There’s a message board in the entryway to my apartment, and on it I’ve written a reminder that has really helped me stay present the last week or so. “Focus on what you want.” That means no regretting what didn’t happen or dwelling on what’s wrong. It means noticing my thoughts and dismissing what doesn’t serve […]
Archive | acceptance
You don’t have to earn a thing.
Right now, already, you are everything. There is nothing you need. Sure, there is plenty to dream of and hope for and work toward, and thank goodness for that. Oh, goodness. Goodness is everywhere, and more is on the way. If you let it, goodness—love—will show you its secrets, carry you in its kindness, sweep […]
Show up and breathe. That’s it.
My mean mind has been trying hard to score points on the soccer field of my sanity, so thank goodness for my goalie: my conscience, my breath, my calm. My mean mind can be a jerk—it wants me to feel bad because I haven’t blogged lately, because I’ve been resistant to writing in general, because […]
Airport patience is a special patience.
I’m still sitting in the airport and I’m not annoyed. If that’s not evidence of spiritual growth, I don’t know what is. I followed all the rules today: I packed my luggage light and careful, I allowed for plenty of transit time, and I arrived at my gate an hour before takeoff. But nothing I […]
Temptation, trying, failing, trying
Sugar is not my friend. I know this, I know this, I KNOW THIS, and if I have any doubts whatsoever, I need only touch my tender, itchy skin. And yet this afternoon I ate a cannoli, half a Napoleon, something that looked like a ball of meringue but was crunchy amaretto instead, two coconut […]
It’s already okay
I had a whole elaborate blog post planned. I was prepared to tell you all about my latest bout with insecurity, and how I was hoping to overcome it quickly. (I was on a deadline.) So to start, I tracked down an image that contained the message “you are enough,” and I composed the title […]
Restful release
I took a yoga class today that should have been easy. Or if not easy, easily within my asana abilities. And yet, I had to sit out about half of it. It’s one thing to stay still because you don’t feel like moving, and another entirely to feel forced into immobility. I love my Saturday […]
Solstice savasana
For years now I’ve enjoyed doing yoga in Times Square on the night of the summer solstice. It’s become a deeply personal ritual, performed in a very public place. This year the solstice was on Wednesday, June 20. I pre-registered for class back in April and the date took top priority; I shuffled several events […]
Acceptably uncertain
The first-ever Yoga Service Conference starts tomorrow, and I’m not sure why I’m going. It’s not that I’ve lost interest in the cause–I’m as emphatic as ever that yoga can be both profoundly healing and accessible to everyone, and I remain deeply committed to the practice of seva (yoga-speak for “selfless service”). It’s just that […]