When I did my daily practice of Laughter in October 2012, I came across a video from Dr Madan Kataria, the founder of Laughter Yoga, in which he talked about the ancient Indian wisdom which says ‘don’t curse the dark, light a lamp’.
Most of us have a tendency to curse the dark, to complain about our lives, to see only what is missing in our life, to see only what is bad in the world. Our media compound this on a daily basis by behaving like Chicken Little and insisting the sky is going to fall in. (it never does)
We curse and rail against the dark…but for most of us, what we yearn for is light. We ache to be joyful, to fall deeply in love with our lives, to dance through life with a carefree heart and a smile on our face. But guess what? Cursing the dark is not the way to get that.
Complaining about life does not help our life improve (identifying where improvements can be made is good, constantly going on about the problems is not). Finding people to blame for why the world is going to hell in a handbasket doesn’t help us to feel good, to be joyous, to be full of gratitude and appreciation for the wonder and beauty of life.
Looking for the light, the beautiful, the wonderful, the good, the joyous, the fabulous, the happiness in life DOES help us to enjoy life. Shit happens in life…but as soon as you can, light a lamp. You may need to bump into some furniture in the dark first…but remember to light the lamp rather than just cursing the darkness.
How do you light a lamp in your life? Laughter, exercise, fresh air, doing things you love to do, taking care of yourself, focusing on the positive, gratitude, fun, inspiration, dancing, singing, getting in touch with your inner wisdom, working towards your most exciting ambitions and goals, hanging out with ‘light’ people, being silly, recapturing your childlike enthusiasm for life…and so much more.
When you next find yourself cursing the dark, remember to just light a lamp. Just a small spark of light can take away the dark…
Love
Donna.x
Comments
4 responses to “OnTheBeach: Don’t Curse the Dark, Light a Lamp”
Lol Tanja – I hear ya! Well, one small light is that if you need to worry about this, you’re selling your stuff worldwide! Awesome *happy dance* (I say this from a position of someone who’s been wtf’ing about it for quite some time). I’m still hopeful a loophole will be found…meanwhile I’m investigating selling via online e-commerce sites, EU banning plugins and such. xx
Lmao Joseph – that’s officially now my favourite quote! Genius. xx
Hmmmmm… I’m definitely noticing the whole “curse the darkness” thing going on in my own life right now when it comes to to the craziness of the new EU VAT legislation. I wonder what lighting a lamp might look like in that situation?
Food for thought!
Blessings
TANJA
reminds me about the quote from Sara Henderson, “don’t wait to see the light at the end of the tunnel, stride down there and light the bloody thing yourself”