Non-Attachment:

Hey everyone, I hope things are well on your end, wherever you are. It seems as though this Coronavirus thing is really creating some havoc back on the mainland and around the globe. Canceling flights to and from Europe and even the great March Madness!! How will we ever live!! Its times like these that I remember how little control we all actually have. It also reminds me that it doesn’t matter where you are living on this earth, how much money you have, what your job is. Coronavirus does not care about the labels we place on ourselves. Everything is fleeting, and we never know what is going to happen at any moment. No, this doesn’t have to be scary either. This is what makes life exciting! Everything is always changing right before our eyes, and having a view of it that is non-attached can help us all to live it in a more peaceful, happy way.

Most of us create little stories or mind-movies within our heads. We play out scenarios or our future lives and how they will be. We picture ourselves happy (most of the time) with maybe our dream job, the perfect partner, maybe a few kids thrown in the mix (or none if thats how you want to roll). We spend our present moments carefully planning and checking things off our lists so that our futures may turn out exactly how we view them in our minds. But most of the time, reality is not what we think it is going to be! I know that I am not alone in this. Did I think that I would be typing away in a coffee shop in a small town called Pahoa on a Thursday morning in Hawaii? Hell no! I thought I would be living out west, in some graduate program for creative writers. That was my plan anyway. But plans never turn out how we think they will. Life never turns out how we think we want it to. But it turns out how it is supposed to. Take that sentence in, let it marinate in your membrane for a minute or two. Everything turns out how it should. Though sometimes we don’t always see it this way.

We get so caught up in what we think we need and want, who we think we should be with, what job we think we should have, where we should be living, that we forget we are exactly where we are supposed to be, doing exactly what we are supposed to be doing in the present moment. To me, everything happens for a reason. There are no coincidences. The universe pushes us exactly where we need to go. Sometimes it gives us lessons that may seem unfair or unbearable. We may ask, “why is this happening to me?” A good way to think about these hardships is rephrasing the questions to, “what is this teaching me?”. This goes back to one of the Niyamas of yoga called Tapas which means to put yourself in the heat or the fire, so that you may burn away anything that keeps you from becoming your best self. At the time it really sucks to be in the heat, it is uncomfortable and maybe a bit scary, but change is scary for most of us. That is why a lot of people don’t want to change.

You may look around and think that your life is in chaos, or destruction. You may feel confused when you see the ashes of your life lay around you; everything that you were working towards, everything that you thought you knew suddenly changes. But I promise that you will make it to the other side a much stronger and more humble, wise soul.

Even though our external world is out of our control, such as the way others act towards us, or circumstances that occur, we can control our internal reactions. Practicing non-attachment is a great way to do this. Simply letting things you can’t control (which is everything outside of you) flow out of you. When someone cancels plans, instead of getting upset with them, just letting the negative energy you are feeling inside flow out of you and on its way. Imagine life is like a river, and if you don’t flow with it, what happens? You try to fight the current, climb your way upstream and you become exhausted and stressed by having to flight the natural direction of the way the river is going. The more we try to fight what is happening to us, the more we will suffer. The more we acknowledge what is happening to us and make peace with it, the faster it will be to get over it.

The more that we can view our lives with a non-attached view, the more we can enjoy the rhythm of life. The more we can let go of the tension we feel within, we begin to relax and join the ever-changing dance of what it means to be alive in this human experience. We spend so much time worrying about things that will never happen, things that don’t really matter in the grand scheme of it all. When we do this we miss out of the simple pleasures that are always happening within and around us.

I also want to say that this doens’t mean you can just sit back and wait for it all to come to you. Because that is not how it all works either (if only). Knowing when to take action and when to just let it be is also part of life; again it is a balance:) What you put out into the world you get back from the world.

Remember to breathe through it all. You are exactly where you are meant to be, doing exactly what you are meant to be doing.

Mahalo beauties,

Rylee

Life is a balance:

Hiiiiiiii homies!!! When thinking of what topic to write about today, balance was the first thing that popped into my mind. Balance has been a very important aspect in my life thus far and also has helped guide and align me on my spiritual path. Though balance is much needed in all of our lives, this is something that is often forgotten or put on the back-burner.

Why is balance important? Balance is important because it helps us keep and contain the right amount of energy we need to be our highest selves in all aspects of our lives. When we spend or give too much of our energy to just one area of our lives, other parts suffer. This can lead to stress, anxiety, relational problems, self-loathing, etc. When our outside world is out of balance, you can be sure our inner world is out of wack as well! We may feel confused, chronically tired, or feel like we are stuck and moving nowhere towards our goals and dreams.

A lot of us are so overwhelmed now-a-days with everything in our lives: whether this be our job, friends, hobbies, dreams, family, and now social media; which adds on another layer to our balance enigma. We are all so busy trying to do everything, be everything, check all the boxes off on our to-do lists; we forget the point of all of this busyness: to LIVE! To simply be alive and to just BE, is all we really need to do, all we really need to accomplish. Finding balance can help us find presence which helps us to be in the present moment, without worrying about texts we need to answer, work that needs to be done, a run that needs to be completed, etc.

All you need to do is first listen. I have said this a few times and I will say it many more times on this blog. Simply listen to your body, your mind, your heart, your breath. These will all tell you if you’re out of balance, out of synch with life. And if you’re questioning if you’re out of balance, you most likely are out of balance. For we know ourselves better than anyone, sometimes it’s just facing the hard truth that maybe some aspects of our lives needs to change. Maybe you need to work less, and rest more. Maybe its less drug use and more time for your hobbies or working towards your dreams. Maybe its less Netflix and more hikes with your dog or friends! Maybe its eating more veggies and fruits instead of processed foods, skipping your workout and sleeping a few hours more. These are a few examples of how to bring yourself into balance! Once you feel as though you are able to walk through your life on solid ground its totally ok to have a beer, eat that donut, watch that show on netflix, run that half-marathon!

Sometimes we get so caught up in doing the best things for ourselves, that we become too attached to a version of ourselves that isn’t exactly the best version we can be. I’m talking about the one that is able to relax, flow through life with more ease, appreciate their life as well as others within their lives. For we are all humans, and none of us are perfect (in the normal sense that most people think of). Honestly, we’re all perfect right now, as is. I’m perfect as I type out this post, you’re perfect as you’re reading this post, my roommate sitting to the left is perfect as he strums his guitar! The good news is, you’re exactly how you’re supposed to be at this moment, exactly where you’re supposed to be at this moment. This doesn’t mean that you can’t strive to be better, you can do this everyday! But it means being able to appreciate what you may consider a “mistake” or a “flaw”, it means moving through the flow of life with less effort and simply enjoying the ride. Finding balance helps us to enjoy the simple moments. These moments are what truly make this world beautiful.

I am grateful for you all! And know that you who is reading this is an amazing and beautiful human and cosmic being RIGHT NOW at this minute! Yes you!! I hope this article helps to shed a bit more light onto the balance situation, as always feel free to message me on my email or social media pages!

Mahalo and namaste,

Rylee