After a much-anticipated wait, I finally saw Sex And The City 2 last night. I am a Sex And The City aficionado and follower. Although I did not start watching until after the show ended on HBO and was on my local channel as reruns, I saw every episode at least 5 times and loved the first movie. OK, for those of you following my blog and column, Actualizing Your Yoga, you may wonder what this article has to do with Yoga or spirituality. Let me explain.
For those of you unfamiliar with the story line of Sex And The City, it is about the lives of 4 thirty-fifty something women living in NYC and the very real and sometimes not so real dramas that these women go through. It started as a story line of 4 modern single women and then follows and documents how their lives transform over a 12-year period of time to the present.
In Sex And The City 2, we encounter these women at the peak of their lives. All of them, to a large part, are living their dream lives. Carrie is married to Mr. Big, the love of her life, is a successful author and is living in a dream apartment in NYC with all the amenities anyone could hope for. Charlotte has the husband and two children she has pined for all of her life. Miranda is a successful attorney and has a great home life and Samantha is as successful, beautiful, sexy and happily single as ever.
Although, Sex And The City 2, in my opinion, unlike its predecessors, was filled with unnecessary subterfuge and fillers, it nonetheless, addresses an ageless theme that we humans have been dealing with forever: the subject of “more”. The Yogis base much of this conundrum on their science and philosophy. Although all 4 ladies seemingly have everything they ever wanted, they are either unhappy, bored, frustrated or plainly defiant. Most of us still live under the assumption that if we are able to fulfill our deepest desires, we will be happy. Even New Age proselytizers coach us on how to manifest our desires and create our reality through focusing our thoughts and minds.
Yet, the Yogis remind us that our minds are constantly changing like monkeys jumping from limb to limb searching for the next best banana. Just like monkeys, no matter what we receive, achieve or accumulate we (our minds) always want “more”. It does not seem to matter whether we are materialistic or spiritually focused; without attentiveness towards this tendency, we all can fall victim to the” more “ syndrome, thereby circumventing satisfaction and ultimate contentment.
The Yogis tell us chasing things external to ourselves will never fully satisfy us and that our human nature will always want “more”. So what are we to do besides to want nothing?
Interestingly, if not subtly, the girls in Sex And The City 2 personally begin to address this very issue. They speak truthfully, adjust their attitudes and embrace an attitude of gratitude. If we are aware of this tendency that we can never be fully satisfied with outer conditions, we can still create goals and take action while remembering to mind our tendency to want “more” and like anything unruly and repetitive in our lives, reign it in and readjust our attitudes.
So, as you embrace your next steps in life and goals to create your dreams and desires, remember to stay connected to the journey rather then the end result. There will always be “more” so as the Yogis say, enjoy the now.
In peaceful pursuit,
Françoise
The attitude of gratitude is empowering! I remember hearing in my undergrad that life is 10% of what happens to us and 90% of our reaction. Perspective is what foreshadows life!