The Golden Thread

As most of you know, my son is getting ready to graduate from high school and head off to college. Coupled with the excitement about this next chapter, there is uncertainty and questions as he finalizes this big decision and prepares for this huge life change. As we ride these waves I find myself vacillating between wanting to rush through this uncertainty and wanting to pause right here and stop time. I even find myself sometimes wishing I could go back to when my children were younger. These emotions reminded me of a story called The Magic Thread that a dear friend shared with me a few years ago. It became my message for my classes last week. 

This fable tells the story of a young boy named Peter who is bored and restless with his life and is in a rush to get older and be an adult. He is given a special power to move time along faster by pulling a magic thread. He pulls the thread to avoid difficulty and to satisfy his impatience. He pulls the thread to rush through the chaos of raising children and the suffering of his wife’s illnesses but he then sees the conundrum; that rushing through doesn’t actually solve anything. In fact it just rushed him closer to death without any of the joys that came with the struggles. At the end of his life he realizes that while he didn’t ever have to suffer he also missed out on lots of  joy. He asks to go back and redo his life without the magic thread; to experience the difficulties and struggles along with the joy. I have included a link to the full story below as it was too long to include here. It is worth the read. 

We all have that tendency to “pull the magic thread”; to rush through or avoid life’s uncertain or difficult moments.  On the mat is a great place to practice noticing when we want to “pull the magic thread” so I reminded students often when holding a difficult pose or moving through a tough transition that the practice was in the staying and being with whatever is being offered; not just physically but in the mind as well. There is the opportunity to cultivate more strength, flexibility and resilience when we stay and we ultimately receive the reward in both our bodies and our minds when we do. 

Off the mat it is the same. The tendency to focus on some future time when “everything will be better” cheats us out of all the joy today. The instinct to rush through or avoid discomfort to “get to the other side” trains our minds to do the same with joyful moments. What we practice, we get better at… whatever it is. 

Stepping away and committing to the practice helps us to “not pull the magic thread”. Whether it is just a few moments of meditation, stepping on your mat for a physical practice or anything else that allows you to be fully present for a moment offers us that training in the mind. For me, I try to look out my window each morning and appreciate the day. It is just a couple of seconds but it brings me to the present moment.