Rejoicing and Receiving

I find myself with much to be thankful for and to rejoice in this season…

Last week I finished my thesis and graduate work (yay!!). Though part of my celebration is that the hard work of researching and writing and deadlines is over, most of my joy is in beginning to see how what has been such a solitary experience for me is now touching others, too. I gave my thesis presentation last week in Arizona and I was absolutely astounded by the response of my committee as well as the people in attendance. (Come see this lecture for free in Portland on January 4 from 7-9pm at the Motion Massage Studio at 1829 NE Alberta!)

What I found surprising after my presentation in Arizona, however, was just how incredibly difficult it was for me to receive the praise, gratitude and love that people offered me in response. It was so difficult, in fact, that all I could say to one woman in particular who so honestly, articulately, and lovingly conveyed her gratitude to me was, “I really am deeply touched by what you shared, and I am having a hard time fully receiving it.”

So this season I am realizing just how easy giving thanks is for me, but how difficult receiving is. In this, I’ve been considering the word rejoice lately. It’s one that pops up this time of year in many spiritual traditions, and also one that I have never really reflected upon. It means to be joyful and to take delight and pleasure in your own experience or the experience of another.

“Take delight.” Whoa. That sounds a lot different than “give thanks.”

Be joyful? Take? We’re taught that this is selfish and superficial. No wonder it is so hard!

And yet it is so important! Imagine what would happen if in your yoga practice or in something else that has great potential to feed your spirit you only focused on the things that aren’t working and that don’t feel good? Unfortunately it happens all the time, and it is certainly a telling metaphor for how we live off our mats, too.

I don’t mean to be Pollyanna and to negate the immense personal and planetary suffering that exists by suggesting we simply tune in to joy-but if we don’t, we are missing many blessings and one remarkably lovely way to touch in with our true nature.

In googling “rejoice and receive” (I completely rejoice in Google!) I found the text of a sermon given in the 1800′s on the topic. The pastor said:

Mariners tell us that there are some parts of the sea where there is a strong current upon the surface going one way, but that down in the depths there is a strong current running the other way. Two seas do not meet and interfere with one another; but one stream of water on the surface is running in one direction, and another below in an opposite direction. On the surface there is a stream of heaviness rolling with dark waves; but down in the depths there is a strong under-current of great rejoicing that is always flowing there.

This is similar to what yoga teacher Erich Schiffman says about an individual being like a wave on the ocean of Spirit; we are not separate from the ocean, we are sourced from the ocean. We are individual expressions of Spirit. Allowing ourselves to consciously feel our joys and the joys of others-to rejoice-gives us the opportunity to go below the waves and surface currents and experience our vastness.

So I encourage you to join me in these last weeks of 2009 to take time to really feel what you rejoice in, to allow yourself to really receive the joy and delight and pleasure in your life. Start small with how absolutely lovely a yoga pose or a good run feels, or how wonderfully yummy that piece of pumpkin pie is! I’m finding these little things are helping me to share in joys with others in bigger ways.

And so, may I practice by saying that I completely rejoice in your support through the last few months in particular of finishing my degree; I rejoice in the ability to take a few weeks “off” over the holidays before moving into the new year with renewed purpose and new offerings to share with you; and I rejoice in all the joy and love that you receive this holiday season!

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