Tattoo

Dear Friends In Yoga,

I recently got a tattoo on my left forearm in honor of my mother.  It's a beautiful sun that reminds me of all of the suns mom collected over the years, along with the words, "como el río."  It means "like the river" or "as the river," in Spanish, a language that I am quickly falling in love with.

Paulo Coehlo wrote, "Como el Río que Fluye."  In the book, he compares the flowing of a river to a human life.  There are areas of a river (or times in our lives) that are stuck & still and areas that are moving rapidly.  Rivers support growth, provide shelter, and absorb warm sunlight.  Some rivers join oceans, some dry up for centuries.  The river chooses it's path as often as possible, but there are also uncontrollable forces that shift our path-- natural and personal disasters.  All things must eventually die in order for our planet to evolve, and some of us fearfully and fiercely resist this truth.  For myself, I aspire to always be "like the river"~ content with change, yet never surrendering my power of choice.

Mom is with me in my memory.  And my most vivid memories of her will help influence my future choices.  Her light, the sun, will always shine on me, the flowing river.  And the image on my arm is a nice reminder of all that.