Today is day seven of the NAVARATRI Festival run by my amazing teacher Sharada. A Festival to celebrate the goddesses Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati.

But we don’t only celebrate the goddesses themselves, the strength of those goddesses, the knowledge, the courage and all the superb qualities we superimpose onto them. Still, in fact, we celebrate the goddesses within us; in essence, we celebrate the qualities we want for ourselves.

The qualities we need to move on in our lives, to overcome blockages we face at the moment, and of which we haven’t found ways to overcome.

Those old practices and rituals were there to help humans live their lives in harmony with their needs and values – why shouldn’t they still be relevant for us today?

DAILY TASKS

We were asked to write down what we can change in our lives and what we can not. Instantly, I felt a specific resistance to writing what I could not change. I felt that I didn’t have the right to write things down that I could not change as this would be similar to complain about them.
I sit with that…

And I discovered that I didn’t want to change other people nor circumstances. The only “thing” I wanted to change was me. I want to change myself in ways that I don’t feel the need to change anything anymore, in ways that enable me to accept everything as it is.

Who am I to change others? I know so well how difficult it is to change oneself. So, do I have the right to ask this from others? It is their lives – not mine. I think the need to change others is a projection of my inner feeling and desire for change. And instead of changing yourself, you try to change others – which feels more easily. But it isn’t. You can not change anyone but yourself. The only person you can influence is you.

The other day, we were asked to do a sacred task by calling someone we didn’t speak to for a while and tell them how much we care and love them. And I called my mother. Our relationship isn’t easy…

And it came so naturally to me to call her and let her be as she is. This has been a significant internal shift for me.

The thing is, although I always wanted her to change so she would be able to live a happier life – but do I really know what makes her happy? And if I would, is what I want her to change precisely the cause of her happiness? Probably not.

The only person I can change is me. If I only focus my need for change on myself and actively courageously start changing myself, everything else changes because I release the general need for change.

Read that again:

If I only focus my need for change on myself and start changing myself, everything else changes because I release the general need for change.

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