"In Our Brokenness, We Are Unlimited."

I loved Julie Peter's piece on the Equinox video, and I love this essay  - Why lying broken on the Bedroom Floor Is A Good Idea- even more. 


Her main point is that at that moment - you really are in the present moment.  

In pieces, in a pile on the floor, with no idea how to go forward, your expectations of the future are meaningless. Your stories about the past do not apply. You are in flux, you are changing, you are flowing in a new way, and this is an incredibly powerful opportunity to become new again: to choose how you want to put yourself back together. 

Now that's spin a good lawyer could be proud of, but that characterization doesn't make it  any less true.  Mental gymnastics (or yoga twists) that help pry you off the floor and get you to get up and get up and get up again and keep you going - well, that better than still lying there, no?   


This is a favorite Japanese proverb - "Fall seven times, stand up eight."   At times, that is my mantra.  To me, failure is only when we choose not to stand up or get up.   Zen Habits is another favorite web site of mine and here's one on how to Flip Your Karma: 8 Trick to Turn the Bad into Awesome.   Leo Babauta, the author of Zen Habits, quotes that proverb.   


But if you're flipping out on your bedroom floor, think of Akhilandeshavari, suggests Julie Peter's.  She is the "never not broken goddess" and she rides a crocodile (which represents fear).   Akhilandeshavari doesn't reject fear and doesn't let fear control her - she rides on it and dips into the waves.   I love that.  It's takes courage to let the fear in never mind face it.  
Akhilandeshavari has no limitations.  She is described as being like a fractured diamond and thereby she embodies a more diverse beauty.


We are made more beautiful by our brokenness that lets the cracks of light in.  


I found her story (both Julie's and Akhilandeshavari's) both insightful and resonating.  And next time I am on the floor of my bedroom broken I will think of her, riding a crocodile like a warrior princess.  Thanks Julie, awesome piece.