These days life has been like the beginning of March is said to…coming in like a lion.  Change is the topic of the day it seems: not just for me but for most people I know.  Changes that are good, changes that are tough, changes that are exciting and changes that are painful.  Doesn’t really matter what the change is like though as the body reads all of them similarly.  There are two types of stress, eustress and distress.  Eustress being the positive stressors or changes such as new opportunities, job changes, getting married, having babies, buying houses, cars, vacationing, etc.  You get it…the types of things that feel amazing on the one hand and nerve wracking or scary on the other.  Distress is well…like the word says.  Those changes or stressors that are sad, depressing, upsetting in some way.  This could be the loss of a loved one, loss of a job, sudden news of illness to loved one, sudden need to move, etc.  The body takes on all these stressors equally.  So while things may seem great, you get left thinking “why am I not over the top excited? Why do I feel like I want to crawl into a hole and hide?”  Well that’s because change is tough on most of us.  We can get caught spending a lot of time and energy resisting change, wanting things to stay the same only to find out that change happens anyway.  I was just speaking to a friend about this over the weekend.  It doesn’t matter if the change presents good things to some; to others the change can bring up one’s worst fear and/or insecurities.  For me, I have been going through eustress, distress, this stress, that stress, excitement, surprise, exhilaration, frustration, irritation, sadness and all the rest.  This all within the last week. That’s life right?  Never dull, always moving. I apologize for my absence.  I have missed you but also know that when I take time to let the debris sift out, I have more to share from a grounded place than sharing with you the world wind that life has been.  Times like this always continue to take me back to that old adage “doors close, opening up windows for fresh air.”  That has definitely been the case lately which is much appreciated.

With my body feeling wiped and wanting to hibernate, I gave it a chance to do so today.  During a brief chat with a friend the concept of patience came up.  Oh ya, I know everyone including my mother when I was growing up says “Patience is a virtue.”  Yes, it’s true, being able to have patience in the meantime is very key.  I have joked in past chats that I am a type A person in recovery.  I am in recovery from living a life on adrenaline and at lightening speed. Patient is not something I have possessed but it is something I do see as important in life.  The exciting things that have been coming about lately are things that seem to be popping up out of no where giving me opportunities for pleasant surprises along the way.  They are popping up like spring flowers letting me know that the other distresses are not all that is.  In our last chat Gotta Keep Your Head Up!  we listened to Andy Grammer’s silly pop song and talked about keeping our heads up when energy vampires strike.  The pleasant surprises seem to be just like the hearts that the Universe sends me letting me know it will all be ok.  Love is in the air.  It is all around us, we just have to be aware enough to see it.  When we get bogged down with the vampires that lurk or projecting into the future, it takes over our perception and the love gets lost along the way.  I have to say that has been the case at times but then just like the blink of an eye I am given an opportunity to see it.  One such opportunity was watching my yoga students last time in a restorative pose as we were winding down our practice.  Witnessing their bodies at rest and feeling the peace in the room was breathtaking.  Patience is one of those things that we have to choose.  The opportunity is always present for it but we are not always aware of it.  For me, that opportunity happens when I access my breath, when I allow myself to sing along to a silly pop song, when I teach yoga and do what I love.  All my anxieties seem to dissipate when I am enjoying life.

For today, instead of stressing about this and that, what can you do to help restore your sanity and allow yourself to embody patience?  Practicing patience is an action step we take which leads us along the path of self care and love.  For today, I took time to just be.  Things got done but the list of expectations was shorten so that I could have space to settle and take care of myself.  From this place, I am beginning to feel like I have something else to give.  As I embark on my evening work schedule which includes teaching yoga, I feel like I can do so with more freedom and less haste than I would have if I kept going today. What helps you embody patience along the path?  Share the gifts you gave yourself below as we create a community of sanity, peace, patience and love:)

Cheers!