The Divine Inside

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It is so rare to have a human birth. But if you’re reading this, I’m assuming you are one of them. How lucky ;).
“To be born a human being is a rare event in itself, and it is wise to use this opportunity as effectively and skillfully as possible. We must have the proper perspective that of the universal life process, so that the happiness or glory of one person or group is not sought at the expense of others.” Dalai Lama
I was talking with someone recently who helps people transition from this physical life and who helps families to make sense of loved ones who have passed. I asked her what she knew about what happens as people transition and why it is, in her experience in communicating with those spirits who still have “unfinished business” here on earth, when someone can’t quite “let go” yet.
In yoga and meditation, as eerie as this sounds to some people, aside from all of the physical and mental benefits it gives you in this life, we are, essentially, learning how to die. Before you click off to read about something more dramatic and entertaining though, let me explain….

Why are we brought up to fear death? Why are we brought up to fear anything? I guess when you think about your upbringing, your elders or parents or teachers don’t intentionally fill you with fear, but it can happen as a result of being protective. “Don’t stay out past midnight – nothing good happens after midnight!” or “Don’t travel alone – the world is full of sickos!” or “Why would you leave this country? Just stay the hell home.”
But aside from just our loved ones around us, we are bombarded on a daily basis with national and international stories on the news headlines of death, destruction and terror. The daily news always reports on the most awful stories they can find because they know, unfortunately, that the human mind is drawn to this sort of thing. They know that, for some strange reason, fear makes people addicted and they are left wanting more.
The same thing goes for reality TV shows. The drama of people yelling at each other and gossiping turns people on. Why is this? Maybe they figure, “If I watch this, it will teach me how NOT to be with other people,” or “Well I want to see how real people act or how rich or famous people act so I can make sure I never turn out like them,” or finally, “I just like it – it’s entertaining.”

I have a friend who watches these kinds of programs late into the night “to relax” and yet, more than anyone I know, has trouble sleeping. He also talks about how he always has too much on his mind throughout the day and is oftentimes agitated. I wonder why that is? “Research shows in the short term our own concepts of aggression are activated in the brain when we watch these shows, and we are primed to behave aggressively.” (http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/28/health/reality-tv-bullies/)

We react to the environment around us – be it what we hear or see on the news, or what’s been passed down from our parents’ generation. Television has become an amazing source of entertainment with thousands of programs to choose from and the news, no longer just for morning or evening broadcasts, is something we can access 24 hours a day. Why is this a person’s first choice for entertainment? Why is this even a person’s first choice to relax?
I often wonder if people are afraid to be alone, in their own silence. I often wonder if people are afraid to listen to their own thoughts. I wonder if turning on the TV is not a form of entertainment or relaxation at all, but a way to numb out the alternative: being alone with the unknown.
This is what I mean about learning how to die. People don’t want to talk about it, and yet it’s something every single one of us will face. People don’t want to face the reality of what would happen when they leave this earth, and yet it’s just as part of life as being born onto this magical planet.

My two-year-old niece makes me pee-my-pants laugh on a regular basis. She also does some pretty weird stuff. For a week or so, I noticed that she would clench her jaw and open her eyes wide until she kind of started shaking. She thought this was pretty funny and was proud, it seemed, that she had discovered something new her body could do. The other day, I caught her in her car seat trying to look at her own tongue, while she was fondling it with her fingers, trying to figure out what it could do. This absolutely fascinated me.
That woman I mentioned who helped folks transition from this life put it in this way to me: Since it is so rare to have a human birth, there are spirits lingering who are just dying (no pun intended) to be attached to a physical body to come and “play” on planet earth! THIS is the place, she went on to say, where they can manifest their divine spirit, manifest their dreams to come true and to create the beautiful things in their heart!
When I caught my niece playing with her tongue, I tried to put her hand down but she was fixated on it and started getting agitated when I touched her hand. We all have this Divine inside of us. Let me re-phrase that: We ARE Divine but just encased in this physical matter to come to earth and play. But our minds, this tool that we have evolved with to help us think and process, in recent evolution, has gotten the best of us.
When my niece is smiling and hugging and singing, this is her Divine at play. When she gets fixated and angry at this weird muscle in her mouth, her ego is getting in the way a little bit.
This gets worse as we age, if we are not exposed to a regular practice of mindfulness. What do I mean by that? Being aware that we are doing exactly what we are doing and not having our minds be off in never-never land or by being numbed out by some distraction. Being aware that when we are eating…we are eating. Being aware that when we are driving, we are driving. Being aware that when we are with a loved one or a friend, we are with them, listening, and not wanting to be somewhere else. By being exposed and by practicing mindfulness, we are tapping into our true Divine nature, the divine inside this matter that allows it to play. When we are aligned with our Divine, we let go of fear, and find love…because the Divine IS love.
It’s amazing to hear stories of people who were once consumed by ego (this hardened, mental state), and how they softened to find love and every time I hear these stories from my students or people I meet along the way, they’ve all realized that it was something in their past or childhood that hardened them, made them hide their emotions, and filled them with fear. They no longer knew how to love others, never mind themselves. And when you love yourself, things like change and death (the two certainties of life) are more easy to accept – yes, still difficult – but easier to accept as a part of life.

I encourage you to find the Divine inside. Notice if there are habits throughout your daily routine that distract you from finding love. Notice if you react to people in a certain way out of habit or if you’re really doing it from a heart-space. In yoga, I always teach physical postures as “leading with the heart” and this is by no accident. When we lead with our hearts physically, we begin to stand taller, stand straighter, stand with more confidence but not in a “I’m holier than thou” sense, rather, from a place of Divinity. When we lead with our hearts, we embody an inner and outer strength that exudes love, acceptance and truth.
We are all here as Divine beings, put on this earth to express our hearts’ deepest desire. Play on.