Sequoia National Park Yoga

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart. And try to love the questions themselves.

-Rilke

I just returned from a backpacking trip in Sequoia National Park . I was so busy hiking and taking pictures that I didn't get to write in my journal. Typically the wilderness helps me clear my head and find inspiration. I think it still did both but I do not have any insightful words to share. Pictures on the other hand... I have tons of pictures! 

While hiking I go through phases ranging from "I love this" to "my feet hurt" to "what was I thinking" back to "ahh beauty." I sometimes get frustrated with myself for not being able to move past those thoughts and feelings of frustration that come with hiking long distances or steep climbs. But then again, if it was easy...

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."

Yoga for Spring Cleaning!

We went to visit my mom to help her with some house cleaning. Not your typical broom and dustpan type cleaning but the complete overhaul of a house that our family lived in for 20 years! It was emotional tug-o-war as we tried to figure out what we "needed" vs. what we "wanted" vs. what we were attached to because of the memories associated with it.

"It's just stuff." The stuff is not the same thing as the memories. But that association is strong and hard to detach from.

I will say this, my mom did an amazing job letting go of a lot of stuff. The local GoodWill is now newly stocked with truckloads of stuff. It seems like mom is even almost ready to let go of the house. It's crazy to see the home I grew up in look completely different and to recognize that "it's just a house." When does a house become a home and when does it go back to being just a house?!

It's not the mess, the stuff, the full house, that is the problem... but rather what it represents. We hold on so tight to things that at one time were so important to us, we need to remember to let those things serve their purpose and then let go of them so that we are able to move forward. Marc and I made the trip because we didn't want to be the reason that she had to hold onto the house. The house should not be a storage unit for my stuff. The grandkids will visit grandma even if she doesn't live in the house that we grew up in.

We need to remember to de-clutter our "stuff" as well as our minds and hearts in order to make room for growth.We want to grow and become better people but we are unwilling to let go of old habits. Hmmmm?

Self-ology

I find myself on a soapbox once in awhile regarding what is important for us to learn... 

In school, I'm not sure I had a singular favorite subject... I loved them all (I know... nerd!)

It is interesting to look back on my few or many years (depending on who you are) and think about what are the most important things that I have learned. 

I'll fast-forward to my conclusion..

 I wish that I would have learned more about "me." I think that when we go through changes, challenges, and choices in life it seems that it would be nice to know more about ourselves. Our minds, bodies, hearts, spirits. Our emotions, reactions, strengths, and weaknesses. Our likes and dislikes, our pleasures and fears. Our beliefs and morals.

I graduated with a BS in engineering and what I have found most useful in the "real world" is surely not calculations and solutions. No... what I have found most useful is conversations and friendships that have led me to understand myself better. People that encouraged me to follow my dreams and trust myself. People that encourage me to live passionately. THANKS to those people.

So, I did a little internet searching and have some quotes and inspirations on the subject below.

The secret of success is concentrating interest in life, interest in sports and good times, interest in your studies, interest in your fellow students, interest in the small things of nature, insects, birds, flowers, leaves, etc. In other words to be fully awake to everything about you & the more you learn the more you can appreciate & get a full measure of joy & happiness out of life. I do not think a young fellow should be too serious, he should be full of the Dickens some times to create a balance.

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/02/02/jackson-pollock-father-letter/

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.  ~Henry David Thoreau, 1854

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
Aristotle (384 BCE - 322 BCE) quotation

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.  ~John Muir, 

I think I can I think I can...

In climbing there is a lot of mental challenges... in fact, even though climbers are generally pretty strong physically, what sets a good climber apart from an average climber is their ability to control their mind. (Yay Yoga!) Of course, it is a daily practice jut like yoga. Perhaps some people are naturally clear headed, but for most of us each day is a new challenge. Each climb is a new quest. Success is not necessarily easily determined. It is not always about the summit or even the completion of a climb, sometimes its about the lessons learned. Lessons about what we are capable of, lessons about climbing technique perhaps, lessons about what our thoughts do when we are under stress... I think that is an interesting effort in self-study. When I am scared and hanging by a fingernail on the edge of a cliff, what am I telling myself? Is it "I can do this?" Or is it "I can't?"

Ok, I'll admit... my self-talk sucks sometimes! I got down off of my first lead in a long time and while I felt good from the successful climb, I noticed that I hadn't done myself any favors. Luckily for me, (or not) I happen to talk to myself out loud while I climb... so I have witnesses! Maybe that will help hold me accountable! 

We think of a lot of excuses: I haven't done this in awhile, I am out of shape, I have the wrong pants, it's too hot, my feet hurt.... can I add "AND I can do it despite all that!" After all, I just did. Take one moment to stop making excuses and just climb.

Growing up?

"Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they're looking for ideas."
Paula Poundstone

I think a lot about who I am, what I am supposed to be or do, how I am supposed to use my gifts. On one hand it's good that I want to serve and make my life have meaning. On the other hand, this "identity crisis" doesn't help my state of being. Am I to be defined by what I do or my success? In High School, I was excited to move on to college. In college I couldn't wait to get to the "real world." I remember thinking how wonderful it was going to be when there was nothing I was "supposed to do" any more. I remember thinking I would love the freedom of choosing my future... being grown up... the unknown is a lot more daunting than I expected!

But worrying about it takes the fun out of life, why can't this just be another one of my adventures?