By now, most of us are probably on the other side of all the graduations and parties we were privileged to be a part of and have already moved forward with the beginning of our busy summers. Those who graduated, youthful as they are, probably thought their graduation was all about them and their gifts and their cake. On a certain level, they are correct. But what about for the rest of us who graduated from school long ago? Graduation ceremonies are also referred to as commencement ceremonies. To commence means to begin. Therefore, we have numerous opportunities on a daily basis to graduate (leave behind unnecessary behaviors, thoughts, habits, people) and commence with new ideas and healthy thoughts and inspired habits and loving people. Sometimes moving forward makes us stressful, anticipatory. To all my yoga students, you will graduate from each yoga class, (there is no flunking, ie: failure) and you will all move on to svasana where peace awaits you. So, let go of the stress.... Arie Pencovici writes, "Graduation is only a concept. In real life every day you graduate. Graduation is a process that goes on until the last day of your life. If you can grasp that, you will make a difference." My son received a certificate as he crossed the stage at his 8th grade graduation. The certificate does not have any value. Whether he was recognized or not, he still completed 8th grade. Do not stand around waiting for life to hand you a certificate ( ie: recognition) before you are willing to move on. I am afraid you may be waiting for awhile with all the other people who are expecting applause as well. The reason in graduation ceremonies that they ask you to hold your applause until the end is because of how much longer the process would take if we waited for applause between each kid. Right? Apply that to life. So, yesterday, I made a new recipe for dinner- it was a vegetable frittata. I chopped up onion and summer squash, mushrooms and spinach and then sauteed them before I mixed them with the eggs and coconut milk and sent it into the oven. I did not await applause between each step; it wouldn't have come or been expected and no one else was around! I knew my fritatta had graduated when the timer went off so I took it out and placed it on the stove. I did not applaud it nor it me. The recipe was from my new healthy eating cookbook and I couldn't wait to try it. I slid the bite off my fork and waited for the flavors to dance upon my tastebuds. There was no dancing; the fritatta sucked. That may be a little strong; it was bland. No one liked it. Which was doubly great because I had thought ahead to make two so I could freeze one. There was no applause for my efforts. I stood up and commenced the next stage of my day by cleaning up all the dishes that had helped me make this pitiful dish. My analogy is a little crazy; we don't really expect to hear a clapping soundtrack after everything we accomplish. Maybe we do for the big ones but not the trivial. So why do we get stuck waiting for applause to happen before we move on? Dr. Seuss writes, "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who will decide where to go." So get excited about your day. Each day a graduation, a completion of your efforts. Each morning a commencement to what lays ahead. And the exciting part is you get to decide that! You decide if you will gift yourself time for your yoga practice, you decide if you are going to learn to make pottery, you decide if you will lay out in the sun and be present, you decide if you are ready to cut loose the people who deplete you of energy, you decide if you will make a better fritatta than mine (not a problem!), you decide everything! That's exciting!! It also points directly at who is to blame if you didn't like how your day went. And that mirrored image you may be pointing to has the power to start over without even waiting for tomorrow. That's exciting, too.
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