Stretch & Tone

“Ultimately spiritual awareness unfolds when you’re flexible, when you’re spontaneous, when you’re detached, when you’re easy on yourself and easy on others.” ~Deepak Chopra

Flexibility is something I’ve lived with pretty much my entire life. I remember my high school graduation, how much I reminded my uncle of how early I had to be there (he was supposed to be my ride), and how I still found myself flying after the city bus, racing down the street with my mortarboard cap under my arm, robe flapping in the breeze. At least the people on the bus wished me good luck.

I used to pride myself on not being like that, in being everywhere early, in being as dependable as Cupid on Valentine’s Day. I treated it like it was the biggest virtue, and it is important, but time has shown me everything isn’t quite as black and white as it seemed when I was judging my uncle (at 17). I hated this ability to be flexible on things that to me mattered more than others. But maybe it wasn’t about being flexible at all. Maybe it was about trying your best and life intervening.

I’ve never asked my uncle about what really happened that day, and I got to walk with my class, but I’m still curious why he was so late that day.

It’s never been easy for me to admit when I’ve been wrong, so saying now that he was fine to be late to pick us up is grating to my own ears, but sometimes, instead of vilifying everyone for things outside their control, I can try and understand. It would certainly lead to less stress and lower blood pressure. Because, seriously, why make things harder on myself than they need to be?

Perhaps I’m becoming more spiritually aware. Or maybe it’s that as time goes on I realize I have a stronger tolerance for things that used to stress me out to no end. I think, “Life is too short to sweat the small things,” and rigidity just wasn’t helping me to live my best life. Efficiency in all things should be my new motto. I know, as a parent myself now, that life happens, and we sometimes just have to hang on for the ride. And that’s okay.

Maybe that’s more than okay.