Tuesday, January 5, 2010

meaningful

Ever since I made my monster list of New Year's projects, I've been totally freaking out from the enormity of it all, and the thought of all the things I left off the list. So while I'm winnowing down, revising, and prioritizing the list, here's a post on an unrelated topic.

I sometimes find myself wondering why I am here. Like everyone else on the planet, I know that I am ultimately headed for the big dirt nap, and will probably get there sooner than I expect and much sooner than I'd like. Before that happens, though, I wonder if there's something important that I'm meant to do; not in a paranoid-schizophrenic-delusions-of-grandeur sort of way, rather, I'd like to think there is something I can do with my time here that would be of benefit to others and also meaningful to me. At first I thought that it would involve writing, or some obscure interest or fascination of mine, but I have never been able to figure out what to do with any of that. Most of my interests seem very peculiar to me, and probably not of great import to society at large.

Frustrated, I thought about Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Buckminster Fuller, and their respective struggles to find purpose in their lives. Goethe found his answer in writing; Fuller, in devising creative new ways of living. Both ideas resonate with me in different ways, but neither seems to be my path, per se. Writing is certainly something I love to do, but I don't think I could view it as an end, only as a means. The fundamental drive for me lies somewhere else.

Then I realized I was thinking too much about it, and if there really was something I was meant to do, it was probably right in front of me and not something that I had to dig very deep for. And then it came to me. Yoga. Of course it's yoga; what else could it be? This practice, more than anything else, has been the thing that has helped me unfold as a person. If there is anything I am meant to do, at least at this point in my life, I am certain that this is it; studying, practicing, teaching, living yoga. And there is great comfort and relief in that realization, because this is something I am already involved in and already love.

6 comments:

NoRegrets said...

Good.
Dirt nap?

Squirrel said...

I thought you'd like "dirt nap."

Squirrel said...

Dirt nap - the big sleep; the great dark wonder, the undiscovered country.

Squirrel said...

Ummm... that's what she said?

Pamela said...

Spam is becoming rampant...

Hey - congrats on moving in together! Wonderful!!!

I wish Mike and I could make it up before we leave... not sure though. His sister lives up there you know.

Squirrel said...

Thanks for the congrats! It's terrifying and wonderful.

Wow, you're really going to go, eh? Well, if Mike's sister is up here, then that's one more reason (in addition to awesome climbing) for you to come back and visit.