The New Year
The new year is upon us, January is here with a kind reminder of who she is, and my arms are already sore from shoveling. I am healthy, able, and willing to get outside, to turn my cheeks rosy and to clear the snow away. A snow day Friday is the best kind of snow day.
Three holidays have gone by since my last post, the three biggest of the year perhaps. I was surrounded by loved ones, by new faces and old favorites, and even by some through the screen of my iPhone. It is indeed a crazy time of the year. I always believe I'm done with my Christmas shopping rather early, but alas, that's never the case and I'm running out into the wild with the other last minute shoppers. I made sure to take full advantage of my days off from work and spend a little time focusing on myself on the yoga mat. Through the craziness that is the holidays there is a place I can go for instant peace and quiet, for friendly faces and a reminder that it's okay to focus on me and do something selfish once in a while. I do get some of the best advice from the variety of yoga instructors at the studio. One phrase in particular stuck out to me as I heard it day after day in class. "Go with the flow." A simple concept, but a difficult task. Go with the flow. As the holidays settled upon us, this made a great mantra; go with the flow. When relatives show up late, when voices get loud, when the smoke detector starts screaming, when there are too many cooks in the kitchen; go with the flow. There's no use in getting upset- isn't time with family and loved ones what we look forward to? Isn't that what the holidays are all about? Though once they are upon us we are overwhelmed. This mantra, this phrase inspired me to stay calm and focus on what's really important. I am practicing to let go of what I can't control. In time of anxiety, I need to just slow down, move fluidly, and literally take whatever comes my way, perhaps accompanied by a few deep breaths. I just go with the flow.
Now that the holidays have wrapped up and the trees and lights begin to come down, we tend to focus on what we aren't doing right- the things we want to fix, to change, to improve about ourselves. Why are we so hard on ourselves? Why do we choose January as the time to refocus? Shouldn't we be cognizant of our well-being year round? Self-awareness and setting goals are very important, but being realistic is too. Why not set monthly resolutions? Reconnect with yourself at the end of each month to see how they are going. Keep doing things that you are doing well and reward yourself from time to time with positive recognition. I want to be more easy going, understanding, and calm. As I live out my last week at age 26 and 27 looms closer, I don't want to focus on the number or the facts. I simply want to take life as it comes, and do my best to go with the flow.
Three holidays have gone by since my last post, the three biggest of the year perhaps. I was surrounded by loved ones, by new faces and old favorites, and even by some through the screen of my iPhone. It is indeed a crazy time of the year. I always believe I'm done with my Christmas shopping rather early, but alas, that's never the case and I'm running out into the wild with the other last minute shoppers. I made sure to take full advantage of my days off from work and spend a little time focusing on myself on the yoga mat. Through the craziness that is the holidays there is a place I can go for instant peace and quiet, for friendly faces and a reminder that it's okay to focus on me and do something selfish once in a while. I do get some of the best advice from the variety of yoga instructors at the studio. One phrase in particular stuck out to me as I heard it day after day in class. "Go with the flow." A simple concept, but a difficult task. Go with the flow. As the holidays settled upon us, this made a great mantra; go with the flow. When relatives show up late, when voices get loud, when the smoke detector starts screaming, when there are too many cooks in the kitchen; go with the flow. There's no use in getting upset- isn't time with family and loved ones what we look forward to? Isn't that what the holidays are all about? Though once they are upon us we are overwhelmed. This mantra, this phrase inspired me to stay calm and focus on what's really important. I am practicing to let go of what I can't control. In time of anxiety, I need to just slow down, move fluidly, and literally take whatever comes my way, perhaps accompanied by a few deep breaths. I just go with the flow.
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| My beautiful yoga studio. |
Now that the holidays have wrapped up and the trees and lights begin to come down, we tend to focus on what we aren't doing right- the things we want to fix, to change, to improve about ourselves. Why are we so hard on ourselves? Why do we choose January as the time to refocus? Shouldn't we be cognizant of our well-being year round? Self-awareness and setting goals are very important, but being realistic is too. Why not set monthly resolutions? Reconnect with yourself at the end of each month to see how they are going. Keep doing things that you are doing well and reward yourself from time to time with positive recognition. I want to be more easy going, understanding, and calm. As I live out my last week at age 26 and 27 looms closer, I don't want to focus on the number or the facts. I simply want to take life as it comes, and do my best to go with the flow.
Great post, Liz! Very enjoyable read. I wanted to share a few thoughts while I was thinking of them...
ReplyDeleteI feel as if - perhaps obviously - that yoga and meditation have a lot in common in this regard. While reading your post I was reminded of the mantra, "You can't change the waves, but you can learn how to surf." This is something I try to apply to life, but especially in regards to my meditation practice. Often times - while doing yoga, meditating, or just in the day-to-day - our emotions gets the best of us, our feelings take the reigns, and we end up in places - be they physical or emotional - that we didn't intend to. Going with the flow, in many regards, is simply knowing that you don't necessarily have to be pulled in the direction of your feelings, or in the direction that the outside world is trying to push you towards. So that smoke detector or those loud relatives, or even the anxieties, fears, and dreams of our own minds which crop up during meditation/yoga, need not be so terrible if we choose to focus on our own inner peace - cultivated through our practice - instead of being so easily pushed by the world around us.