The Delete Button in Your Head

I don't know about you but I get an awful lot of emails from a wide variety of sites. Some are from sites I have willingly signed up to receive information from and others are ads from stores that keep bombarding me with things I "have to have."  




Here are some of the recent subject lines I have received recently:

Become a Spiritual Psychic in 28 Days
Hot deal for you now
Only hours left...
think fast
shop now
can't miss


The one that really caught my attention and my sudden ire was:
This Is the Deal You've Been Waiting For

That last one was from Old Navy. I get it's an advertising ploy but, seriously? Have I really been waiting for a deal like this? Why is everyone in such a rush to push?  We are faced with this fast pace all the time, but I would encourage you to use your yoga to slow down so these types of messages don't create unnecessary stress as though our time is dwindling to get in the best deal ever! Trust me, it's not. There is always going to be another "deal".  And for that type of pressure to be coming at us from anonymous advertising staff who get paid to create a knee-jerk reaction within us via our personal technology almost seems downright invasive; even though we gave them our email and, therefore, permission to come on in. We give all sorts of people permission to come on into our lives but that doesn't mean we need to accept everything they come in with! Right now, especially during the holiday season, we don't need more anxiety. We need less; we need to slow down.

"There is more to life than increasing its speed.” ~Gandhi

Take a few deep yoga breaths right now and consciously start a slowing down process within. Patanjali, Father of Yoga and author of the Yoga Sutras, explains in Yoga Sutra 1.2 "yogas citta vrtti nirodhah"; "yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind."

The constant movement of our minds is normal. But we can use our yoga tools to allow ourselves to be and explore a sense of calm. Just because all the ads and the stores with their holiday decorations out in October are trying to agitate us to move and to buy, we do not have to listen.  We can non-judgmentally see the email and then consciously hit delete. When you feel bombarded and that sense of urgency rising, consciously press the delete button of your mind. Give permission to yourself to put that thought in the minds' trash folder. Let it go. I don't need a store to tell me what I have been waiting for. The things I am "waiting" for, I seek on my own:  time on my mat, sitting in silence, envisioning waves on a beach.

Eddie Cantor wrote, "Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast- you also miss the sense of where you are going and why."

If your holiday shopping is typically a blur and a crossed off to do list, more importantly, if your life is typically a blur and a crossed off to-do list, stop and ponder this idea of where and why.  Life should be a path of love, kindness, family, community, friends.  The meaning behind the holidays has somehow turned towards "think fast, shop now, don't miss", but we have the power of choice. We can choose exactly how much of life we intend to ponder and to explore and how much we are going to rush through.  It's up to you. Don't be afraid to hit delete.

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