New Year: What Do You Yearn For?

"Is life not a hundred times too short for us to stifle ourselves?" ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

"Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson 

I saw the first quote above on a friend's Facebook page yesterday and thought, "No shit! Time to take stock of what I want and where I am headed, make adjustments and Go For It!" The second quote is one I think of often. I think of it when I get scared, which is almost everyday. Deep inside, I know that what I am doing right now in my life is my dharma, it has my name on it. I have always had a yearning to create and perform. My soul nature is to move and dance, to sing and express and yet somewhere on the journey from childhood to adulthood I disconnected from that and ended up working in the business sector. I also got disconnected from my passion, my source of joy.

Then I found Kripalu Yoga, I found Let Your Yoga Dance, I found a community of support and like minds, I found me. I have spent the last decade studying, practicing, training, teaching and growing. I have achieved so much, and now, as this New Year arrives, the question that comes to me is "So, now what?"


 I have recently had various people, teachers, students, friends making offers and suggestions of things I could do, challenging me to consider expanding my vision and getting even bigger. I have found myself asking these people and myself, "Really? Could I do that?"  Here is where I come up against fear and resistance. I find that others often have more confidence in me than I do, and see me differently than I do. I am afraid to get bigger, I am afraid to fail. However, even greater than the fear is the yearning to explore, to grasp opportunity and step forward. My commitment in this New Year is to follow the path that is opening in front me and to say "Yes!". I will trust that what others see in me is not only possible it is the universe pointing the way.

I also know that even if I fail, if I fall, I will grow. I say it in my yoga classes all the time, if we are not willing to fall, we cannot grow. In fact, we have no business staying small, staying safe. If we let fear win we rob ourselves and the world of receiving our gifts.

What yearning has your name on it? Go for it and grow!