"Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely." Accepting (even welcoming!) change takes great fortitude. Unlike the rigid strength of resistance, however, it is a flexible strength that allows us the resilience to bow, bend, and bounce as we choose to allow life's changes - welcome or unwelcome - to become growth opportunities.
Learning to play Wordle HURT my brain! This was a felt-experience in developing neuroplasticity or flexibility and it is very, very good for us. In fact, it keeps us young. Yoga is a great way to develop and maintain plasticity of both the body and the brain. Regularly rising to its challenges is a way to stay physically and mentally younger than our years for the rest of our lives.
No, life isn’t perfect. Sometimes we have to take crazy long drives when what we really want to do is stay home. Sometimes we have to do really gross jobs. But, if we’re paying attention, if we’ve set the intention to practice gratitude, life will deliver moment after sparkling, cozy moment to feel grateful that we’re here living and breathing and loving in this glorious, messy world of ours. Please join our FREE weekly gathering as we share and support one another in our practices of gratitude this month.
We mostly think of gratitude as something we feel when something nice happens to us. What if, instead, we thought about gratitude as a choice we make? As something that we do? A practice, perhaps? Practicing gratitude is simple but not at all easy. Join our FREE weekly "support group" through November to practice together. I promise it is worth the investment of energy for a grateful heart will never stop finding gifts to be grateful for.
A rough start to a rough day in a rough week provides the setting for a glimpse of yoga philosophy's power to immediately change life for the better. Practicing yoga helps us develop the capability of choosing our attitude. This can feel like a bit of a superpower as we watch ourselves begin to be the change we wish to see in the world.
Sometimes life leaps out at you with a well-timed “BOO!” It is in these moments of startled upheaval that your practice comes into play. Seasoned meditators, experienced yogis, and deeply spiritual folks may seem calm on the surface. But I assure you that they are, like the proverbial duck, paddling like the dickens to maintain what looks like serenity.
Take a walk this fall. Pause in joyful awe as you watch Nature celebrating another ending. Then ask yourself if you could celebrate your next ending with the same wild abandon and confident hope that a(nother) beginning awaits your bold, beautiful self. Because it absolutely does.
We (all of us) experience reactions. No amount of practice – yoga, meditation, prayer, etc. – is going to stop this from happening. Resistance is one of our strongest reactions. Resistance is also (in wise words from Star Trek) futile. In fact, it causes some of our greatest suffering. Read on for one way to unplug the power of your resistance.
“If life is a bowl of cherries then what am I doing in the pits?” There seems to be a common human delusion that if we’re “good” and do “good things” that life will respond by being “good” back. This belief creates an innate resistance to life’s challenging or uncomfortable moments. In fact, the most meaningful moments in my life, the times when I’ve learned and grown the most, have sprung from challenging, uncomfortable, and even painful times. I suspect this is true for you as well. Read on to learn how to practice struggling optimistically and gracefully.