a little bit of prince on the stereo to inspire this lil lady...in fact its been quite an evening of nostalgic tunes, from the aforementioned pint size member of royalty, to the man eating (well who knows??!!) fine young cannibals!...so a jolt back to my youth....so, what can i recall?...
well, apart from the cringe inducing obligation of surviving body changes, sexual exploration, very bad hairstyles (dodgy perm anyone??), house parties, acid house, and the memories of feeling like the 30 odd year olds in the clubs we fakingly found our way in to were sooo old!!, there was also a sense of so much time ahead...yep..in the dawning of adulthood (ugh..such a 'responsible' word) there is oodles of time to work out what we want..no rush...relax..chill out...there is also a sense of optimistic hopefulness...now..i dont remember that part per se but i see it all the time on the fresh faces of the billions of students that arrive to spend the next 3 years or so living the vida loca in manchester finest walls of academia (or rather, pubs, bars n clubs...bless em!)
along with 'hope' arrives its cousin 'faith' (and no, am not going to add 'charity' or else this will simply be a list of cher's childrens names!)...so..faith..hello there...how ya doing?...what do you have to say for your self young lady???....known as shraddha in hindu philosophy this is not really about godly faith but instead shraddha means something closer to 'trust' or 'conviction'...it can also mean confidence or trust in oneself and one's practice...
so we find ourselves back sat with our little friend 'trust' again...such a little word with such a huge potential...so...how does shraddha affect us as we 'grow up'?..well i have been thinking about the difference between 'will' and 'willing'...the first word implies a force, a direct intention, a use of ones own willpower and ego self to move towards something...sometimes when using my 'will' i find myself like a pushing n a shoving to get whatever it is i am focusing on..often i kinda abuse my will and not suprisingly can find myself worn out..yet the second word, 'willing' has a softer quality, a gentleness, an openness to life thats not all about us having to do the work...it is a quality imbued with shraddha, with trust, with a sweet surrender that maybe, just maybe, the desire our heart reaches out for may bear its juicy fruits!...all we have to do is say 'yes' and in the quiet softness we may hear our inner guidance supporting us and holding our hand as we step mindfully into the path we are choosing!
i am choosing 'willingness' as my new partner to dance the steps of life's challenges with...will you join me?..or should i say..are you willing?
so soften up folks, relax back, and in the words of that great 80's philosopher ferris bueller 'life moves pretty fast. if you dont stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it!'
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