Yogi wisdom
Monday, January 7, 2008
On Saturday, my yoga teacher made a genius statement that I have embraced with all of my being. I can't say it as poetically as she did but it's something along these lines: We tag January 1 as the beginning of a new year, and it is true in that it is the first day of a new calendar year. But with it, we throw in all sorts of expectations and resolutions (unless you're me) and new beginnings. Magazines exclaim "New Year, New You!" and all kinds of starts from fresh starts to jump starts to better starts. And because it's been dubbed the definitive start, people tend to be that much more let down if it doesn't live up to their hopes.
But the truth is, every day is a new year. Literally. Perhaps not the beginning of a new numbered year on the calendar, but it is the first day of another year, with all the past days behind us. Every day is an opportunity to do things in a new way, to clean a slate, to start a new habit or kick an old one. As I'm writing this, I feel that there's absolutely NO way that I'm doing this concept any justice. It actually sounds ridiculous and sort of obvious as I type on the page. But hell, I found freedom in the revelation of this fact, and I'm sticking to it in the hopes that perhaps my words are translating in a clearer way than I think.
On Thursday I was feeling like my new year had gotten off to a sort of sour start. I was grumpy and homesick and all sorts of other things...including pissed because it was only January 3rd and I had felt so good about 2008. But then there was Friday and I had a great day on Friday. And with those words on Saturday morning I realized that I'd actually just had a couple of crappy days and now, I was having some fantastic ones. It wasn't about 2008. I could reinvent myself or my thoughts or my anything at any time. In fact, most of the time when I feel inspired it does NOT coincide with a birthday or the new year. So with each new day, I have the opportunity for a "new year."
It still is reading ridiculous. And I've tried to re-write it about 75 times. So I'm going to stop judging myself and just be grateful for yogi revelations and hope that someone, somewhere can get whatever the fuck it is that I'm trying to say.
Posted byMeesh-elle my Belle at 3:28 PM
Labels: musings on life, yoga
friend! today is the first day of the rest of your life ;)
there are many ways to play with this idea and none of it sounds ridiculous. yes, there is THE NEW YEAR based on the western calendar we are living in... but there is also Rosh Hashanah, or even-- your own birthday-- which can be seen as your own personal point of departure from the previous to the NEW YEAR-- another opportunity to build up a momentous milestone, a point for reflection, interpretation, inspiration...
or it can be as simple as you wake up one morning and say: I am through with this___! No more. I am evolving. I am on a new level. I am now ____!
Those blanks could be filled with words like "relationship; single" or "smoking; healthy" or whatever you want....
regardless of what it takes and when it happens for change or metamorphosis to occur-- it happens when the person chooses to live and breathe a thought or desire they've been having... and if it takes their 30th birthday to make it happen, or the New Year, or a random Saturday morning -- what does it matter?
We do what works for us... and all that matters is that it works.