The Secret to Happiness is in the Smallest of Thingsby Jenny Houston
This year has been a doozy, filled with ups & downs, loss, fear, anxiety, grief….
I could go on.
It’s super easy to name the negatives.
And the truth is, there are so many positives that have come from 2020. The pandemic has given us an opportunity to re-evaluate what is important. There’s been an unveiling, a surfacing, of areas where we’re sick and/or misaligned, both personally and globally.
Distractions like travel and social engagements have been taken from us, and although it feels like a dreadful punishment for most of us, we’ve been given the gift of time, to go inwards and build awareness around how we live our lives and what (and whom) we surround ourselves with. The quality of the foods we eat, the honesty in our relationships, the way we treat our fellow humans, the disfunction of our politics, (etc., etc.) are all impacting who we are, and who we are becoming. And to see it, perhaps for the first time, can be unnerving and rattling… to our very core.
Well, hey….I’m just gonna to give it to you straight. 2020 has turned me upside-down and inside-out. As a business owner, a mother and a partner, and as an individual, I’ve seen parts of myself that I haven’t been happy to see.
And, the good thing is, it’s all in my power to change.
Have you heard this quote before?
“It’s not your fault you’re messed up,
But it’s your fault if you stay that way.”
Oooof.
When I consider how long it’s taken, basically my entire life, to become the person I know myself to be, I can choose compassion when I’m frustrated with outcomes I’m not pleased with. I’m always doing my very best, with what I know at the time.
And when I know better, I have the opportunity to do better.
It’s in our smallest of daily habits where we stitch together the fibre of our beings. This is really hitting home for me.
We may not realize it, but every decision we make impacts our future Self.
Every. Single. Decision.
From what we eat, to our sleeping habits, to our work habits, to how we make and spend money… right down to the thoughts we think about ourselves.
Everything we do matters.
Every moment and every experience accumulates, and over time we’ve carved a path for ourselves that we might be proud to look at, but for most of us, it can be a bit of a rude awakening.
When we get right down to it, we can only blame (or praise!) ourselves for the place we’re at in our lives. No one else makes us choose the burger over the salad, or snooze the alarm, or opt-out on a workout, or arrive to work late on a consistent basis, or hold grudges, or think mean things about the reflection we see in the mirror. These are daily habits.
The good thing is, today we can re-write the ending to our lives! Starting right now, we can all make decisions that over time will impact us in very positive, powerful ways.
We might decide to walk for 30 minutes, or read 10 pages in a thought-provoking book, or name 3 things we’re grateful for… daily.
I invite you to look to places in your life where you feel unhappy, and break it down really small. What is one small change you could make today? And after doing it repeatedly, day after day, do you think you’d be impacted in a very positive way? Absolutely, you would.
However… anything that is going to create a significant amount of change is going to take time, and for a long while you won’t observe any kind of change, at least nothing dramatic. You’re going to want immediate results, especially if you’re reconstructing an area in your life you’ve been very unhappy with. You’ll be very tempted to quit when you’re not quickly shown evidence that your new habits are ‘working’.
With these small daily habits, you’re going to need to practice trust, and patience, and consistency.
If you’d like to know more about creating daily habits that are so small and so easy, I would recommend grabbing the book called “The Slight Edge”. This is where I’ve been gleaning this amazing perspective!
Have You Let Things Slip? (Hey, It’s Okay.)
The reason I’m sharing all of this here is because I’m dreadfully aware of how much we’ve let our (collective) selves slip since mid-March. I can see the impact of time and poor decisions, and letting go of our routines… and I see the downward trajectory it’s created.
{This is ‘the slight edge’ at work, in a not-so-flattering way.}
If we’re going to make decisions anyway, then why not use the slight edge to our advantage?
If you’re one of our regular attendees, congratulations, you’re utilizing the slight edge and applying small, positive, daily habits! Depending on how long you’ve been practicing, you’re either starting to see small incremental changes, or you’ve been observing them on a larger scale for quite a while! I’m curious to hear what it is you do/think in order to continue with a regular yoga practice? What sorts of things do you say to yourself? Do you have an image in mind of your future self and it keeps you motivated?
When you want to say ‘no’, what makes you say ‘yes’ instead?
Well…. for the rest of us who might be slightly behind the daily-practice-of-yoga curve, we’ve got an amazing offer that you might like to consider….
Today, deciding to gift yourself a yoga pass that will get you through to the end of the year might seem sort of insignificant.But, if you get this pass and you commit to a daily practice of movement, mindfulness & breath, imagine the results you’ll see on December 31st, 2020…. and imagine the new path you’ll be on as you move into the new year!I’m incredibly ecstatic for you, and the amazing results an opportunity like this could do for your wellbeing.
This pass will get you unlimited classes (both virtual and in-studio) and an added perk — you’ll have access to our Poser YOGA library of recorded classes! So there really won’t be a good enough reason for you not to practice every day! (Except for all the excuses and resistances you’ll conjure up on a daily basis!)
A journey starts with a single step…