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A Lesson From the Lotus

On February 25, 2014 in General by Anitra Lahiri

Now, liken yourself to the lotus flower, and your deep, dirty past as the mud from which the most awesome and precious you can now exist.

Think back on last year. Conjure up all the mistakes you made, the ugly moments you may have created, the lies you told, the ways in which you hurt others or yourself. Conjure up the most painful losses, the hardest moments. We don’t like ringing in a new year with all of these terrible images, but if we’re going to truly grow – stretch upwards and out of the murk — we need to look at all of that ugliness, not with regret or guilt, but with curiosity and openness to growing evermore.

How will all that mud from last year — the losses, the pain, the mistakes — grow you this year? You see, like the lotus, it is only through finding nourishment in all that murk and dirt that we can truly evolve and grow. Instead of telling yourself that this year you will lose weight, be happy, or find a mate, instead resolve to simply learn from last year’s dirt. Let last year’s mistakes, last year’s regrets, last year’s ugliness be this year’s evolution.

But what can you learn from a loved one’s death? Perhaps it is to love well, or to express love more, or to appreciate those you do have more and more with each passing day you are given. What can you learn from a terrible diagnosis? Perhaps to nourish the human body you have now better than ever, to honor and love what does function well inside of your body, to discover and maybe even fall in love with a form of exercise you never tried before. What can you learn from the lies you told, the uncaring words that fell from your lips? Perhaps simply to be all the more mindful of what you say this year, to pause more before speaking, or to ask yourself if your words are aligned with your truest values.

You get the idea. Before you jump on the weight-loss or find-a-mate bandwagon, really look at last year’s failures, tragedies, problems. Review them, consider why they happened, digest all that you can learn from them. Make the ugliness of last year the mud through which you will evolve and shine this year.

“I love the lotus because, even while growing from mud, it is unstained.” – Zhou Dunyi

By Anitra Lahiri

Anitra Lahiri is an avid Yogi, Yoga Instructor, mother, and writer who strives (and often fails!) to infuse all aspects of her life with Yoga philosophy and practice. Her Yoga blog, Under the Lotus Tree, is for anyone who simply wants to live a healthier, more meaningful life. Read more from Anitra at her blog - underthelotustree.com.