Image: Terry Doyle, Styled by: Me
I had it all figured out the night before. My entire day was down to a tee– fitting in my to-dos with my want-tos.
Perhaps my crappy night of sleep was the first indication that things would go amiss. I heard DH come into bed, but was too tired & cranky to talk. I slept past my usual 6:30am wakeup –forgoing my treasured 30 minutes that I take each morning to quietly ground myself into the day.
Then there was the note– right in front of the coffee pot.
The sun wasn’t yet up so the kitchen was too dark to clearly see. But I knew exactly what it said.
My morning was shot.
Onward to The Neighborhood School.
Upon entering GLs class, there was a flurry around two baskets:
HOMEWORK
LIBRARY BOOK
Forgot both.
A happy GL this did not make.
The thing about these library books (and kids being late to soccer practice), it’s almost always the parents fault, yet it’s the kid who suffers–by not being able to get a new library book (or having to run laps around the field).
I tried some Pema Chodron wisdom on GL…breathe in your suffering.
She wasn’t having it.
She was way too pissed. At me.
I then tried some of that Pema Chodron wisdom myself.
Onto the next.
A 9am appointment up on 28th and Broadway.
I hopped on a Citibike and rode uptown…until I hit the detour on Broadway and 24th– the exact location of the Citibike dock station I was heading for.
There was a suspicious package. All roads in the area were closed. The Citibike dock sat mere inches from the no-enter-zone. But the cop wasn’t budging– there was no way I’d be able to dock my bike at that station.
So further uptown I went.
When I finally approached my destination, I saw it was within the no-enter zone. Apparently, a bomb had already been detonated (WTF?!?!), but they needed to make sure all was safe before anyone could enter the building. My 9am didn’t happen.
Time to regroup yet again.
It was then I realized what was really going on. My morning was hit with a swarm of curveballs.
Was it a pain in the ass? Absolutely.
But it was also an opportunity to put my practice to work. All that yoga-mindfulness-be-my-best-self stuff was being given it’s moment to shine.
So it could:
Instill me with the ability to not freak out.
Plug a bit of resourcefulness into my mentality.
Keep me flexible and open to whatever pops up on my path.
Life is just a series of curveballs. Some balls bigger than others. (Fortunately, this day was just small balls.) But this is why we practice– to respond thoughtfully when all balls come our way. In yoga class it’s easy peasy to breathe deep and go with the flow. And this is the point of meditation. But what about off the mat, in my day to day?
Can I be resourceful? Resilient?
Not always.
But I’ll keep practicing…to be better with all those balls.
Oh, and a little Pema Chodron wisdom can help too.
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Thanks for lighting the way, with wisdom, humor and grace, Elysha. xoxo
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It is a DEFINITE that curve balls will be thrown in our direction. The key is how we recover after we’ve been “hit”. I love what Pema Chodron has to say. Not to be cynical but she lives alone. So those of us with more complicated lives have to cut ourselves more slack as we dodge the curve balls. I try to handle all of the balls with grace most of the time or maybe even sometimes. There is no way I can juggle them with grace ALL of the time.
GGW, I love what you say about cutting ourselves slack…it’s so easy to get down on our ourselves when we feel like we’ve dropped the balls…which will happen. But as you also point out — it’s our ability to get back up…resilience is the key. Thank you for sharing your wise insights!!
Your home page is looking sharp, E. And I double-like this post. One like for the enjoyable writing and one for the content. So here’s a page out of our life, right? Gee wiz, it’s always the parent’s (which means MOM’s) fault when the kid’s missing something in class. No, she wasn’t going to breathe lol. I love your application. Riiiight…yoga is supposed to help us stay flexible not only on but also off the mat. Sigh.
D, I like to think that the purpose of my yoga practice is to take the flexibility (and all the other gems we gain in yoga) off the mat. Who cares if I can bend my leg behind my head? (I can’t!) But when I can roll with the punches and go with the flow of the everyday…that’s when the practice pays off. Thank you for your kind words and comments. (I appreciate your edits!)