Stress 101

Trained as an engineer, I often seek outlets for the "softer skills" of life with desperation. I feel a need for teamwork, healthy communication, and empathy. Maybe it is a result of living the "little sister" role or perhaps my thin skin... but either way I think that we study hard on a lot of subjects but neglect some of the most important things in life. Where do we learn how to have a healthy relationship? What class is it that teaches us how to manage stress, emotions, and dealing with bullies? I feel like I was fortunate enough to have some amazing mentors in my life. However, I sit here able to solve complicated mathematical equations but am unable to figure out why certain people push my buttons...
Insert Yoga.

I wanted a share a little excerpt from The Science of Yoga.

"What ever happened to mental hygiene?" he asked rhetorically. "It doesn't exist- and never did. When you went through high school, you were never taught how to deal with stress, how to deal with trauma, how to deal with tension and anxiety- with the whole list of mood impairments. There's no preventative maintenance. We know how to prevent cavities. But we don't teach children how to be resilient, how to cope with stress on a daily basis.

Love and do what you will...

I am going to re-post the same picture from the last blog...
Simply because "love" keeps turning up. All my "yoga" and "life" books and thoughts and things keep coming back to this theme of love. That's kind of why I haven't posted in awhile. I have nothing new to say...
 But hey, if I have to be constantly reminded of something... there could be worse things!

Love, because it is the only true adventure.
New addition, "Love and do what you will." What will you do if your foundation is love?

"Dilige, et quod vis fac."  
"Love and do what you will."
St Augustine on 1 John 4:7–8

"Love, and do what you will: whether you hold your peace, through love hold your peace; whether you cry out, through love cry out; whether you correct, through love correct; whether you spare, through love do you spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good."

The "root" of love... what will grow? Planting seeds...
Just in case you are a fan of St. Augustine, here are a few more of his famous quotes to ponder...

"Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient and ever new! Late have I loved you! And, behold, you were within me, and I out of myself, and there I searched for you."

"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you."

"Patience is the companion of wisdom."

"Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are."