Disconnected

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about disconnection. There seems to be an epidemic in our culture concerning this. We see it all around us, yet I don’t think many of us even realize there is a disconnection, and if we do, what to do about it.

I find it funny that in a world where we are increasingly “connected” through social media, cell phones/tablets, Facebook, etc etc, that we don’t actually know how to connect with each other and with ourselves. It’s kind of depressing really.

We live in a culture where “me” “want” “more” are some of the key words that surround us. It’s all about ME, what I WANT and whatever that is I want MORE. the more we consume, the more we feel we are ….

what? What are we doing?
Filling a void?
Where did that void come from?

I am not putting myself above any of this, I too am a part of this epidemic. I am currently struggling with where “me” ends and where my boundaries lie, should I even have boundaries?

I don’t talk about this much, but getting on my mat every day has helped me reach a place inside me that I forgot about a long long time ago. A place where I knew I could do whatever it was I was doing. A place where me want more did not exist. A place where I was enough. A place with no boundaries, a place full of joy even in the midst of chaos. I call this my spiritual awakening in my personal writing.

I use the word spiritual with a purpose. I grew up going to church almost every Sunday, but long abandoned that faith because it didn’t make sense to me. It didn’t make sense that at certain times in my life I was considered dirty (during mensturation). I couldn’t practice the same way as my male counterparts because of this dirtiness. I walked away from it and never looked back. I now see this as the wrong choice to have made. I am not saying that I should have stayed, because I still agree with my decision that there was nothing for me there, but I cut myself off from something vital to me.

I lived in a world where me want more is what I practiced. What did I find? Nothing. I found myself lost in myself. I had things, a comfortable life, yet I was unhappy. I think a lot of us feel this way. Yes there are days where we are truly unhappy for real reasons, but there are others where we can’t find reasons. On paper we have everything we should need yet there is a void.

me want more

We blame this void on others, the economy, our family, our health… What we don’t realize is all of this could be cured if we just let go and listened. I definitely am not talking about chronic pain or illness when I talk about health, these are valid reasons to be having difficulties in life. I’m talking about health issues which can be solved if we ended this me want more mentality.

My year of yoga is coming to an end in a few months. Today I want to remind myself that beyond the me want more is something much more valuable. If we look, we find something better, something more priceless than any of this me want more. We find peace, love, life, beauty, we find ourselves. We find that we are filled with love and light/energy. This light/energy is in each of us, and in that way we were never really disconnected, we were only blocking the light/energy that was there all along.

I often wish I could draw out a map to show people how easy it is to conquer this epidemic. No pills are needed, no money, nothing, just you, your breath, and your willingness to listen to yourself, really truly listen. Everything else will fall into place there will be no room for me want more

I believe that each person, each experience is brought to us because we need to learn something, in order to grow.

We all find our own paths to spirituality, I truly believe that. This might be organized religion of some sort for some people, for others it may be travelling the world and witnessing the miracle of living. For me it was and is yoga. I know one thing for sure, we don’t find it with me want more. That’s where I think we’ve lost our way as a culture. We have let go of some fundamental truths that bind us. These truths cut across all religions, all faiths, they are truths that make us human.