Today Mars in Aries is making a trine to the Sun in Sagittarius.
The God of war, planet connected with initiating things, anger, acting, sexual energy, and our vital forces is talking to the Sun in Sagittarius – the Centaur, half men half horse, the one who conquered the animal within, gained control over the lower nature and now is aiming his arrow (focus) high into the sky, towards the spirituality, transcendence, something bigger than just ourselves.
Bhagavadgita (part of Mahabharata) – the sacred book of Hinduism is a dialog between Krishna and a young warrior – prince Arjuna. It takes place on the battlefield, which is a metaphor for internal war.
It tells us where the real fight is actually happening.
Every day on some level we struggle. To get out of bed, to do our practices, to avoid certain thoughts, certain words and certain food, to take care of your dog or cat, to take care of kids, to be a good wife, husband, friend, every moment we can choose to be a better person, to improve, to go higher, to learn how to apologize, to be humble, remember all the things that we can be grateful for.
And it is not easy. Again and again, we found ourselves back in the loop, concurred by our habits. Sometimes not in a good place in life, powerless, not knowing how to get out from that.
That’s why these teachings, powerful reminder:
You are at war.
Krishna is telling Arjuna: pick up your bow and have no mercy on your enemies.
Compassion is definitely the way, working on your inner child is great, but there is a certain level, the certain dimension of our life experience where we have to get down there with a heavy weapon of self-determination and no self-pity. There is a moment in our life when we have to pull ourselves up by the ears from the deep mud. And we were told that this is not possible. Well, it is. And sometimes we in a situation when we will figure out how to do this or we will drown.
You are at war.
The power of Shaolin monks does not come only from hours of physical training. What is underling their skills is a mastery over their weaknesses. Their mental training, strong psyche, control over the mind (I can’t do this, it is not possible, I was raised that way, I was traumatized, etc.). Cut off what disempowers you and choose what empowers you. That is sometimes a brutal fight.
Every time you feel beaten down, failed again, remember that you are a warrior and you are at war. There is a level of your life experience, where you are the only one who can help yourself. No one else will come to rescue you. It’s between you and You. So get up, brush yourself off, and keep going. As a wise man says: if you can’t walk anymore, crawl, but don’t stop. Don’t get stuck. In the Mayan language, there is no such a word as „mistake”. There are no mistakes, there are only lessons. Even when you lose, you win, because you gain experience that will allow you not to fall again in the same situation.
Observe your thoughts carefully and see which of them disempowers you (I failed, I’m worthless, others are better, prettier, earn more, sing better, play better, fight better, cook better, they are stronger, they have happier families). Have no mercy on your internal demons.
And every time you will get up at 5.30 am and do yoga –
That is your victory.
Every day without coffee, cigarette, meat – a battle won.
Every time you will refrain from using certain words, refrain from retaliation or aggression on somebody.
Every time you will keep your mouth shut when you know that is better not to say anything than to say what was at that moment in your head – you won.
The difference between master and student is that master has failed more times than the student even tried.
Watch “Touching the Void“, absolutely my favorite film when I feel down.… No, it’s not another boring documentary about the Zen monk 😉
