Santosa- Contentment
2:42 Santosad anuttamah sukha labhah
When contentment is actively cultivated, it is an unparalleled sweetness of being.
During the Holidays it can be easy to get wrapped up in the emotion of the season. For some this can be a happy fun season and for others a sad time. As we reflect on the past year and anticipate the changes of the coming year, I think it is important to pause and take notice of the current moment. Not whats missing but instead look at all we have.
It is said that the left brain controls the analytical side of us. Everything we analyze is either in our past or our future. The right brain is the creative (dancing, drawing, creating, storytelling), this side exists in the present. This said, we are not just our brain. Perhaps when we find the balance between the two (right and left hemispheres) we can truly exist in our physical body and move into a more intuitive space that exists between the heart and the gut. This space that has no relationship to time at all.
This holiday season I am choosing to allow myself to spend time to experience it all. Left brain dominant as I organize festivities and gifts for friends and family. Right brain dominant cooking, decorating and creating crafts and art. Body dominant as I let it all go and perhaps laugh or dance with friends and family or during the more quiet times during yoga and mediation practice. Through all these various activities I will to my best to cultivate an attitude of Santosa. Of course all of this is Practice and that is what it is to be human.