Wabi Sabi - Practicing The Beauty of Imperfection

Recording a video yesterday,  I suddenly started to talk about borsht - a beet soup from my country of birth.  Talking about it made me so joyful and light!  I felt first time how I actually enjoy my hardcore Russian accent!  25 years in this country, and my accent is still perfect! :) 

Someone asked me once: "How long you are in USA?", probably thinking: "She just arrived".  When I said: "25 years in New York City", instead of judgment that I expected, they got so impressed and exclaimed:  "How did you manage to preserve such a great accent!?" This really put me at ease, and I said: "I tried really hard!" 

I always were shy about my English, and my accent, and my Russian now, believe me, not better too! For some reason I am given this challenge in life: to be a writer, a speaker, a storyteller in my being, and having this imperfect tool to use! 

My friend reminded me today about an old Japanese art form -  Wabi Sabi - the way to embrace impermanence of this world and see the beauty of imperfection.  How wonderfully this applies to my verbal expression, how much more warmth it brings to my heart when I smile, remembering talking about borsht, and posting it to the whole world without fear!  I used to have fear of being ridiculed, rejected, not accepted, judged.  When I immigrated to USA from Russia, I used to feel dumb and not smart enough, even though I had an Engineering degree, only because I couldn't express myself in the clarity and precision my being always demanded from me.  

So today I am practicing  Wabi Sabi - seeing the beauty in imperfection.  It feels natural to love playful me. It feels very compassionate and generous.  It feels life-giving. I encourage anyone who still feel shy about anything in themselves that feels less then enough, drop that idea, and instead see the beauty of the uniqueness that is only you.  

Only you are with that birthmark on the cheek. Only you are with that special crackling voice.  Only you are without that tooth, and that one too.  Only you are with that accent that makes everyone smile and listen.  Only you have those interesting body proportions.  Only you got that life experience.  Only you can sing as you sing.  Only you can write as you write. Only you can love as you love.  Isn't it beautiful to be you?!  Let's practice Wabi Sabi and celebrate the uniqueness in each of us!

The video I mention in this article is here: 
Elena's YouTube video on borsht :)

Life As a Teacher?

We hear so many times: "Life as a teacher".  
What does it really mean?
Why then we read books, listen to teachers in search for answers?

When we believe we are separate beings: 
here is me and there is the world,
then we believe that things happen To us, and we seek advice 
how to fix what is happening to us and around us.

If we are awake to Life,
we know "that over there" is a part of us.
We do not need to seek advice outside from our own perception.
The perfect teaching is right in front of us, including us.

We just learn to read the "Book of Life"
where words are perceived objects, people, characters,
and the sentences are circumstances, environment, relations.

We learn to read our own story,
which is exact representation of the mind state in the moment.
Have a question? That question is a part of the story,
and it will be answered. Just ask and be ready.

Have a worthy question, kick back, and SEE.
The answer is right in front of your eyes, don't miss it.
Abandon conceptual thought, even for a moment,
and SEE.

This answer will include full sensory experience at first,
keep looking. 
Have another question: 
"Who is the one who see"?

3D glasses might drop suddenly,
shuttering 
t h e   w h o l e 
w o r l d 
at once.

The End of Your Story.

The YouTube version here: Life As a Teacher narrated by Elena

A Little Closer To Who You Are

I know my life is different from yours, the storyline, the movie, we all have different stories to live and tell here. 

Beautiful intricate stories, they all based on certain scenarios written by gods...just kidding.. I don't know really, I can speculate and present you very logical and believable version of what scenario is and how it was developed.  

Some of us so much in their roles, it is so seamless, "What you are talking about?! Thats totally me, and thats who I am!" Besides that all is a holographic image, and we are not even people we think we are, and the world we think we live in does not even exist, hahaha, besides that, even the roles we assume may be far from the most fitting, they are familiar and habitual, but they are foreign just as any dress on the body is not really a skin. 

What we do when we notice we are in an old role that doesn't feel right anymore? We get out, we take the mask off, we reject any attempt to put that mask back on us and put us back in the script. We now see the script, we see the role, we see the mask. We are confronted by everybody to get back to it: put it on, get in, be just like we want you to be.  

Fuck that. Be free. Step out. Doesn't matter what they think, what they say, its all one play - do not forget that, in a way its a scenario testing itself if it can run its usual course, or if its time to end - *poof *.  

This is a good time to kick back and just chill, no step forward, no step back...stay where you are, inhale deeply and FEEL. And Just Be. Thats enough. Thats actually perfect. BE. Don't be somebody, someone, a role, a character...just be...no name, no form, no reason. Just BE. Let life run its course. It will breath you. It will sustain you while you just BE. The role is finished. You can raise, breath, and start another one, little closer to who you are.