Tapas. Why You Can't Change
Why is it so damn hard to change? Why is it so damn hard to introduce a new habit in your life and actually stick with it?
Maybe the answer lies in the depth of your conviction as to why this habit matters.
In yoga there is a practice called Tapas. Consider reframing the way in which you set your goals to include Tapas. Read on to find out how Tapas will make your New Year’s Resolution actually stick this year.
Tapas is more than discipline and more than a promise. Tapas is the kind of commitment when your heart instinctively takes the wheel and your mind jumps in the passenger seat as the faithful ride or die.
Tapas is more than buying a gym membership, more than a New Year’s resolution, and if it hasn’t been obvious yet; Tapas is more than some tasty small plates to share with your boo.
The source that lies at the origin of Tapas is the greater knowing of your heart. And when we fuel this kind of integral knowing with passion and sincerity, interlace it with purpose and priority; this, is Tapas.
It is these ingredients that must be mixed with repetition and practice to become the power of a realized goal. The fertilization of the goal has to be tended to with such love, truth, integrity, balance, and curiosity, that what is realized, will be way better than the attainment of the outcome. What is realized, is the understanding, that the honor gained, in such heart centered tending, was life’s magic trick of teaching us how to experience our soul, as a human being.
The way in which it we tend, is everything. Proper tending requires the heart, the mind, and the body, all to participate in agreement of a greater good.
So, we learn to ‘be’ as we ‘do’ instead of doing, to be-come something that lies out ahead of us somewhere, like in Bali, or in the promotion, or in the award, or in the income.
It’s when the negotiation is finalized because the soul came back to the table with it’s “best and final,” and the mind accepts the offer.
Sure the mind is going to mutter some sassy rebuttals, it’s going to want multiple inspections and the closing costs thrown in too, but ultimately, the mind knows that its dream home, resides in the hearts recognition of its own light.
*On the eight limb yogic path, Tapas is part of the second limb, the Niyamas. It is the third Niyama following, Saucha or purity, and then Santosha or contentment.
Thank you for reading dear soul. I so appreciate being part of your day and having the opportunity to present some ideas that will invite deeper contemplation and interesting conversation.
Blessed Be,
Andrea Dawn
