On Beginning Again
Last week I found myself in an entirely different kind of yoga class. Which was not so unusual given the fact that in the last few months I have found myself in an entirely new part of the country. A new neighborhood. A new schoolyard. A new grocery store. A new home. A new life. The class involved intense heat, hand weights and Justin Timberlake music. It demanded stamina. It demanded that my eyes stay wide open and my body stay in constant motion even if I didn’t always feel like it. I remarked that like everything else, I never would have been in this new experience had I not opened myself to it. At the final transition of the class the teacher encouraged us to take pause and to think about how that moment could be a chance to begin again.
To begin again?
For the first few weeks in my new town it was all about beginning again, literally. I didn’t have time to long for the convenience of what once was. It was like learning to walk again. To stand on unfamiliar roads. To find my way. To re-orient myself to the simple act of just paying attention. To get lost and found multiple times a day. Newness was my atmosphere. And as my body and mind adjusted to breathing in this new life, I had the sweetest whiff of appreciation not only for what I left behind but for what I carried along with me. To begin again meant I could summon the ever present wisdom found from my practices. From a time where I showed up every day and consciously welcomed the mystery of what lay ahead. How would I choose to meet myself now? What would my interactions teach me? I could meet myself anew in this expanse and discover the awe if I chose to. I could get acquainted not only with a new place, or even a new life, but a new Self.
Every day we have a choice to begin again. We can look at those we wake up to and recommit to seeing them before we forget the fact that they won’t always be there. That it won’t always be like this. We get the choice to change or view point and our attitude. We get to tell a new story. We get to inhabit our bodies in more elevated ways. We get to have the do-over. The higher conversation. We get to wake up every second and be better people.
We do not need a big move to do this. We can be moved daily because of the awarness we have harvested throughout our lives. On our cushions. In the woods. Mountains. On line at the grocery store. One of my favorite meditation teachers has said many times, it doesn’t matter how often you go away from the moment, what matters most is that you choose to return. Choose to return. Choose to begin again. Choose to particpate in our own unfolding over and over again.
May we be introduced to that which part of ourselves revels in the chance to feel the wonder of beginning again every day.