Want That?
By Laura Mills
This summer, as a new mom, I registered for gifts at two stores. Each gave me a catalog of suggested items prior to composing my own wish list. Some of the items I knew I couldn’t or didn’t want to do without, but also a good number seemed either extravagant or useless. In composing my own list, I spent serious time considering the questions “What do I need?” and “What do I want?” By the end of the process, my list looked quite different from either pre-printed registry guide.
When was the last time you asked yourself either “What do I need?” or “What do I want?” My guess is, like me, it was more recent than you initially think—going out for lunch, treating a headache, stopping for gas—yet most of the time we process the questions and our answers so quickly we don’t notice. For me, actually considering each question highlighted the fact that I’ve confused “need” and “want” many times. In fact, I believe discerning the difference has been one of the most difficult tasks of my adulthood. My needs and wants frequently differ, sometimes dramatically—and as my life experience grows, the more aware I become of the not-always-palatable discrepancy between the two.
A spiritual person once told me that we often don’t end up with what we think we want, but somehow, in some way, the higher power always provides what we need. I didn’t believe this until quite recently, when I looked back at years of ups and downs and realized “Aha! Now I get it!” What about you? The next time you ask yourself either “What do I need?” or “What do I want?” consider if the question is indeed the correct one. Whether you are composing a gift registry or navigating the profound stuff of life, the concept is the same. You might just get to know yourself better; you might just glimpse the tremendous gifts you’ve already received.
Uh Oh, Here Come the Holidays
It's the time of year when I start thinking about holiday gifts. While I love the holidays, spirit and overall festiveness, I confess I really dislike the commotion about gifts. Shopping is so automatic for so many of us; we talk about starting shopping, putting off shopping, finishing shopping, spending too much on shopping. We breathlessly announce things like, I;ve done my in-laws, now I just have to do the kids. To be fair, I know people who holiday shop with a great deal of festive spirit, but I canít help but feel sour about it because I know many others who go about it in the same spirit with which they gas up their snow blowers.
I propose we at least reassess our own gift-giving processes this year. Unfortunately, in my experience gift-giving has often boiled down to merely an exchange of a particular dollar amount (Well, so-and-so spent this much on me, so Iíd better spend this much on her). And if thatís really the case, what's the point?
I challenge us all to leave the auto-pilot holiday shopper at home this year and instead take along that part of ourselves that truly values the people we buy for. We need to ask ourselves what is special about each particular person and how we might honor him or her with a gift. It will be an interesting experiment. And no matter how much or little we spend, more than just another holiday gift, our gifts this year may enable our recipients to sense that we actually do care.
STRETCH YOUR YOGA DOLLAR FOR GIFTS THIS YEAR
GIFT CERTIFICATE PROMOTION: GET MORE FOR YOUR YOGA DOLLAR!
Purchase $50 gift certificate receive $10 more in value (eg buy $50 get a $60 gift certificate to give)
Purchase $100 gift certificate receive $25 more in value (eg buy $100 get a $125 gift certificate to give)
Beat the economic crunch by letting TBY help you stretch your money further in a good way. Ask any of our team to help you make a purchase at the studio at your convenience from November 23rd until December 25th. Wishing you peace on earth and more healthy wellness gifts for all mankind!
TIME FOR YOURSELF: TODAY IS A GIFT
MARCH 28TH, 2009:
For yesterday I hold no apologies,
For tomorrow I hold no answers,
Today is a gift and I will honor it by fully living in it."
My Healer at Holessence says “If you don’t take time for wellness now, you’ll have to make time for illness later.”
We always have opportunities to be kind to ourselves. When we refuse to take the time to treat our bodies, emotions, and minds with reverence and love, they will often remind us – not so kindly – by failing to respond when we need them. Our ability to think clearly recedes when we aren’t looking after ourselves. It’s weird how we can be super tired and have a really busy mind all at the same time. To bring the frequency of our bodies and the frequency of our thoughts in sync we are obligated to take time for ourselves without apology. In yogic philosophy we call this Ahimsa. The idea of loving ourselves is a way to demonstrate love for all people. But we must start with ourselves. (SUTRA 2.35 EMBRACING REVERENCE AND LOVE FOR ALL (AHIMSA) WE EXPERIENCE ONENESS)
The Buddha put it like this, “The object of your practice should first of all be yourself. Your ability to love another person, depends on your ability to love yourself.”
WHAT DON’T WE MAKE TIME FOR OURSELVES? I’ve come to think that the main reason is that we are worried about what other people think. We actually make the opinions of others even MORE IMPORTANT than our own opinion of ourselves. And when you think about it there will never be a shortage of opinions about us form other people. Yoga teaches us that we are sovereign over ourselves, we can’t be responsible for how others see us all we can do is have the authority of leading our own peaceful life. Why because life itself is a gift! MARK TWAIN says “ A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval”
WE ARE PRETTY AMAZING!
Think about this formula proposed by John Maxwell in his book Talent is Never Enough. Maxwell says that “every person is capable of doing something better than the next 10,000 people.” That something is called your STRENGTH ZONE. From the yogic view we are capable of far greater things than what we often deem possible. We realize our potential only when we see that we are worthy of making time for ourselves and that each breath is another opportunity to dream even bigger dreams.