yoga thoughts

From BV Yoga March newsletter:
Complacency
By Kiersten Mooney
For most of us, to jar us out of our complacency, we need a disturbance to our usual way of being. While sometimes our greatest personal growth occurs when we have experienced a crisis and life has brought us to our knees, profound growth also occurs through the practice of being conscious. The ancient teachings of yoga are all about consciousness. The more present, open, aware and conscious we are, the less we become shaken by a crisis.
When we are aware things don't rattle us as much. When we are conscious, the stuff we once could not see is now is in our peripheral vision so it doesn't blind side us. Instead of walking around and being attached to the chaos we have created in our own minds we are able to pull back like a telescope and see ourselves and witness our lives from a greater perspective.
When you can look out and see all things in your life as objects - your emotions, thoughts, experiences - and recognize that they are not who you are but objects in which you, the subject, can observe, you take your seat of consciousness. Once you detach and awaken to this, the external objects in your life no longer have a death grip on you because you see it as outside of your self not as part of who you are. If you can see an object, it isn't who you are.
Many people believe that they are their experiences. Although our experiences may contributed to our beliefs and enriched our life, they are not who you are, nor are your beliefs. The reality is many of us have had the same experiences in life, yet we act and perceive that same experience differently and walk away very different people. You are beyond the thoughts, feelings, beliefs and even experiences in your life.
When you take the seat of consciousness you are the witness, the ultimate observer of it all, you are the silent one who hears yourself talking to yourself. You have to be objective enough to pull back into your self to truly open up to this ultimate freedom. This is when life gets fun! You can better see what is coming your way without being hit over the head with a brick. The seat of consciousness is compassionately steadfast, not reacting just continually witnessing. Then from your inner most essence you have the space to choose how you want to respond to any given circumstance or feeling.
From this place you have the capacity to really create what it is you want in your life and to live your life fully without getting caught up in the mental movie making of your mind. You are no longer a staring character in your play but the director. This is where you make life happen, this is where you become open to the limitless possibilities and miracles the universe has available to you. Wayne Dyer says "you don't get what you want, you get what you are". Create the life that you want by being it!