Living to serve/serving others/putting other first:

Hi everyone!! I hope you all had a beautiful weekend!! I recently moved from Maui to Big Island into a yoga ashram, whoo! It’s quite different than the last place I was at, but I know it’s exactly where I am supposed to be at this time. This week I wanted to talk about serving others, or putting others before ourselves. This can get a bit confusing, which I will explain more in detail below. This idea came to me today while cooking dinner. I was talking to someone I live with about how lucky we are to live where we do. He told me that when you want anything in your life, when you are doing anything, if you are doing it with the intention of helping others instead of just yourself, magical things happen that you normally wouldn’t think possible. Everything falls into place with ease. This hit me in a really profound way and made me stop and think about what I was really doing with anything in my life such as my art and my reasons for being at the ashram. I for one, always feel a lot better when I am doing anything for the intention of helping others instead of myself, giving to others instead of myself, I find my heart more full and I am more content and peaceful.

The reason this can be so tricky (in my opinion) is because some people mistake putting others first as doing anything they can possibly do for other people, giving away all of their energy to others and not leaving any for themselves. I like to think of it as a well. Yes, its great to give water to those that need it, but if you give all of your water away (even to those that have enough) you will dry up and not be able to help out anymore thirsty humans! So, it’s very important to remember that self care comes first. Making sure your needs are met, that you have enough energy or life force so that you may give your mana to those that really need it!

Again, it all comes back to intention! Ask yourself, why are you doing what you are doing? This can be with anything! If your intention comes from the ego, or for selfish reasons, than maybe it is best to direct your energy and attention to something else. A lot of the time we may think we are doing something good for someone else, but this can be another trick by the ego (ah!!) and it is actually just to make ourselves feel better. This is not really what it means to serve others. What I mean is doing something and not thinking about what you will get out of it, not thinking about the outcome, just doing it to do it! Most of us do things so that we as individuals will get something in return!

This goes hand in hand with the law of attraction: what you give out you get back. The more you give (especially love!!) the more you will get back! Sometimes we are afraid and we get too attached to material objects, circumstances, people, dreams, desires; we are afraid if we give them away we will never have them again. The truth is, we don’t own ANYTHING in this life, nor the next one, or the next one after that! We are just visitors hanging out on this earth. So don’t worry about things you cannot control, possessions or people that will inevitably leave you. Because one day we will all depart from our skin suits and then who knows! What I do know is that you cannot take your cellphone, car, dog, sister, banana figs (my favorite) with you on the way out. A good practice to lessen our attachments is to give it away! “Give always give what you can, even if your allies draw lines in the sand.” A great start to the song Love Letters to God by one of my favorite musicians Nahko! This song is a vibe for me, a great reminder to give even when you don’t necessarily want to, when it is difficult to let go, give and you will feel yourself become lighter and more connected.

Putting others before ourselves is not something our individualistic society is used to. We are taught to take what we can because there is never enough. Well there is enough. Pachamama provides for her children, but when some take more than they need to, that is when there is imbalance in the world. That is why there is starvation, deforestation, destruction, alienation from one another! There is no need to live in fear. To live in greed. Sharing what we have is a much better way to live, our ancestors knew it, the ancients, the indigenous. When we share and put others first, we find more meaning, purpose, gratitude, and love for ourselves and for others. Ask yourself, do you feel better when you share with others or keep it all to yourself?

This also doesn’t have to be tangible, material possessions either. Sharing ideas, art, love, stories, emotions, are sometimes even more beautiful! So if you take anything into 2020, I hope it is giving more than you take, living and loving with intention, and showing yourself some love and gratitude for what you already have:)

Everyone have a blessed week. Peace from Big Island!! Also, feel free to message me as always! Also hear is the link for the song I mentioned earlier: https://open.spotify.com/track/7KJcNLzUlCYnmTgsyyswOG?si=l7x7torkTfWRe9zCHOnWJw

Aho!

Rylee

Authenticity!!

One of the most important things we can do in our lives: live authentically!! Yet this is one of the hardest things for most of us. Why is this? What is holding us back from living as our truest forms? Living without limits, boundaries, lines and fears. Truly being exactly who we are meant to be at each moment in time.

There is only one you. The you that is unlike any other. You were meant to be exactly who you are for a reason, so why are so many of use trying to be anything other than ourselves? It’s like trying to swim upstream, constantly fighting and battling with the current of life, desperately trying to conform and fit into boxes that our soul just wasn’t meant to be packed into. The fact is, no one is meant to live in a box! No one is meant to follow any rules. There are no rules of life. This is no secret! Yet all of us are raised to believe that we must follow the guidelines of a book that was written by someone other than ourselves. Imagine this: we’re all living our own lives in a way that SOMEONE ELSE wants us to be living it. This is crazy! For someone else to tell us what to do, what to think, how to feel, express. It doesn’t align. When we try to conform, to fit into places not meant for the shape of our soul, we end up feeling confused, angry, unhappy, bitter, resentful, etc.

Living authentically can be scary. But guess what? Some of the best things in life are scary. Its about acknowledging that fear, and then simply letting it go, not letting it take ahold of your life and how you’re going to live it. Take the reigns back! Dive into the scariest depths of yourself! Do the things you’ve always wanted to do, but are too scared of doing. Say the things you’ve always wanted to say. People aren’t always going to like what you say and do. That is fine! At the end of the day the only thing that matters is what you think of yourself. And I promise you, the more you live your life in an authentic way, the better you are going to feel. The more aligned with your true self you will feel. The more in-tune you feel with yourself, the more connected you will feel to those around you.

Living authentically also gives others the opportunity to live authentically. Ever see someone totally owning who they are and thinking how happy they are? How they radiate with a great luminosity and higher vibration? It’s because they really do! And because of this they in-turn attract energies and vibrations on the same wavelength as them, law of attraction baby!! Others can literally sense your authenticity, can feel it. Once you own this, there is NOTHING that can hold you back.

It would be a waste to try to live within the lines. To live as someone else, when you know fully well who you are inside. We ALL know who we are, and we all have the tools at any time to figure this out. Everything you need is within. That happiness you crave and search for? You aren’t going to find it within another person, in your drink at the bar, in the books that you read, the places you travel. It doesn’t exist there, it only lies within your soul, your being. Living authentically is honoring your soul, your essence. It’s giving yourself the love that you deserve. We all deserve this unconditional love that only we ourselves can give to us. When we give this love to ourselves, it is then we can share it with the world.

Grateful for all of you, this moment in time, and the alignment of the sky.

Namaste,

Rylee