What Do You Take for Granted?

A practice I've taken on when feeling stressed is to turn the stress around to what I'm grateful for in this situation.

Last weekend, I had company visiting while teaching teacher training, and I could feel stress and overwhelm building. I noticed how taxing it was and quickly shifted the narrative in my mind from "I have to do all of this...." to "I GET to!"

I get to do what I love and teach, and have company that I love visit me! It was as if a light switch flipped on in my mind, instantly lifting my energy rather than draining it.

We have so much more control over our minds than we realize, just by noticing the effects of our emotions and the story we're running, and then directing our attention to how we want to feel. Gratitude is an instant energy shift.

In my Sacred Sunday classes, we not only recognize what we're grateful for, but also what we take for granted, such as our warm, safe homes, food security, and running water.

So recently, while traveling, we didn't have water at our place because the tanks were overused. It wasn't until then that I realized what not having water felt like and how much I take it for granted.

I was shocked at how not being able to bathe after a long flight and bus ride, nor use the toilet, felt like an offense to my nervous system! It was so disconcerting. I felt fear creeping in.

And what's interesting is that, according to Chinese medicine, fear is the emotion associated with the water element, which energetically governs the kidneys. When the water energy of the kidneys is weak or deficient, fear arises.

I've camped and hauled water, filtered it, made a fire to heat it, etc., which always makes me appreciate having clean, hot water, and boy do I savor that tea after all the effort it took.

Sometimes it takes something we take for granted being taken away to make us appreciate it so much, such as being in pain or being immobile. We don't remember our health and vitality until we don't have it. It's all we can focus on when we don't have it; it's all that matters.

I know this from having debilitating back pain for years. When I couldn't get up to nurse my baby because my back pain was bringing me to my knees, it was then that I realized the necessity of having a strong, healthy body is the most important thing to take care of myself and my children!

I now actually appreciate my back pain because it drove me to yoga. And the benefits I've received from my yoga and meditation practice far exceed my pain relief. My back pain was the mud that grew the lotus of yoga, which provided physical, emotional, and mental relief and ease.

What has been your mud that has grown into a lotus of gratitude?

Hope to breathe with you soon.

From my heart to yours~

Namaste,

Maggie