Dear Homegrown Yogis,
The transition from the unstructured time of Summer to the busyness of Fall always seems to catch me off-guard. Suddenly I look at my calendar and there are parent meetings at school, ballet practices, programming at the studio, and an extremely important unicorn-themed 5th birthday party to plan!
Amidst all the to-do’s on my calendar last week, I remembered that I had also planned to have lunch with friends. Deciding I was too busy, I started a text to let them know I couldn’t make it. Mid-text, however, I stopped. I wish I could say it was because spending time with friends was a priority to me, but I think it was more out of guilt for bailing on them last minute. I rushed out to lunch half-heartedly and totally frazzled. Within minutes of sitting down, something hit me – I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I left that lunch with a sense of energy and grounding I hadn’t felt in weeks.
Driving home, I made a mental list of all those things I had been cancelling on lately. Some included dinners and phone calls with my friends, but the majority of my cancellations were with myself. I had stopped going to yoga classes, I had quit reading before going to bed, and my meditation practice was pretty much non-existent. I guess it’s easier to cancel on myself because I don’t have to send anyone a text about it =)
Martin Luther famously said, “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” In this quote, I believe he is speaking about the importance of his relationship with God, and I also believe he is speaking about something else: That those times in our lives when we feel as though we are too busy to nourish our souls is the precise time that we need to double-down on our commitment to ourselves. The night-out with friends, the weekend yoga class, or the journal that’s unopened on the bedside table – maybe it’s when we are too busy for these things that we really need them the most.
As we all enter this busy time of year, I invite you to take note of those things you’ve been canceling on lately. Just maybe you’ll discover like I did, that they are actually the most important to-do’s on your calendar.
With love,
Rachel