Rest. Recharge. Revisit.
It’s time to turn within. People and lessons from the past may be returning for another opportunity for growth. Reflect on the past, reflect on yourself.
Rest.
Recharge.
Revisit.
Remember.
Return.
Realize.
Realign.
Recover.
Reflect.
Receive.
It’s time to turn within. People and lessons from the past may be returning for another opportunity for growth. Reflect on the past, reflect on yourself. Take it slow. Take it easy. Whether or not you believe the planets effects on us, it’s always a good RE-MIND-ER to be mindful. Allow yourself extra rest and reflection from now until mid-April. And no, it doesn’t have to be on a tropical beach. 😜😉😆💛💚💙
Core Desires
After all the excess is gone, what is truly important to me? They go hand in hand, but I were to condense it to 3 words, they would be Connection, Authenticity, and Health.
In the first month of 2018, my spirit has been dampened by the gloom of winter in Chicago and the gloom of my work place. I've spent the past month thinking about what is important to me and what do I really need to be happy. At the end of the day, that's what we all want- to be happy.
In the book Love Warrior by @glennondoyle, she talks about the word crisis. The Greek root of the word crisis is to sift", as in, to shake out the excesses and leave only what's important. I have no crisis in my life (thankfully), and had not in a long time, but it stuck with me. After all the excess is gone, what is truly important to me? They go hand in hand, but I were to condense it to 3 words, they would be Connection, Authenticity, and Health.
Genuine, deep connection with my loved ones.
Speaking my truth.
Being known and being seen.
Belonging, meaning when I can be fully accepted as who I am.
Connection to my body, my emotions, my mental health, my surroundings, my spirit, my truth.
The origin of the word "health" is "whole. Our journey in this life is to become whole again, to remember what it is to be whole and healthy. I went to a talk with @deepakchopra and he outlined the six pillars of physical well being:
1. sleep
2. meditation & stress management
3. movement/yoga/breath
4. emotions
5. nutrition/nourishment
6. biological rhythms/grounding (circadian, seasonal, lunar, and tidal rhythms), meaning connection to nature!
Going forward, these are my core needs and desires that I can always come back to when I’ve lost my way.
The Only Constant is Change
Confession: I have not been practicing yoga asana every day.
Not even close.
Confession: I have not been practicing yoga asana every day.
Not even close.
There’s been no routine in my life for a good 8 months now. Or chaos my new normal? I have been trying to hold on to the 5am wake up time I developed over the years and I’ve failed miserably. I’ve gone through spurts of practice. Meditating twice a day and sleeping twice as much as I usually did for a few months while healing from the most heart wrenching grief I’ve ever experienced. There was a month when I practiced Ashtanga for several hours a day at the studio when I learned my teachers were moving to Boulder.
Reflecting on the past year, I realized in the past 6 months, I have been out of state 11 times. Three trips to NY for a wedding, a bridal shower, and a family reunion, a wedding in Italy, a bachelorette party in the Bahamas, taught yoga at workshop in Seattle, a funeral in Florida, and 4 trips to Michigan for a yoga retreat, a camping trip, a wedding, and once just for the hell of it.
I know how fortunate I am to have these opportunities but thinking about all of that is exhausting!
Every time I travel, I get thrown off my routine and it takes me an entire week to readjust. Then a week or two later I go somewhere else and get thrown off again. I keep waiting for life to calm down but it seems that’s like waiting to be happy when ______ (fill in the blank). It doesn’t work that way. So I need to find it within myself. I need to be okay with the idea that sometimes what I need more than anything is rest. Ironically, resting is a challenge for me. I’ve had to learn how to do it. There have been times when I rest only because I’ve run myself so ragged that I am physically ill.
I have no more travel planned until February so maybe I’ll be able to get back to my 5am wake up time and practice every day. But in the mean time, if my routine gets shaken up, which it inevitably will because that’s life, I’ll recognize that it’s a new phase of life and I’ll be able to more easily go with the flow and learn how to live with the new normal. The only constant is change.
The Warrior's Way
As a perfectionist and an optimist, it's easy to always look at a situation and see how it could be better, how it could be different.
I was always looking on the bright side of things, looking for the silver lining.
Photo by Ashley Cova ashleycova.com
As a perfectionist and an optimist, it's easy to always look at a situation and see how it could be better, how it could be different.
I was always looking on the bright side of things, looking for the silver lining.
This often lead to denial when a situation was shitty and painful.
There have been countless times that I've shared my experience with someone and the response was "at least..." At least I'm not starving. At least I have a roof over my head. At least. At least. At least. Are only the people in the worst conditions allowed to feel bad? I spent years thinking that I had no right to complain about the hardships in my life because "it could have been worse" but we do have to acknowledge the pain. And yes, it's so easy to get stuck in the negativity and to spiral in the other direction- to become a pessimist, never be able to see the good and become an endless loop of complaints.
I'm finding the sweet spot. The balance between those opposite ways of thinking. Acknowledging the bad and uncomfortable, and accepting that it is what it is, THEN finding ways to shift it. Also acknowledging the good, great, amazing things and basking in gratitude. One of my favorite journaling exercises is to write about what I would like to change AND what I have gratitude for.
Listening to an episode of @yogagirl's podcast with @waylonlewis, the founder of @elephantjournal, reminded me this balance when he shared a quote by Pema Chodron.
"If the warrior (which is a noble human being who is serving the good of others and enjoying their life) can keep the sadness and pain of life in their heart and at the same time the vision brilliance of the sun rising up in the morning in their mind, then they can live a good life."
💖
Happiness is Not A Place
It is cultivated each and every day through our thoughts, emotions and actions.
Loving life, loving this pose. I’m so grateful for my job and all the amazing people there. Reflecting (again) on the past year and all the changes that have occurred, I was so impatient to start teaching yoga full time and while it’s still my dream, I’m okay with letting it happen more organically, working at it a little each day with joy in my heart rather than trying to force things through gritted teeth. Taking my own advice, happiness is not a place of “I’ll be happy when ______ (fill in the blank).” It is cultivated each and every day through our thoughts, emotions and actions. A job does not determine my happiness but on this team, with this group of people, I feel like I can be myself. That ability to be authentic, for me, is freedom, peace, joy and love.
