Evolution Is Continuous

The Chausath Yogini temple is a ruined Yogini temple in the Khajuraho town of Madhya Pradesh, India. Dated to the late 9th century, it is the oldest surviving temple at Khajuraho.

The construction of the Khajuraho Yogini temple can be dated to approximately 885 CE.
The largest cell is facing north and is probably representative of Durga, the goddess of strength, power, and protection. Durga is believed to unleash her divine wrath against the wicked for the liberation of the oppressed, and entails destruction to empower creation.

Yesterday I chatted with a young person about her experience of loss of an identity as she transitions into adult responsibilities and different goals. As humanity, we are experiencing what feels like a lot of destructive forces. Fires and floods, the breaking of longstanding relationships. 

When I started climbing in 1991 or 92, I began as a trad climber, learning how to second a route and take out the protection as I climbed. Sport climbing, having prefixed anchors along the route was emerging and quickly my climbing partner turned toward bolting new routes. Along with this change from the purity of placing one's own protection to fixed protection can the performance gains. Risk was reduced and climbers could do harder moves with less chance of hitting the ground. There was push back and some folks, often referred to as old school climbers took it upon themselves to chop those bolts. 

​In a few short years the sport progressed to include those fringe bouldering activities that many had done for years but just called it practicing for real climbing. Now bouldering movement is less informed by technical movements and has evolved to be more dynamic and explosive, parkour. 

Humans like it when things become easier, more efficient and in turn, we believe we progress and get better. If humans did not have this innate desire, we would not be building skyscrapers and making fake currencies. We would not have dishwashers and cars for that matter. But we applaud progress toward more efficiencies and better results - no matter how we measure those results.

With this progress and the transitions come the resistance. Those who will chop the bolts on sport routes, the folks who fight against the degradation to the environment, and the creation of vaccines. Resistance is also the source of suffering.  Mel Robbins is expanding on the idea of Let them, reinforcing the notion that when you resist, you suffer. It's true. But more importantly, is the idea of Let ME. What can I control? If you were unfortunate to be held in a Nazi concentration camp, you could do nothing but Let them keep you there, starve you, and exterminate those who were weak. There was no control. No choice to stop the actions of Hitler and his minions. But there was still choice to express oneself in alignment with ones values in whatever way one could. 

How we express ourselves is a reflection of our values. If we value growth, then choose to grow within the confines of the current reality. Lamenting and staying stuck in the past is suffering and it will not change the future. If you value integrity, then act with integrity. If you value strength, then do what you need to do to be strong every single moment you can. If you are spending your time blaming, then you are stuck and what you value is being right, which is not the same thing as being helpful or being kind. It doesn't build connection or harmony.

Consider - what do you value? We may all value honesty, and yet some will value honest over connection, where for another person, connection takes a higher priority. To discover what you value most, I recommend taking a look at a Values Inventory Sheet or PDF. For example, Brene Brown has this one. Notice that the words are not necessarily action words, they can just be nouns, such as career or nature. When you read these types of words, think of the action that goes with the word, such as career may mean contribution to a greater good, or nature may be interpreted as being in nature or connectedness with nature. 

The next thing you want to do is just go down the list and select all the words that cause a response. If you see the word Independence and that has a strong attraction or grabs your attention, consider whether you mean being independent or do you resonant more with a word like strength or autonomy. Additionally, reconsider each word in the context of an action that is associated with it.

Once you have highlighted or noted the words you respond to, reread those words and look for commonality. For example, you may have selected independence and the word strength and there is a common thread for you with those two words. Group the words with common ground together. 

Now that the words are in groups, and hopefully you have managed to limit it to perhaps five or six groups, you will select one word or perhaps another word not in the initial inventory which best represents the group. For example, let's say I have grouped, adventure, exploring and learning all in one group. Perhaps what each of these words have in common for me is being challenged. Then I would headline the group as Being Challenged or Confronting Challenge. 

Once you have completed this step, you should have no more than five of your top values. Think of these values in terms of action. What action does this value represent to you? Integrity may represent being honest or it may represent being respectful. It's subtle but one may resonant more strongly than the other. 

Now use Mel Robbins advise... consider a situation where you feel yourself resisting what is happening. It may be the words of someone on a social media platform, it may be the expectations you are feeling from a boss or colleague. Let's say I am resisting the six more weeks of winter prediction made by Lucy the Lobster here in Nova Scotia on Groundhog day. Let Lucy and Shubenacadie Sam have their opinion. Let ME, work with my value of tackling challenge with creating ways to act during the six more weeks of winter. I will challenge myself to get out on the trail in my warmest attire and cross country ski today, hike tomorrow, snowshoe the day after. I will challenge myself with ways to warm up from the inside doing warming Yoga postures and bandhas work. Basically, I am changing my view to what I can control. I am operating from a place that fulfills me or gives me a sense of empowerment and that is the only thing I can do at any time.

Let me know what you choose.