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Your Comfort Is Irrelevant

Friday, July 14, 2023,

The title of today's post is from a show titled "Call the Midwife".  I've watched. few seasons of it but, in effect, it's a BBC program that takes place in post-WWII England.  The subject matter focuses around a group of Nuns and their assistants, and the women's healthcare they provided at the time.  

The show is interesting and engaging for several reasons but, most interesting, is how the Nuns, who offered pre-natal healthcare to the women in their community, struggled at times.  In Europe, in the 1950s, having a child out of wedlock would have been something that society frowned on; the Nuns had to look past this, and offer their aid to anyone who needed it (wed or unwed).  One of the assistants (who was a secular nurse in training) mentioned to the lead Nun that, "helping women of this sort makes me uncomfortable".  The lead Nun, who was mindful, realistic, and wise, kindly advised this younger nurse-in-training that, "your comfort is irrelevant".  

KA-BAM!

It's such an alien concept to think about in our modern world.  Shouldn't comfort be the top thing we all think about?  Unfortunately, when everyone starts thinking only about their comfort first, it develops the more selfish and self-centered side of our personalities......stay this way for too long, and this will become your character; selfish, and self-centered, and concerned first and foremost with your own comfort not the comfort of others.  

Becoming indifferent to pain, turmoil, and discomfort is something a yoga practice can teach you.  Learning to become indifferent to discomfort (be it mental or physical discomfort) leads to growth. 

In that vein, it's 5:30am as I type this, and it's time to begin today's practice...

Part II:

As always, the Part II is written after my Corpse Pose/Savasana closing sequence, final prayers, etc.  The version that's coming off the mat is always superior to the version that got on the mat in the beginning of practice. 

My mind was out of control this morning for some reason; the "monkey" kept getting up from his chair and running around.  I had to bring "the monkey" back down to the chair multiple times and ask him to sit still (sometimes I was ashamed at how long my brain/thoughts had been off thinking about nonsense and everything else, before becoming aware of how long my brain/thoughts were off running amok, and realizing I needed to bring it all back down to focus). 

Ah well.....

Time to enter the world. 

Namaste

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