Nine times out of ten, after I share something fairly vulnerable, speak passionately about a topic near to my heart, or cheer like a crazy person for the Seahawks around friends/family, I'll wonder whether the peeps still like/love me and if I should apologize! With that frame of reference, I'd like to share a step forward for me that I think might help you too.
After we watched the Hawks barely lose to the Packers over the weekend with friends, as I lay in bed a voice in my head started fretting about how they "surely" disliked me because of my fanaticism for the home team. For the first time, though, I recognized that this all stems from my insecure anxious attachment from my childhood. Given how life unfolded, my predisposition is to be worried about how people view me and pursue their approval and affection ... sometimes to my (and ohers') detriment.
So, in one of those "aha" moments I hope we all have, I realized I needed to parent myself by reassuring myself I'm loved, approved, and accepted JUST as I am. Wowza! Parenting yourself is super healing and enlivening, and I highly recommend it! Are there any ways you think it'd be life-giving to parent yourself?
Come rejuvenate your body, mind, and spirit with me via yoga classes in Poulsbo and Kingston at Kitsap Hot Yoga on Mon & Thurs 6am + Fri at 930am, Ashes Yoga on Fri 12pm, and Sweet Santosha on Wed 5pm.
#love #lovealone #onlylove #shine #bestlife #yoga #bliss #kindness #personalgrowth #transformation #joy #peace #wholeness #upwardspiral #kitsaphotyoga #sweetsantoshayoga #ashesyoga #blissology #blissarmy #parent #parentself #selfcare #selftalk
What lights you up like a perfectly decked out Christmas tree? What makes work and chores easy or fun? What brings meaning to your life, or is your purpose? In "As You Think", philosopher and author James Allen says: "You will become as great as your dominant aspiration. ... If you cherish a vision, a lofty ideal in your heart, you will realize it." This brings to my mind how in yoga we talk about the importance of a Drishti, a gaze or centering point that grounds, balances, and uplifts us. In the same way focusing our eyes on a steady object helps us become more steady in a challenging physical yoga pose, aligning our life with something big and amazing makes our lives big and amazing ... even amidst the struggles and stresses.
While I'm a huge fan of personal growth, this gets beyond that. While self-help starts and can remain an ego-driven and self-focused endeavor, purpose and meaning are bigger than and beyond ourselves. This, in my experience, is what Jesus meant by saying we must lose our lives to find them. When our dominant aspiration centers on our self, and let me be the first to admit I return to this space on the daily, we stay our small self. Yet, when we let that smallness go in favor of aligning our dreams with things like communal flourishing, collective unity, and corporate compassion, our lives explode in the most blissful way!
With that in mind, today I invite us to consciously center our "gaze" and energy on something big and beautiful that lights you up!
Come rejuvenate your body, mind, and spirit with me via yoga classes in Poulsbo and Kingston at Kitsap Hot Yoga on Mon & Thurs 6am + Fri at 930am, Ashes Yoga on Fri 12pm, and Sweet Santosha on Wed 5pm.
#love #lovealone #onlylove #shine #bestlife #yoga #bliss #kindness #personalgrowth #transformation #joy #peace #wholeness #upwardspiral #kitsaphotyoga #sweetsantoshayoga #ashesyoga #blissology #blissarmy #drishti #gazepoint #yogagaze #center #purpose #meaning #lifepuppose #alignment #dream
As much as I hate to say it, when I live in my head (my preferred place) my Love shrinks and shrivels. While my mind wants to win, argue, compete, compare, and worry, Love seeks to serve, unite, connect, enliven, and heal. Big Love, the others-oriented, self-sacrificial, willing to die for a person, life-giving, and inclusive of enemies type of Love, is in many ways illogical, irrational, and opposed to our thinking minds. The more silent we get, the more our Love grows. This was a new revelation to me and I'd really appreciate it if you read my blog (via the weblink in my bio 👆 on the "Blog" tab) about it and let us know what you think!
#love #silence #wholeness #peace #unity #harmony #lovealone #shine #onlylove #contemplation #prayer #agape #quietmind #calmcenter #centering #loveenemies #lessthinking #connection #biglove #selfsacrifice #spaciousness #wordlessness #heartknowing #being #stillness #bestill #nonjudgmental #inclusive #yoga #blissarmy
I'm NOT spontaneous ... at least in part because I tell myself and others tell me, "Lang's not spontaneous." Words can be prisons or permissions. After Lisa and I had some impromptu fun the other day, I had an aha moment. For our first couple of years together I'd frequently enjoyed, and often initiated, such unplanned joyousness with her. Yet, the more we said ad-lib activities weren't my thing, the less they became my thing! Crazy right?
One of the cool observations yogic thought makes is we all have mental stories, habit patterns, and ways of seeing/doing things that are like songs stuck on repeat. These grooves or imprints, called Samskaras, are formed (or changed) over time by our experiences, thoughts, and mental/emotional nourishment. The more powerful the event (like a trauma or triumph), and/or more repetitive the _____, the deeper the mark. The good news is, once we're aware of these Samskaras, if we want to change the pattern, with practice and patience we can!
I am spontaneous! Is there anything "song" on repeat you want to stop, shift, or change?
#love #lovealone #onlylove #shine #bestlife #yoga #bliss #kindness #personalgrowth #transformation #joy #peace #wholeness #upwardspiral #kitsaphotyoga #sweetsantoshayoga #ashesyoga #blissology #blissarmy #samskara #habitpatterns #habits #mentaltapes #mentality #words #wordscreate #trauma #triumph
