Back In the Day: Pleasure Seekers

I love the phrase, "Back In the Day," because it both immediately implies that in the current day, there is nothing close to the activities that were held "back in the day," and it also implies that somehow, those activities "back in the day" were superior to, truer than, or better than the activities today.

What an interesting philosophy we all seem to share.

As we experience freedom in our earlier years (teens, twenties and thirties), we think that we're doing something that has never been done before, we're on the cutting edge, we're creating something so brand new that in the future, they'll look to us and marvel. As we begin to approach forty, however, most of the time, the folks in their teens and early twenties aren't even aware of what we were doing "back in the day." And so, unless we have someone to blather on and on about how our years were precious, we seclude ourselves from the current stream of inspiration and claim that our days, back in the day, were much better than what these young folks are experiencing right now, to-day!

Of course, having this kind of attitude is complete nonsense. Without yesterday, there would be no today. Without today, there will be no tomorrow. Time moves on, unaware of our emotions. Every day, eventually becomes "back in the day."

The real kernel of truth lies in this moment, in the right now. Whenever I find myself living back in the day, I must remind myself to live again, to stop being a dead soul, chasing past experience, trying to capture an emotional resonance that long passed."

Why give away this gift of the present moment? In doing so, I give away my power. I give the energy of this moment to someone else.

And therein, my resolve: to not live "back in the day," to seek pleasure today, to seek joy, truth, love, and freedom in every moment.

The hard part? Reminding myself of this when I'm feeling sullen.

The easy part? To remember it when I'm feeling good.

Case in Point: This morming.
2:38am. My daughter wakes up and I crawl into bed with her. Though we both fall back asleep, I am tired, and she wakes up again at 6am to nurse. I'm tired, exhausted, and wish that I had more sleep. I was feeling kinda emotionally crappy, as well. I was dangerously close to falling down the rabbit hole of "back in the day" self-pity.

Luckily, my parents were in town and one of my mentors, Shiva Rea, was teaching two classes. I had told her I could assist one and would like to take the other.

My gift? When I arrived, there were more than enough assistants, and I got to take a class and then leave and come home. Wow, what a gift of Time.

The class was perfect: a juicy, rasa-filled flow. Enough to get me saturated, but not one of those hard-core classes that dries out me out. Enough energy to wake me up, but keep me at peace.

A perfect class on a perfectly rainy day.

I love yoga.

I seek pleasure in yoga.

And I hope to share that with my students.

That is the flow of life, isn't it?