Stepping out of your comfort zone can be, well, uncomfortable.
That’s just the nature of growth or so that’s the way it goes for me.
Thank goodness not all growth is that uncomfortable cuz this girl might need some retail therapy and my closet cannot house another pair of boots. Even though I saw a beautiful pair of Sorel’s calling my name on the Nordstrom website and pictures of it continue to follow me from website to website teasing me, begging me to bring them home. Anyone else experience boots haunting them online? Yeah – welcome to my world. I might need a 12-step-self-help program.
Back to topic…where was I? Oh, yeah – Mindfulness. Or at least I was getting there.
In some ways, it’s an overused word that causes some eye rolling. Just me? Ok, moving on. Now add a genuine smile and some humor to mindfulness and you have my attention. Laughter is good for the soul. And that’s what this is all about, right? Being present to enjoy this big ball of blue we happen to live on.
AnyHOO, part of my growth is discovering new teachers to get my butt moving towards mindfulness (or is that slowing down?). What have I learned? Teachers come in all forms and walks of life! Sooo – no epiphany there. What is amazing is that those teachers sometimes show up just when you need them most. Kind of like an Oprah Winfrey’s aha moment.
I’ll share a few with you who I’ve been virtually introduced to:
- Tara Brach, Ph.D, author, physiologist, teacher of meditation and kick-ass-spiritual-awakener (my words) who soothingly threads motivational messages with science and humor. A girlfriend sent me a text to listen to her podcast. I’m so glad I did. One message I jotted down on my bright green sticky pad is “hate is too great of a burden to bare…Turn towards love.” Just wow. Listen to her message.
- Baron Vaughn, Comedian – Funny, funny interview on “The Hilarious World of Depression”, a podcast I stumbled on because, full confession, I’m a NPR geek. With ear buds on in the cube farm I work at, I listened to the interview with Baron quietly chuckling along to the cheerios diet (not recommended), how to apply imagination to anxiety and sound bites of his album “Raised by Cable”. Seriously – great escape from the grind as well as great for the mind to digest a not so funny subject. Listen to it.
- Davidj, author, stress management expert and an all around amazing meditation guide. I discovered his meditations years ago during a painful breakup or what I like to refer to as a gawd-aweful-growth-period. It was my first step into meditation. And I find myself returning to his meditations when I need to find center. Take a listen.
- The checkout clerk at my local grocery store who looked me in the eye, genuinely smiled and gave me the space to respond – with a smile. Have you ever noticed it’s pretty hard not to smile when someone genuinely smiles at you? Try it…and let me know what you learn. I don’t have a link to share with you for this one. But I’m betting that you have someone similar in your life if you look close. But turn it around and be the one to share a smile with the next person you see. We can all be teachers too.
This type A lady has gads of work to do in slowing down and focusing on the important things in her life. If you have any teachers you’d like to recommend I’m all ears. Please share them with me in the comments. Namaste.
And as always, Cheers!
💕
