Rules

My son and his family will be moving in with us this summer as they transition from military life to civilian life. I personally can't wait to spend some time getting to know my granddaughter. But carving out room for three people to move in has not been an easy task. I'm glad I started early and have cut it into smaller pieces.

What I've discovered is we have too much stuff! This is a good time to downsize. Do we really need all those VHS tapes and electric bills from the early 80's? I found the manual for the first refrigerator we bought and the elusive instructions to the ice maker that never worked.

What I found hilarious was the manual for the refrigerator was in a file labeled, "Manuals, Rules and Warranties." My husband thought the "Rules" part was hilarious. It was written in my teenage handwriting when I started keeping my own files. There's a reason I'm in accounting! Some of the rules I found were for tennis, chess and some other board games. I was half expecting to see the rules for my life in there. He made me call my mom and ask her what the name of her file was for manuals and warranties. He figured they would be the same because we both get annoyed with those that don't follow the rules. I called her and she said it just said "Warranties." She threw the rules out long ago. I know what she means. I spent a lot of time in my early life trying to control everything and follow the rules, but find as I get older letting go of things makes life much easier.

When I go to yoga tonight I'm going to try and let go of not being able to do the poses perfectly and just let my body feel the benefits I do get from it. It's not always physical. Letting go of being perfect and not always following the rules lets you be yourself. It's called practing yoga for a reason. As in life, practicing anything prepares you for whatever is to come. Practicing yoga in all aspects of my life makes me whole. Thinning out our paperwork and belongings will allow more room for other things to happen in our space and life.

Namaste.

Success

Maybe it just comes with age and experience, but at some point you don't give a damn what anyone else thinks. If everyone would just be happy within themselves, there wouldn't be all the problems in the world. I just fear that we wait until we're much older to have this attitude.

I just recently wrote up my "success" story for the Studio 4 Pilates newsletter about losing 23 pounds after I joined as a member. One of my classmates thought of me and my success story when her friend wanted to start exercise but felt she couldn't do yoga because she was overweight. My yoga teacher asked what prompted me to finally start an intense exercise program? I said the bathroom scale, weight, sore knees, but the question kept mulling over in my head as I lay in savasana that night in yoga. It really was more than just losing weight because my knees hurt. It goes back to having major surgery a few years ago to have my thyroid removed and completely going through a metamorphosis. Maybe you'd call it a mid-life crisis. Whatever it was, I know myself deeper than I ever have before. Losing my thyroid helped me become comfortable with who I am, inside and out. A major change can make you take a totally different path. And you also have a choice in how you deal with that change; whether positively or negatively.

It took several years of exploration, but I'm at the right place now, physically, mentally, spiritually. My life feels balanced. So when my yoga teacher asked what prompted me to take on yoga and Pilates and lose weight, it was more than the scale and aching knees. It was the culmination of my lifetime of experience and dealing with a major crisis in my life to finally have everything make sense. Knowing that if I don't take this one little pill every day or I would be dead within 30 days really made me rethink everything. Don't wait until that moment when you can't turn back, take on life now. You never know what the next moment holds. The greatest adventure of your life happens now.

Frank Jude Boccio and Yoga Journal offers some ideas for a change-friendly inner life:

"Every morning, repeat a gatha (mindfulness verse): 'Great is the matter of birth and death; impermanence surrounds us. Be awake each moment; do not waste your life.' Life doesn't give you breathing room, but if you stop grasping for control of the uncontrollable, you can learn to breathe through it all."