Jane the Great

 

If you're wondering if this statement refers to me, well, yes it does. I officially changed the spelling of my name many years ago to Jayne and the above is how I was identified in my early years. As my siblings and I were preparing our Mother's house for sale, we had the imposed rite of passage of clearing out 54 years of “stuff” from an organized packrat. Mom literally never threw anything out and as my brother, Ken, emptied out the jam-packed attic and opened a dust covered box, he started to laugh and showed me the above folder. Apparently, way back then I had a high level of optimism as to how my life was meant to unfold. Perhaps my elementary school self knew on some level, that greatness could be an aspiration and that, perhaps, inking the moniker onto my folder would affirm it.

The theme this week isn’t completely about individualism as that would appear quite divergent from the yogic philosophy of interconnectedness. But it is about knowing what our individual and unique gifts are to the world. It also beckons the question of how your life has impacted others, the “why are you here?” inquiry which lays at the heart of many spiritual practices. We so easily get stuck at the point of identifying who we are by our descriptors --- woman, friend, spouse, yoga teacher etc. but what if we are none of those things but simply an energy that people couldn’t quite put their finger on? I have met only a few such people whose presence is what I felt above all else and in that presence, the message that was conveyed and was too strong to ignore was based on love.

Imagine going through life in a way that when people asked, “Who are you? What’s your name?” and you replied, “I am love…” I bet the reaction would be one of surprise with words like “You are crazy” getting whispered under the breath. We express our identity through labels so we can more easily make sense of our relationship and commonalities with others. We don’t know what to do with “I am love”…how do you interact with that? “Ok, love…see you at the game?” Instead, we work through the visage of what identifies us and ultimately, trust that if we step into our greatness it will resonate away from us.

My grade school self knew that greatness could exist within me, but what she didn’t know at the time was how that would be expressed over a lifetime. I have had many moments of greatness and awe and inspiration, yet articulating many of those becomes more elusive. In conversation with my husband, I asked what made him great and he hesitated. Then I re-framed the question to how has his life made a difference to other people’s lives? He also thought that any of the qualities we were talking about weren’t unique to him-loyalty, honesty, direct communication, a drive for social justice and equality are some of many. Yet, I said to him, not one person walking this earth expresses it in the way he does as there is only one of him and his way is beautifully unique.

My quote of the week from Robin Wall Kimmerer, the author of “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants” reflects the way of the Three Sisters which are corn, beans, and squash. Each individual seed is unique unto itself, yet when the three are planted together in a mound of dirt, they “provide a visible manifestation of what a community can become when its members understand and share their gifts.” The corn emerges first from the soil and grows tall, followed by the beans which find anchorage along the cornstalks, and the squash create an underground network so that broad leaves can shade the soil to optimize moisture. The three work together although they have different and individual qualities.

Given where we are at this point in time, with division and finger pointing abounding, I am inspired by the Three Sisters and reminded that although it might feel we stand alone, when we merge and express our greatness, everyone benefits. It is up to us individually to create the “Namaste Effect” as coined by Nischala Joy Devi. When we are truly connected to our inner radiance and we recognize another person connected to theirs, no division exists…we are connected and we are one. The light in me, sees and honors the light in you, and when we are both present in that moment, we are one. Namaste.