Your Life Becomes a Masterpiece When You Learn to Master Peace.
My meditation teacher Salliji told me, “As soon as a person does not take his or her existence for granted, magic appears.” Salliji taught me meditation and pranayama breathing techniques up until her mid-80s. She brought more peace to me by teaching me that my life would follow my breath. Shallow breathing leads to a superficial life. Agitated breathing leads to agitation. And, of course, peaceful breathing leads to peace.
She also introduced a word to me, "soul-icide," the suicide of the soul. Salliji said modern society didn’t create enough rituals to replenish our souls. She said the five ways you can tell that your soul is starving are:
- You rarely laugh from your belly or cry from your heart.
- You’ve lost your sense of idealism and passion and are too focused on "pursuing" life.
- You haven’t recently stared into the eyes of another (the windows to the soul) for more than ten seconds.
- You don’t schedule regular time each week to invest in activities that put you into a state of flow.
- You don’t have a mindfulness practice.
I miss Salliji. She passed away before the term “modern elder” had been coined by my young Airbnb co-workers. She’d be so honored to know I was sharing some of her wisdom.
