Stuck Between a Rock and Hard Place

One of my favorite yoga teachers once asked:

"Are you reflecting or projecting today?"

We have a tendency to dwell for so long on our problems that a thought as simple as 'Hm. It's been a year and I still havent found anyone I feel like expending the energy to seriously date' quickly morphs into 'Oh my god my ex is already bringing his new girlfriend 3000 miles home to meet his family he's going to get married before me I'm going to die a spinster and alone.' Finally able to recognize the warning signs of the tortuous downward spiral that usually ensues following these types of projections, I wanted to start off today on a more positive note and contemplate the question posed by my much wiser yogi.

Are you capable of viewing your problems for what they really are?
Or do you also want to magnify and project onto others any and all your grievances? It must be the curse of humanity to be so vain as to want to view ourselves in a much larger than context than we really are.

This picture brought me some solace this morning. From the trip to Peru I took with aforementioned ex years back, it's a picture of the rock piles the hikers past had left as they climbed Machu Picchu. As the travelers journey past, each one is supposed to place another rock on top of the last one left behind. If the pile collapses the next hiker starts it all over again. It becomes a marker that represents a single spot that is changed, augmented, sometimes even destroyed by random people who are otherwise unconnected. It makes me think of how far and yet nowhere it seems like I've gone over the past year. Touched by many random people, built up and broken down by the same, and now just waiting for the next traveler to venture past...

Think about and thank the people who have added to and detracted from your rock pile. I figure even if we've fallen down, the next person to come by will shape us in a totally different way.
We hope maybe for the better.

Contagious Creativity

Just because we may find ourselves continuously chasing the same goals doesn't mean that the path by which we choose to pursue those ideals need stay the same. Don't be afraid of the unexpected bridges you may have to cross. Delight in the moments you're inspired to stop and admire the flowers you're running past. Slow Down.

We're all in such a rush to get no where.

It took an impromptu visit from my younger, more cerebral brother last night to remind me once again of the privileges we enjoy: Though we posses a sound body, mind and soul, why is it sometimes so easy to forget all we're blessed with and become caught up in our insecurities? One of my favorite parts of medicine is that by constantly being surrounded by the elements of human suffering, it teaches us to look past the magnifications of our own worries and address concerns of life and death - which is really the only worry of any lasting consequence.

Take a step back. Breathe. Analyze.

Allow your own fears to be dwarfed so you can make room to be compassionate about those of others.

Kicking around the sand in the sunset, as we walked along the beach my brother posed an interesting query: Is the human race akin to a parasite? We thrive off leeching resources and in the process cause the demise of those we are dependent on. Taken on a personal scale, we as children drain our parents with our monetary requirements and the emotional strain of child-rearing. As adults, we exploit the weaknesses of our cohorts for personal advancement. As a society, we suck the earth dry of natural resources so we can further pollute the environment. As a political entity, we are warring with countries for what? To establish our military superiority? To gain control of materialistic resources? The irony lay in the fact of how circuitous all the aforementioned pursuits are. We assert dominance to further personal gains but at the end of the day are we really any better off holistically? And isn't that what living with a good quality of life is all about...