Right around St. Patrick’s Day, you probably hear a whole host of “Irish” aphorisms involving luck, blessings and wishes. Most of what we in America experience as “Irish Wisdom” is a lot of hooey we made up to feel more in touch with Ireland – it’s what we do, we co-opt things to feel like we’re part of something, I guess – but it did get me thinking about the concept of luck and blessings. In specific, how do we make ourselves ready to receive them?
“Ready to accept blessings? That sounds dumb – I’m ready to win the lottery/get this promotion/find Mr. Right any time now, thank-you-very-much.” Actually, I don’t think it is so dumb. Think about playing sports when you were a kid. If you’ve ever played baseball, basketball, any sport involving a ball, really, you know one thing – if you weren’t ready for it, it doesn’t matter if the ball hit you smack in the head – you weren’t going to catch it. If you weren’t there, hands out, eyes open and ready, you were going to miss that darn ball.
Life is like that, too. The luckiest people in the world are really just people who were prepared for the opportunities that came their way. People who were mentally able to react and go for it when a blessing came to them. How do you become one of THOSE people? Simple. Stay present. Kill your ego.
Um, what the what? Kill my ego? Stay with me, folks. The ego, pride, the center of your self-concept – has been getting in the way of your blessings for years. I am greatly oversimplifying this concept here, but the very thing that says, “Oh, no, we can’t do XYZ – we aren’t that kind of person” is the thing standing in the way of getting lucky. What if you never go to a post work shindig because it’s at a kind of crappy bar and you’re not THAT girl – but that’s where you were supposed to have the conversation with someone who’d change your life? Hands out, eyes open, stop saying no and GET READY – blessings will fall into your hands like a softball. Promise.
Warrior II (shown above) and Warrior III are two great poses to practice while you consider getting ready for luck. Both poses tell the story of Virabhadra the Warrior and are a metaphor for killing our ego.
I’ve discussed Warrior II in the past. To achieve Warrior III, stand in mountain pose. Then, bend into a forward fold. Step your right leg back into a high lunge. Balance your torso over the bent left leg. Stretch your arms forward and parallel to the ground. Press up through your grounded foot, bring your right leg up parallel to the floor (in line with your arms and spine) and balance. If you like, you can keep your arms forward or bring them back alongside you. Stay here for 5-6 breaths before bringing your right foot down and repeating on the opposite side.
Happy practicing, folks. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite Irish blessings -
“May the blessings of light be upon you,
Light without and light within
And in all your comings and goings”
Namaste!
PS! Do you have a specific concern you’d like to address – physical or mental? I’d be happy to create a post especially for you. Email me at [email protected].
