Ease into lightness

I’m not sure if I’ve shared this with you before but I’m not a big fan of new year’s resolutions. I do, however, love coming up with a few words that provide the modus operandi of how I want to move forward each year. Last year, one of the words I was very drawn to was ‘Ease’.

After years of pushing myself to the limit, I thought I’d see how this little word might change my experience of life. What I found is that throughout the past year, as I was about to set myself up for impossible goals, I’d stop and ask myself firstly, if it was absolutely necessary that this task be done and secondly, that was it possible to carry it out in a satisfactory manner instead of striving for brilliance. Once a nerd, always a nerd. Of course I’m joking but how we identify ourself starts early and it can lead to subtle behaviours in adulthood which keep us circling relentlessly.

In not trying to get an A on everything on my list I learned a couple of very important lessons. Nobody is judging me except myself. I have nothing to prove. In that moment of silence, after the initial realisation I felt the pattern I had been stuck in, give way and then in its wake, the exhalation of freedom. This is how we liberate ourself from the trappings of the mind. In time, what came to replace the energy of the unyielding thoughts was the delicious ease of a once upon childhood.

Last year’s word lead to this year’s perspective. Lightness. I loved it instantly. For me it holds the promise of yet another level of awareness through which to embrace life. A lightness of being.

In realising that it’s possible to take the weight out of life, to hold it gently, we allow ourself to become available to peace and joy now, instead of perpetually seeking for it in the future, a point in time that does not even exist.

Best
Afshan x