more mettā

photo: henry hemming

Mettā. It’s a word that means loving kindness.

I know that I am a yogi and that my world is supposed to revolv around “loving kindness,” but sometimes I forget. Sometimes “the world spins madly on” and I forget about the loving kindness.

[Don’t tell the other yogis…I might be disowned.]

Let me be more clear: sometimes I forget about the mettā for myself. 

Sometimes we push so hard, we strive, things get exciting, things get hard, and we get distracted. 

When this happen, we propel ourselves into the next thing, the next goal and experience anxiety, frustration, and stress. 

Maybe tonight you are experiencing this. Maybe tonight you have gotten ahead of yourself and are anxious, frustrated, or really excited but also overwhelmed by your future. So here’s a little reminder for you:

life isn’t in the future. 

Your life is here, in this present moment, in this breath. It’s right here. This journey towards the goal, towards something beautiful & wonderful is just as grand, if not more so, than what we are working towards. 

Here is why: it’s what we have right now. And it could be all that we have.

I have many friends that are doing lovely, exciting things, but are anxious and stressed out right now over those wonderful dreams. Here’s a heads up: the future will come and you are going to be great, but don’t miss out on the present!

Whatever you’re working on, whatever your goals are, whatever you dream of…it is all exceedingly important and it is going to be magnificent, but this beautiful, messy world that you’re currently moving through, it’s pretty awesome too.

So show up. Show yourself some mettā and allow the hustle to be what you do, not who you are. Allow the loving kindness to be a way in which you live, not a thing on your to-do list.

[“Oh…I forgot to be kind to myself today. I spent all day running around like a chicken without a head that I snapped at myself for running into that door–I ran into the door–I’m pretty sure I yelled at my body all day long for being late, not being early enough, eating too much, not drinking enough water, feeling sluggish, and being tired when it “shouldn’t” have been…sorry, body. I had things to do.]

You may be tempted to not believe me. You may think you’re not worth it. You might believe that speaking to yourself that way and constantly berating yourself for being two steps behind in life is actually motivating for you…but you’d be wrong. 

A few weeks ago I suggested a breathing exercise for your morning routine, did you try it? 

There’s no time like the present to begin showering your sweet self with a whole lot of mettā.

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Also….new vlog about yoga videos coming soon! What do you want to see? What do you want to do?