sandra! Of course it’s one thing to say it’s important to embrace uncertainty and another to actually embody that. As you know so well, a daily practice is immensely helpful in preparing us to relate to the world in ways which roll with uncertainty rather than fight against it.
I watched my elderly parents obsess about security to the point where their lives were shrunken by fear and panic. I’m determined, at 81, not to follow their path. Thank you, Maia, for your thoughts on this and for including Eve Ensler’s wise words.
Maia, I've been walking alongside this in my own healing journey for quite a while now. Looking back from where I stand today, I see more change, impermanence, upheaval, and uncertainty than anything else.
In January, I asked in a poem what freedom is — and sat with it. I found it, the way I found belonging, agency, self-determination — alive within me. Alive amidst every shifting moment, every unlabeled path ahead. That finding freed something in me.
That is beautiful, Jay. Did you post the poem here? If so, please feel free to drop a link here in the comments. When one person finds freedom, it helps others.
I’m reading this on April Fools’ day at my work desk and smiling at the reminder of the illusion of security (like job security) & permanence. Thank you for the nudge to greet Here and greet Now with excitement & gratitude.
Yes. I've been holding "memento mori" as a mantra these days. Truly - nothing is certain but the fact of the inevitable end of this lifetime. Thanks, Maia 🕊️
Hello Maia , I also post meditations and ways to Soul Connect and nourish internal safety during the inevitable crumbling of the old era. I’m eager to read yours. I just saw your posts for the first time and that you had contact with the Tewa . I was honored to take care of two Tewa elders in a nursing home in Payson Arizona where I co ordinated meaningful activities for the residents . Frog Woman Joy Navassi was in my care for 8 years and her cousin Jack I also got to know Jack’s brother Thom who lived in Payson and had his own business there . I learned from her and her visiting family .
Great essay, Maia.
When I first began studying yoga and its philosophy, I believed it would make my journey easier. How naive I was. It did help me accept the truth of impermanence. Not that I don't still resist it, but I now better appreciate life's fragility and try to live more fully.
Perhaps we’ve had this conversation before, Paulette, but I often have the Five Remembrances from the Upajjhatthana Sutta in the back of my mind, they serve the same purpose:
I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.
I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape having ill health.
I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.
All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.
My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.
No, I don't think we have, Maia. Thank you for sharing the Five Remembrances. They are powerful and helpful. I appreciate you sharing them here.
Thanks, Maia. Slowly and deeply, and after many years and challenges personal, professional and physical, I am getting it that my focus first needs to be internally with myself and cultivate the understanding that I am equal to my life. If there is any real sense of stability or groundedness in the midst of uncertainty and changes, it really does start with me, and perhaps end there. Maybe the better word for me is resilience and understanding its opposite as resistance. Something I've had to learn and keep practicing.
Here are some of the forgotten “pagan” foundations for the moon-centered computation for the day of Easter
https://theherstoryarchive.substack.com/p/a-womans-body-is-the-first-clock?r=6ayf2j&utm_medium=ios
that’s great, thanks!
Maia, I couldn't resist the title, given the uncertainty of our times. I love how you interwove these valuable quotes with your own insights to lead us toward embracing uncertainty rather than resisting it.
Thanks, Sandra! Of course it’s one thing to say it’s important to embrace uncertainty and another to actually embody that. As you know so well, a daily practice is immensely helpful in preparing us to relate to the world in ways which roll with uncertainty rather than fight against it.
Security? Myth.
Certainty? Mirage, or joke!
Now? Stable enough.
as usual, you've just summed up the whole essay in three pithy lines. Thank you, Marisol, yay haiku!
I watched my elderly parents obsess about security to the point where their lives were shrunken by fear and panic. I’m determined, at 81, not to follow their path. Thank you, Maia, for your thoughts on this and for including Eve Ensler’s wise words.
Maia, I've been walking alongside this in my own healing journey for quite a while now. Looking back from where I stand today, I see more change, impermanence, upheaval, and uncertainty than anything else.
In January, I asked in a poem what freedom is — and sat with it. I found it, the way I found belonging, agency, self-determination — alive within me. Alive amidst every shifting moment, every unlabeled path ahead. That finding freed something in me.
Thank you for sharing your path.
That is beautiful, Jay. Did you post the poem here? If so, please feel free to drop a link here in the comments. When one person finds freedom, it helps others.
This is that exploration about Freedom: https://wildlionessespride.substack.com/p/how-can-i-know-what-ive-never-had?r=1sss7q&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I’m reading this on April Fools’ day at my work desk and smiling at the reminder of the illusion of security (like job security) & permanence. Thank you for the nudge to greet Here and greet Now with excitement & gratitude.
Ha, that's great, Elizabeth. I hadn't even connected April Fools with this little essay and the 'illusion of security.' Jokes on us!