Asteya/Non-Stealing or Generosity: Acting With The Mentality Of Abundance

 
The effect of Satya/Truthfulness, the previous Yama I covered, was profound.

My daughter is auditioning for the play Peter Pan. She recorded herself singing the audition song, and then ended up in tears when she played it back. This was on the way to school yesterday.

​”I sound awful, and it doesn’t sound like the voice in my head at all!”​ she cried. ​”Is this how I really sound?”​ she asked me. As her mother, what was I to reply? Of course I hear the voice of my beautiful child. All the kids in the schoolyard were heading inside while Jaya was getting more and more upset in the backseat of the car and I was concerned she would be late for school. ​”Um, can we go over it again after school?”​ I asked.

Too late! It was a full-blown meltdown! I decided to step out of the car, and the five steps Andrea taught me earlier this week popped into my head. I breathed. Quickly, I pleaded for help. I opened to the situation with kindness and I set an intention to compassionately just be with Jaya’s overwhelming sadness and frustration with her voice. Then I opened the back door of the car and climbed in with her. “I don’t know the right words to say to you now,” I explained. I reached out for her hand. Then, as if a light bulb went off in her head, she turned the recorder back on, and sang quietly with all the emotion she was feeling into the mic. She played it back again, and smiled. “Now that’s the voice I hear in my head,” she said, satisfied. I smiled, “Ready for school?” I asked.

She was a few minutes late, but we worked all the way through it, and I felt satisfied, too. Rather than trying to control the situation for the sake of getting her into school on time, I remained truthful, and it all worked out.

Today’s Yama is Asteya/Non-Stealing or Generosity: Acting With The Mentality Of Abundance.

Here are a few affirmations I came up with for Asteya:

I model for my child letting go of what we don’t need. In doing so, we make space for the universe to provide us with what we do need, be it a physical possession, an experience, or simply a sense of well-being.

I let my child experience all of her feelings, including sadness, frustration, or hurt. I control my urges to rush her through her feelings to get to the other side more quickly.

I tell my child and myself that she is enough, and I am enough. We have enough, enough to give to others.

I practice giving my child my full attention. I make eye contact with my child as much as possible. I automatically put the phone down or look away from the computer when she is speaking to me.