"What's Your Bright Side?"

I was driving home in a torrential downpour.  The rain was so heavy, I pulled over onto what I hoped was the shoulder until it subsided enough to continue on. I was only an hour from home but it took me two and a half. The tollway was like a parking lot and I decided to flip on the radio. I mostly listen to AM and as I pressed the buttons of stations I had saved, I heard a guy on WGN say, "Hello? What's your bright side?"

Intrigued, my hand dropped and I continued to listen. The DJ kept taking callers and saying, "What's your bright side?" One caller said his dog's diabetes numbers were finally balanced. A woman said she had been cancer free for 26 weeks.  A man said he was no longer homeless because he just got a job. I found myself cheering them on!  It was inspiring and such a role change from habitual complaining.

There's a song called "Yellow Light" and the lyrics are as follows:

"I'm looking for a place to start,
But everything feels so different now.
Just grab a hold of my hand,
I will lead you through this wonderland.
Water up to my knees,
But sharks are swimming in the sea.
Just follow my yellow light
And ignore all those big warning signs.
Somewhere deep in the dark
A howling beast hears us talk.
I dare you to close your eyes
And see all the colors in disguise.
Running into the night,
The earth is shaking and I see a light.
The light is blinding my eyes
As the soft walls eat us alive."

When we feel trapped by sad stuff, stressful stuff, etc, we can feel this way...as though there were sharks swimming around us and beasts in the dark.  We have to remember we each have an amazing inner light and to keep expressing our bright side. Yoga Sutra 1.24 states, " The Divine consciousness is self-effulgent like the sun."  When we are in connection with our inner light, we cannot stop that light from shining out on others. When we get in our "stuck" place and rely too heavily on the light of other's to carry us along, the light will eventually seem blinding because it is someone else's light reflecting upon us; we must move on to find our own.

Ellen DeGeneres: " In the beginning there was nothing.  God said, "Let there be light!"  And there was light.  There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better."  With light, comes clarity!

I had each yoga student write down their bright side of life for that day. Here's the beautiful list:

*For a very supportive wife
*In 16 days I will be FREE
*I crowd surfed last night!
*Son's baby coming in three weeks
*2 beautiful summer days in a row!
*I saw a baby fawn on my bike ride and it stopped and stared at me- beautiful
*Healthy stress-free life
*I learned to shut my mind off
*The family all love each other
*I laughed today
*I've got a FREE day!
*Good health in ALL of my family
*My family is all healthy

"Someday perhaps the inner light will shine forth from us, and then we'll need no other light." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

What's your bright side?


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