If you are anything like me, making a plan and having an agenda to follow can feel very grounding. Having a plan gives us a starting point, and helps us to see how we might reach our goal. How can anything happen if you don’t first imagine, then plan it? Whether walking the dog, planting a garden or flying to the moon, seeing it first, then planning to achieve your vision is vital.
Making a plan and holding an agenda too tightly, though, can be a problem. If the plan comes primarily from the ‘thinking’ mind (manomaya kosha in Sanskrit, one of five levels of the human being in yoga philosophy) then our thinking can be very limited and rigid compared to what is ACTUALLY possible.
Living life with Empty Hands means letting go of the ‘agenda’ that often comes with planning, as well as letting go of fixed ideas of how things should turn out. With Empty Hands we can be more open to receive the full richness and unlimited possibilities as we allow ourselves to flow with the rhythm of life.
How to live with Empty Hands and open to Greater Possibility
Cultivate times of inner stillness and quiet in order to LISTEN. Only from a place where we are open to HEAR, can we distill the greater wisdom that is already within us. Are you trying to determine in advance what your true Self and your Heart’s deepest wisdom is saying to you, and not taking the time to listen inwardly? Consulting your thinking mind only, the planning part of you, may lack the expansion and wisdom of your deeper levels and often creates limited and closed ended results. Empty Hands Mudra offers an excellent way to easily find quiet within also posted here in this blog.
Commit to the INTENTION to live with Empty Hands. Sankalpa means intention in Sanskrit and is an ancient yogic practice that can help us to form plans when we need them. In practicing Sankalpa we state what we want or how we want to be, in a positive statement to the Universe, and then the Universe assists in making it happen, without using so much effort and strain.
It can be very freeing to live with Empty Hands, allowing you to remain more open to the great unknown and the expanse of your UNLIMITED SELF.
MASK, Beau Dick, Kwak’waka’wakw. Traditionally, the palm of the open hand is symbolic of friendship, hospitality, peace and goodwill. It may represent the power of creation.
