The Evolved Ape- Be Strong, Be Kind, and Be Beautiful

Friday, June 11, 2021,

"Be strong, be kind, and be beautiful", is, from what I've heard, a Korean proverb (who knows if that's accurate or not), but the phrase resonated with me when I heard it years ago, and it's stuck with me.

As I've written many times before, we're all physically nothing more than intelligent, and evolved, apes living in our evolved ape bodies and thinking with our evolved ape brains. We're bound into it, and we're constrained by it; and we always will be, until the day we die.

Since we are all encased in our evolved ape bodies/minds, we have to live alongside that ugliness, and everything that comes with it. Much of the ugliness, however, lives inside our heads and can become over complicated through confusion, overthinking, and other deficiencies.

Can this evolved ape ever be beautiful? Beautiful, not in the physical sense, but beautiful in the control that's achieved over the ape-body and the ape-mind. Yes, that will make you beautiful (whether you're 16 or 60).

Comments

Monday, February 13 2017

Monday, February 13 2017 Groggily woke at 5:00am this morning. I've had coffee and I'm on my mat but may not do a physical practice this morning. Monday, February 13 2017 (Part II) Did prayer/meditation on my mat and went through my standard warm-up routine. That's all I have in me. I'm going to move through my day slowly and with care and come home to crash in my bed. Namaste

Re-Building + Persistence

Tuesday, January 23, 2018 Re-building a routine is hard. I woke at my usual 5:00AM this morning and did not want to get out of my bed. I'm on my mat as I write this, however, and will be beginning my practice shortly. I've found that, like most habit changes, the 3rd day "hump" is usually the most difficult; get past that, and you're golden. Tuesday, January 23, 2018 (Part II) I'm writing this on my mat, having just come out of Savasana. As always when we push ourselves through something we don't want to do, it feels good when it's done and over with. I'm feeling wonderful, connected, and ready to address the challenges the day might throw at me. Namaste

Asana

Monday, March 30, 2020 After no physical practice/Asanas on Friday, and no yoga over the weekend, I notice that it's difficult to stay motivated and dedicated to my practice at times. Additionally, I ran a solo-10K this weekend (the St. Louis GO! Marathon/Half-Marthon/10K was cancelled, like most public events), and the additional tenderness in my feet, legs, etc. definitely told me not to get on my mat. Monday blues/malaise, essentially.....a "negative mind"... When I'm on my mat, feeling like it's pointless, and that the day ahead is pointless, and that the efforts I'll expend to make things better are pointless, I can go back to the foundations of my life. First, what do I live for? I live for God. That is my attempted mantra every day. It is not for me/you to understand the purpose of anything. Pulling yourself out of an equation is very liberating in that you're no longer attached to the result. It's 5:27AM as I type this, and it...

James Walsh Yoga

Search This Blog