Solar-Powered.
“A spark can set a whole forest on fire. Just a spark. Save it.” -Charles Bukowski
Gas in the tank. Fuel on the fire. Rage in the cage.
Anger. Fire. Heat. All of these things can be great catalysts for both creation and destruction. More productive things have likely come to fruition from the fight or flight response stages than the freeze stage. Frozen. Stuck. Trapped in time. We’ve all been there. Moments like watching a car crash slowed down in time and you can’t look away.
From a chemical standpoint, when we want to calculate how much heat something has gained (think of your home heating system) we must use a formula including the inside air temperature, the outside air temperature, and the rate of flow of the outside air- which is introducing the heat inside. Different materials have different heat capacities when we are talking about reactions, like when something burns. The heat capacity determines how slowly or quickly that something will react, or burn.
What I’m getting at is that it can be good to stir the pot and get worked up about things. Anger and fire and burning, proverbially or actually, can motivate great changes. The problem doesn’t lie in one’s inability to wake up prancing through the fields happy-go-lucky as Julie Andrews 365 days a year. The risk lies in knowing, or not knowing, one’s limits. What heat capacity do we have and what is the heat capacity of the material who’s fire we’re playing with? For me, I find I can handle most things at an appropriate pace, but it’s the things that come too much, too fast, too soon, that shove me into that freeze state of overwhelm and loss of clarity or critical thinking capacity.
With it being the start of summer temps many places, many of you likely have turned on your air conditioning for the first time this year, if you use AC. Places like Phoenix, where using AC is a matter of survival, residents know what often happens that first time your AC is turned on it leads to an awful smell of debris that have been sitting stagnant being burned off. Until the continual use of the air conditioner prevents any more debris from building and the old debris have been burned off, things stink. Practices like yoga and meditation being routine are important for this same principal. We’re essentially dusting in order to prevent internal cob-webs to build up. We can all be driven or motivated from heat and fire, but to know an appropriate pace at which to let the candle burn is important. When we can get comfortable feeling our bodies and minds in both their strength and rigor as well as ease and slowness, our sthira and sukha. Calculate what we have going on inside, what is going on outside, and consider the rate of flow of whatever is heating us up. Like are we talking a fly in the ear steady annoyance, how many consecutive push-ups you can do in 5 minutes, or how long you can listen to that family member cast their societal constructed views of you in front of others before you lash out or walk away. How quickly does this fire heat you up and what’s your threshold to tolerate it. When we do yoga and meditate we get nice and acquainted with our nervous system and subtleties, like changes in breathing patterns and unconsciously clenching certain small muscles, that give information to plug into what’s going on inside and outside and how are we tolerating this rate of flow. It is funny and weird work and takes time and a lot of openness to do things like breath like a bee, stare at a candle, and see how long we can hold a plank or lunge-like posture before our brain gets upset and we choose to fight, flight, freeze, or settle into what’s happening. The keys are awareness and choice. Am I aware of what’s influencing my actions? Am I choosing what pace, what approach, and how to interact with my environment?
"Mind is the wielder of muscles. The force of a hammer blow depends on the energy applied; the power expressed by a man's bodily instrument depends on his aggressive will and courage." -Paramhansa Yogananda
Our days need rays of sun on our skin just as much as we need the moon shining. Click here for a video of me planting over 150 spinach plants in the jungle sun and choosing to skip my workout and rest after. What’s fueling you and are you picking a good pace?