What Are You Bringing?

“What are you bringing to the challenge?”, she said in her lilting, smooth yoga instructor voice.

We’d just gotten into warrior two pose and my thighs were already burning. “Five more big, slow deep breaths and remember, notice what you’re bringing to the challenge.”

“Discomfort,” I thought. “Anger.” “Impatience.” “Strength.” “Gratitude for getting to be here.” I thought.

Not a day goes by when we don’t experience some sort of a challenge. Which makes sense as challenge is part of being a human on this planet. No one “rides for free” and thank goodness for life’s challenges that make us stretch and grow.

And while we don’t have a choice about whether or not we experience challenge, we DO have choice in what we bring to it.

We bring anxiety to our tiredness. Anger to our middle of the night wake up calls. Judgment and frustration to our fragile body image.

And, if we have a choice, what would it be like if we brought tenderness to our exhaustion and understanding to our doubts?

What kind of mothers/fathers/lovers/Co-workers/community members would we be if we brought LOVE and loved ourselves (and others) through what’s hard in our lives?

Hold this one close. What are you bringing? What are we each bringing?

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