Celebrate Small Victories (and defeats)

I laughed pretty hard when someone posted this image on their Facebook page last week.  It says, “It’s the small victories that prevent me from jumping out the window.”  Besides being funny, it got me thinking about how often we let the little victories go unnoticed and how often we let what we feel are “defeats” take over our happiness rather than see both of them as an opportunity to learn and grow.

We have all had that atrocious week at work or particularly gnarly fight with a loved one.  At the time, situations may seem so insurmountable, you can’t possibly imagine any light.  When you’re in amidst the muck, it seems impossible to step outside of your mind and try to find the lesson, or better yet to see the situation for what it is.

It might seem “Pollyanna,” but several years ago I decided to try and find the silver lining in any situation.  No matter what is happening, I try to take a step back and see the big picture.   In February, I was hit with a couple of large back to back home repair bills. In a former time period, I would have sunk into a pit, seeing only the negatives of the money flying out of my pocketbook.  But since the shift in my perspective, I celebrate the fact that I have a home that I can repair.  I’m grateful that I can afford to pay for these substantial repairs, and I’m supremely thankful that everyone in my life is happy and healthy.  When you walk backwards up the spiral of tumbled dominoes and step out of the maze, you see a beautiful design of interconnected pieces that individually have tumbled over.

Move Through Life Sequentially

In many styles of yoga — Ashtanga and Vinyasa, particularly — the class is constructed by a series of postures sewn together to make a sequence.  Each pose, though distinct, flows into the next almost without a separate beginning or ending.  Separate, but seamless.   In fact, the transitions themselves are, of themselves, poses.  Moving with the breath, each movement is both active and passive.    For me, Yoga, which means “union” is the unification of one pose to another; the unity of the breath to the pose; the uniting of the self with the all.   And, to truly be present during yoga, the mind is absent of thought and distraction.  Absent of multi-tasking.

When I’m in a yoga class or doing my morning asana (poses) at home, my awareness is on my practice and my practice alone.   For those 45 to 90 minutes, I am doing only one thing at a time sequentially, and life seems manageable and clear.

In 2012, it seems almost incomprehensible to tackle one thing at a time.  With all of the electronic devices, television, radio, and pressures we place upon ourselves, one track succession is a foreign concept. We are a generation of multi-tasking, overthinking, producers.   We are rarely, if ever, doing only one thing at a given moment.  Right now you are reading this at work perhaps with four other browser windows open.  Or maybe you’re reading on your iPhone and walking (look out for that fountain).  Or you might even be reading while listening to music, or while half paying attention to someone on the phone.