The Yamas and the Niyamas by Debrah Adelle play an essential role in my mindfulness. Today's discussion is JUST on the yamas. :)My perspective of applying it to my life and anything in between.
Special Thanks to:
The Bible
Music by Free Beats on Sound Cloud
Today's Manuscript (always rough)
The yamas.
And I do not want to ditz the niyamas. For as in Deborah Adelle’s book “The Yama and The Niyamas” I want to discuss solely the yamas today. The social retraints. The Niyamas are the self disciplines. This will be one of a three part series. I will discuss the yamas today. The niyamas in a few days… and then I will tie them all together.
Social Restraint. What comes to mind when you think of this. I mean, seriously.. I see this time we are in, this quarantine…. and then the letting up of it in phases as being a sound representation of social restraint.
It is VERY easy to avoid the 5 yamas that are known as avoiding: violence, lying, stealing, wasting energy, and possessiveness.
avoid violence, lying, stealing, wasting energy, and possessiveness,
When I am stuck inside my home…. literally none of this can take place. BECAUSE I am not given the opportunity. You are not given the opportunity.
Now, possessiveness takes place in the lives of my children. (I am a mom of a 5 and 3 year old) If you are a mom, or have spent any amount of time around children, or simply remember being a child yourself…. that toy is “mine” or “mommy, she took that.. It’s mine and even though I wasn’t playing with it.. I want it back” and then (as a mom of girls) ALL the tears… all the tears come rushing out.
I see this in my home daily. I sometimes find myself getting a little possessive of the food in the fridge, or the chocolate in the pantry. And you know what… those are the LITTLE moments where I catch myself not following these ethical guidelines of being non-possesssive.
You see this on my back.. and you want it? Ok… sure! No, I’ll admit.. I am not that giving. And then often I am too giving. I give my time like it’s water streaming from a river. Anyone can grab ahold of it.
And thus the practice of… “AVOID WASTING ENERGY”
I am not saying my time is wasted energy. AND I am saying that sometimes I give too much of my time. I don’t conserve my energy in order to protect myself.
Feel me?
The bible speaks a lot about all these rules. Believer or unbeliever form my perspective it is essential to understand that WORLD religions teaches us all to do good. Simply put. How to be better humans.
And while some of us may carry or possess the dark side of life… I believe, we are all on this planet for the GREATER GOOD.
In that… why waste energy? Use is wisely. Observer + Conserve.
Eclessiatstes 3:1
For everything there is a season. AND a time for every matter under heaven.
Eclessiastes 5:15-17
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
James 4:14
Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
So… make good use of your time. And time is energy. Right?
Your energy is what you carry and how your thoughts radiate in your being. Positive or negative. I feel it. I feel my own energy with intensity. And I feel yours too.
And how we use our energy and our output really does say if we are using it wisely or not.
Therefore, avoid wasting it!
Violence is unnecessary. What good does it do? My oldest has recently got into some shows.. they are cartoons. you think harmless right? Pokemon, Supergirls, etc…. And then, maybe half an hour later she’s ninja kicking her little sister? Wait what? This is just simple proof that media has a HUGE affect on our children.
So. this goes into wasting our energy or resting? The mind numbing shows that can happen can also be mind altering.
This ties violence and being mindful of our energy together. It is essential to recognize that all of these can intermingle.
And it is like telling a child to “not touch their face” during the pandemic… what are they going to do? TOUCH THEIR FACE.
Avoiding violence when violence is seen, is like me… every time I saw okay, you can watch pokeman and you have to promise not to fight with your sister…. (it’s really can be a good show, there are little lessons in it… and also… violence)
Following me? For me, the yamas really come full circle back to being mindful. Mindful of what we are doing with each breathe and each movemnt. The rules in the bible and rules that your parents may or may not have set for you go OUT THE WINDOW if I am not going to choose to be mindful.
See… we can take all these guidelines for what they are. Good. And we can learn from them. If we choice. Based on our free will of choice that God has given us.
When it comes to avoiding violence, lying, stealing, and wasting energy… for me, it all circles back to are we being mindful?
Lying and stealing is as basic as the golden rule, in my opinion. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Do you want to be lied to? Or would you rather hear the truth? I sure would rather hear the truth… even if it hurts. It may hurt me for a split second, or a few days.. and at least I was told the truth.
So, I have lied. And fallen short. And I have been mindful over the years as to what I was doing. I thought I was doing good by hiding something so I wouldn’t hurt someone. In the end…. the act of hiding was lying… and that hurt the person more. So was I really mindful? I’ll say I learned my lesson the hard way.
And stealing. It’s like as basic as if you would take a peace of bubble gum from the candy store…..
Feel me? I had plenty of friend that would do this… somehow they would think it was okay, growing up bubble gum was only 5 cents. And I would say 5 cents is FIVE cents… why take 5 cents… even if it is only 5 cents?
And it is parallel to stealing time.
So coming full circle: Be mindful. Be aware of the yamas and practice them.
