Webster defines ambition as “an eager or inordinate desire for preferment, honor, superiority, power or attainment.” Reading this I cringe, not wanting to admit that my ego could be so demanding. Experience teaches me that I am never more unhappy than when I am clamoring for the attention and praise of others. When I manipulate myself, turning myself into a pretzel in an attempt to please another whether it be “Joe public,” a friend, my husband or my children, I inevitably fail to attain the desired results, which, in my case, are usually indefinable. The need in me to be buoyed by another, to be praised for some act of kindness or for the work I do, arises from an insatiable, lonely, hungry ghost. This phantom in me, a remnant of a lost childhood, can be likened Audrey 2, the plant in The Little Shop of Horrors singing, “Feed me Seymour. Feed me all night long.” The more blood Seymour gives Audrey, the more she needs.
I aspire to do good work, to serve others,and to express through my yoga teaching and my writing a belief that labor, when done with love and devotion is itself the reward. To this end daily do I offer this prayer written by Swami Rama to the Divine Mother.
O Divine Mother
May all my speech and idle talk be mantra
All actions of my hands be mudra
May all eating and drinking be the offering of oblations unto thee
All lying down be prostrations before thee
May all pleasures be as dedicating my entire self unto thee
May everything I do this day be taken as thy worship
and I add, May all that I am and all that I do today be of service to thee.
Writing into the Light 
Have so enjoyed your writing. Thank you for sharing.
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