Skip to main content

Fear

"You gain strength, experience, and confidence by every experience where you really stop to look fear in the face . . .you must do the thing you cannot do."
(Eleanor Roosevelt)

I never thought that I could do Yoga. Those awkward and peculiar poses seemed so foreign to to my body. Yet, I knew that it was a practice I should learn, since I knew I was putting so much indirect stress on my body that I was setting myself up for future cardiac events. Heart issues and chest pain all are physical manifestations of fear; fear of letting go, fear of change; squeezing all the joy out of life and resisting the flow of life. Fear easily creeps up in me in subtle ways until it has me in its grip, and I admit I was trapped, until I learned yoga.

Almost a year later, I have discovered the benefit of breathing, the ability to de-clutter my mind, and reward of actually having a "core". I remember my yoga teacher telling us to use our core when we did particular poses. I was totally "coreless", my core mostly mush, I wasn't sure if it truly was responding or if it was just going through the motions. But now, I can say I have a core! I can actually do push-ups, shoulder and head stands, and my flexibility and balance have arrived along with it. Facing fear found my core and strength, and with it came my peace. . .

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hummingbird Lessons

My eye caught a small round mound stuck upon a branch.  Looking closer, I found indeed it was the start of a hummingbird nest.  And yes, I now had the mother hummingbird buzzing around my head, reminding me that I was in her space.  I have been able to witness at least 3 other hummingbird families come to life, and I was always mesmerized by these "tiny vulnerabilities" becoming resilient birds in only a matter of five to six weeks.  The nest was right out my patio door, and I had the best view to watch them daily.  I was smiling. I had a hunch that babies would be coming soon, because our hummingbird feeder had been especially sucked dry only a few weeks earlier.  One day I found at least 4 hummingbirds at one time feeding, which is highly unusual because most times they come one at a time and don't seem to want to share the space.  If they would share, it was two only at a the bar and of course on opposite sides.  I was filling that feeder at le...

Last of the Mohicans

Glenny, Jerry, and Bobby were the brothers of my Mother Verna.  I'm not sure why she seemed to always attach a "y ending" to their names, but it stuck with her and even them, regardless of their grown up years.  She also did it with my brothers, Johnny and Petey.  Maybe it was just a term of loving endearment in her big sister and motherly role.  No doubt it has happened once again this past week, as she welcomed her baby brother Bobby into his heavenly home. . .   Uncle Bob was probably the one brother I knew best from Mom's family.  Growing up, it seemed that we didn't always have a chance to spend a lot of time with her side of the family.  Grandma had died in her mid 50's of breast cancer, and although I was told that I was named after her, I arrived too late to ever have known her.  I only see her in the picture hanging on my wall.  Times spent with Grandpa and Uncle Jerry were limited due to lack of accommodations in their home....

Complicated Relationship Living

Today is Mom's birthday.  If she were here,  we would be celebrating her 109th day of life.  I can't believe that it has already been 20 years since she said goodbye to earthly living.   I was much too young back then, at the age of 45, to lose my Mom.  You always long for at least one more conversation to ask the questions you didn't get a chance to do.  You often wished you would have had more talks, especially as you find yourself on a different side of life, other wise known as the senior years. As parents we always desire to keep our family ties together and close, but it doesn't always work out that way.  When our  parents were still living, and as they grew more elderly, they of course were the bond that brought my brothers and myself together.  As adult children, we each had a unique relationship to them, but I am realizing now, that we didn't necessarily have a tie with one another.  We were children of the nuclear family, ...