Fredrick Nietzsche
Oh Memory...you are some piece of work. I mean really, sometimes I love you, sometimes I hate you, sometimes I wish you would just stop being so damn stubborn and help me out with those lyrics I've been trying to sing for dayyyyyys. I know I know them, but I just can't put my finger on it. SO FRUSTRATING. Sometimes Memory, you just straight up disable me from moving forward with my life because you keep telling me that I don't like this, or I don't like that, or this will hurt beyond what I can handle, or this person is lame...remember? Memory, if you were my boyfriend I would seriously dump your controlling ass. But as it is, you are not a boyfriend. Or something that I'm ever going to give up willingly. So what do we do about this sitation? Well, this is what I have decided to do, and readers you can take suit if it fits for you as well. I think it is of great benefit to approach situations as if it is the first time. Observe succinctly whats going on around you. Move your body that makes sense and feel good for you, not what you know to be safe. Eat that food, because hey you may just like it! To be clear, I'm not suggesting a self induced amnesia. I'm suggesting a neutral, fresh, and unattached approach to each encounter. Is this making sense? Hmm...how about an example.
Some yoga teachers who's classes I've taken or who's writings I have read have advised their students to approach asanas (poses) as if it were their very first time. Take each one slowly and with much consideration, studying each subtle movement and sensation. If you are a regular hatha yoga practitioner, this is can prove to be quite a difficult task. For one, there is an element of ego and pride in knowing the basic poses. Finally you don't have to look up at the teacher every time for guidance, and in fact you know what they are going to say before they say it. Boy, don't you feel neato. (and by you of coarse I mean me). But now that you're here in Neatoasana, you may find that whoops you've lost or balance, or your mind has wondered away from you and your focus on your breathing has vanished. Maybe not, but I've heard a story a many where this has happened. Even worse, I've talked to some practitioners who've attested that their memory was the cause of injury, as they took for granted the many anatomical elements of the pose and hurt themselves. Sad face icon =(.
From a yogic belief system point of view, yogi's believe that there are 5 types of thoughts. That is to say that there are 5 categories that thoughts fall into even though the idea or thought impressions are infinite. The five categories that thoughts can be filed under are: right kind of thinking (pramana), wrong kind of thinking (viparyaya), imagined (vikalpa), deep sleep (nidra), and of coarse memory (smriti). Through meditation and deep conscious focus, one can detach themselves from these thoughts and simply witness them happen without being consumed by them. You can find this in Patanjali's Sutra 1.5. So try this as homework: try to view and experience situations by simply observing. Don't judge. Don't expect. Don't rely on past experiences to dictate current experiences. Simply watch and accept it for what it is.
That's all for now. Thanks so much for reading. Again please comment if you have any questions or additions or this topic, or suggestions...chu know...the typical comment stuff.
Cheers and Namaste.
PS: I remembered the lyrics to that song I mentioned before. It was "Let me see that thongggggg. Thong, tha tha tha thong." I feel so much relief right now!
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