On Possibility, 2019…

A couple of years ago I was invited to give a speakeasy at Wanderlust Festival, a 40-minute talk on the subject of my choice. Now, I talk in front of a room full of people every single week, but not like this. No movement, nothing to divert people’s attention from, well, from me. I was TERRIFIED. I was also utterly exhilarated.

We all have a place in life, a little cocoon where we can move around with confidence. You might know it as your comfort zone.

Your comfort cocoon insulates you from painful experiences, wounds and disappointments. It may have been created out of an impulse to maintain the status quo, or out of a fear of failure, or for any number of reasons. There are no surprises in your cocoon. You feel completely stable and secure there, but it’s not the best place for your overall growth or happiness. Maintaining the norm or confining ourselves was never meant to be the goal. No matter where you are in life, there is always something new waiting for you if you want it. That is the universal principle of possibility, and it’s my guiding principle in 2019.

The start of a new year can bring with it a burning desire to peer through a crack in your cocoon and look at the world and its possibilities.

That desire is your soul signature, your true expression in the world longing to spread its wings and break free.

How does a life of possibility take flight? Exploring possibility cannot begin without gratitude, including gratitude for the things you wouldn’t normally count as blessings. Gratitude is magic. It’s both grounding and uplifting; it expands your mind and spirit. In your deepest moments of vulnerability, those times of joy hovering on terror, practice gratitude. Gratitude orients us to finding value and meaning in our experience, whatever it may be. No matter where you are in life; no matter how beautiful or bleak things may seem, gratitude helps you understand that the combination of sweetness and strife is what has brought you to this point.

Equally important is your full participation. Once it has emerged, a butterfly doesn’t ask the wind to carry it to the flowers, it figures out how to work its wings and it flies. Instead of feeling victimized by what you have or have not experienced, start testing your wings. Take simple actions that begin to move you onto a path that’s in harmony with what you truly want in life – your authentic soul signature.

Lastly, be open and present. You are on the threshold of something greater. Life has a way of sending the perfect message at the perfect time, but we must be listening. Yoga is an indispensable tool for learning to listen well. Be fully available to whatever is unfolding, and be open to the power that lies in living out your soul signature.

Where your comfort cocoon ends, your expanded life begins.

Happy New Year!