This post has been ruminating around in my thoughts for quite awhile. The use of mindfulness begins to expand your thoughts and lead you to discoveries about yourself that can give you the feeling of ding1 ding! ding! all light bulbs on!
One of my biggest passions is history. Not the dates and events kind of history but the stories behind how things came to be. The people, the traditions, the basis of how it started. Things as simple (or complicated) as word definitions and how they evolved or changed over time. Stories behind our history, our traditions, our values and how the changes of each generation come into play.
Old School and New Age is one of those stories for me. I set out, many years ago, looking at all those things considered new age. Being an Aquarian, I thought I might look at the “age of Aquarius stuff – but that’s another story. My , my inner being, is a mixed bag of old traditional values combined with an often insatiable curiosity of new, sometimes considered woo-woo, non traditional thinking.
What I have discovered is it really isn’t as much old school versus new age but an inner passion of wanting to bridge the Eastern versus Western cultural and societal beliefs. It all started with what has become one of my favorite all time quotes.
Wisdom begins in Wonder. ~Socrates~
Socrates never wrote any of his teachings. They were shared by others, especially Plato. Socrates mantra, so to speak, was “Know Thyself” and it is more about allowing the student to come to their own learning by their questions, not their answers. But I digress.
Recently, I discovered Earl Nightingale and the Strangest Secret. (published in 1957) I have followed the Law of Attraction, primarily Abraham Hicks versions and have always considered this “New Age”. However, after discovering a You Tube videos of Earl Nightingale and Napoleon Hill (of Think and Grow Rich fame- published in 1937) I had to question just how much New Age is it really?!
History does repeat itself, in the context of changes to fit the perspective of the time, place and social constructs of the present time. Without the knowledge of the history, it just seems new. Whether it is considered old school or new age or something in between, it has all followed a path of philosophy.
I discover more every day how important the practice of mindfulness is. Our frenzied minds distract us from the everyday moments that can show us who we truly are. Mindfulness helps us to come out from behind our masks and to learn to live authentically. Learning to live in the moment, with non-judgement, seems like a daunting task but it starts to come easily the more you practice. It teaches us to honor the truly important things in life.
These words of Maya Angelou (another favorite of mine) describe what mindfulness helps me to do:
Like the oxygen mask story, As I take care of myself, which includes knowing myself and trying to have my actions follow my inner beliefs, then people will remember me because of how I made them feel, simply because I came from the perspective of doing that for myself.
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. ~Maya Angelou~
It’s not what you say to yourself or how you have previously did, but how you make yourself feel in this moment!
What do you think about Old School versus New Age?