I Go to the Water

For the first time in months, I am on break from teaching my yoga classes, so I go down to the river on this magnificent Monday morning to launch Grace. I come down in a tank top and shorts for the first time in months. It is hot, and there is not a cloud in the sky.

It feels exhilarating to push off from the boat launch and step into the water in my crocs, wading around without boots and the protection and insulation they provide...

I reflect on a bumper sticker I saw a few days ago:

"Happiness is a choice."

So true. But not always easy to internalize. I reflect on how the readings of Paramahansa Yogananda are addressing this very topic at the moment in his Spiritual Diary...I also recall sage advice from Rumi, recorded yesterday:

"Sadness is a thief.
It steals our energy."

Such sayings of wisdom coming to me from so many sources... I contemplate such insights and others gained during the wonderful training I did this weekend with Todd Norian, a gifted Anusara Yoga teacher.

I paddle upstream and reflect on some of his comments...

"Healing is a power we all have. How open are you? How open is your valve? We often close that valve inside of us by expressing self-doubt, depression, and negative feelings...

Focus on your attitude. Pain-free living really is our birthright...

Open to grace. Conceive it on the inside in order to receive it on the outside...

You cannot have the ecstatic experience of revelation without some concealment...

Closing down within can invite us to create an open heart. But the pain of an open heart, is what ultimately enables us to heal...

Obstacles create opportunities...

Say yes to life - but also say yes to challenges as well. 'The only people that don't have problems are in the grave.' (Tony Robbins)

Say no to create healthy boundaries and to whatever is no longer supporting you.

When you make yourself more joyous, the whole world lights up around you...

Life is a gift, and yoga shows you how to make it a blessing...

Begin each and every day by saying, 'Today is the day of my awakening.'

To align with the Divine, you need to align with yourself. Move in the direction of what you really love inside..."

I paddle for a long time, the currents are deceptively strong, but I do finally manage to make it to my favorite spot, and then allow myself to float downstream which happens in what seems like abbreviated moments, erasing my hard work so quickly.

I emerge from the water nearly an hour and half later, feeling energized, and very much aware that for now, I am happy. Yes, it is a choice - one that we make over and over again, by deciding which thoughts we will entertain, and which feelings will hold us captive...