Inside Yoga 58 (28/8/12)

Just took some time off, or was it time on? I went on holiday with my partner and little two and a half year old daughter. Therein lies the catch – was it really taking time off? I spent most of the week in the pool teaching her to swim which was really enjoyable – and she did so well, but this simple process of keeping a toddler busy did fill our days. So much so, that by the time we got to her bed time it was also ours!

So that does beg the question: what is time off? It is just another activity. One can be a chore or perhaps it is a pleasure? Why do we put our activities into compartments of “pleasurable”, “chores”, “painful”, “hated” and so forth, because if these are things we have to do, why do we create resistance within the outset for ourselves?

In the Buddha’s teachings there are useful tips on how to deal with the tasks in life. The Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hahn spoke about birthdays as being a Continuation Day, because, as he explained time is continuous and nothing comes from nothing, so therefore a birthday is not a birthday but a continuation.

Take that concept and apply it to the idea of taking some time off. We are still the same person, so we are not “off”, we are simply involved in a different experience or task. It is all part of a continuation of the moments flowing through our life – rather or our lives flowing through moments.  I enjoyed the holiday – that is definite – it was perhaps not time off as time didn’t take a break.

Just a thought.