2016 – Thank you for the lessons!!

As usual at the end of last year, or more so the beginning of this year, I have taken some time to sit, reflect and learn from 2016. There have been many great lessons in 2016 and needless to say 2016 has been another sensational year of growth.

With that I have decided to share a couple of things I learnt in 2016 with you. Maybe the things I learnt will put some perspective in your life or maybe they will spark a thought of a new way to see things. Either way we can all learn from each other in some way shape or form.

PASSION…

You often hear people talk about “Doing what you are Passionate about” or “Live with Passion” Whilst I am certainly a living example of all of the above having left the corporate world to “do what I am passionate about” this is not the passion I’m talking about.

In this example I’m talking about Passion in people.

In my opinion there are three types of people, when relating to passion.

1- The people that are always super excited, really engaged in conversation, strongly stand by their thoughts and opinions and care a lot about whatever they are into.

2- Those that quietly go about doing what they do. Get a little excited when talking about what they love doing, though will keep it on the down low. Will listen to others opinions on things though often stick with there own views in the end.

3- Those that have little passion for things and feel they just do what they have to do and thats life.

Now certainly can agree that there is also somewhere in between for each of these. This is more of a general overview.

This year I’ve particularly learnt a lot about the first two.

2016 allowed me to realise my personality falls more so into the 2nd type.  Before this realisation when engaging with people of the 1st type, at times I’d feel challenged or question my own passion for things.This challenged feeling would put doubt in my mind and cause me to either get defensive of the situation or to simply want little to do with them. In turn I’d potentially ran away from the situation, mull over it in my own mind, way to much, and be somewhat distressed about the situation.

Having come to realise my personality falls more so into the 2nd type has given me the confidence to be ok with the way I express and my level of passion.  Even taking some of own lessons from last year to “BREATHE, FEEL and TRUST…”.  I stopped and took time to breathe, to feel the situation and trust in the universe which has allowed me to see that these people are just really trying to be heard understood and are simply expressing in a way that feels right for them and are not necessarily “challenging” me as I had so previously thought. They are beautiful passionate humans that expresses themselves differently and thats ok.

TIME…

We all have 24 hours in our day.  We all spend our time slightly different, however most of us do our best to find a balance between the need for sleeping, eating, working, interacting with loved ones and doing jobs around the house just to name a few. There are many ways to manage and balance our time although the question here is more so about how much of it we waste.

When looking back on 2016 I recall many conversations about time and how much it we waste procrastinating and distracting ourselves.  Having come from a corporate environment, where I had start and finish times, meetings and deadlines, I felt like I was in heaven when first opening Clear Water Yoga.  I was able to do things on my own terms, start when it suited me (class times the exception obviously), take extended lunch breaks and do things when I wanted minus the deadlines. Whilst part of that is certainly still true (perks of running your own business), it certainly opens you up to much “wasted” time.

When speaking with others I realised its a very common theme.

It first dawned on me how much time I was wasting when I started doing some electrical work      in-between teaching to help a mate out and bring in some extra cash. A few weeks in juggling two jobs and it came to me that I was actually being more productive and getting more done in my business and personal life with much less procrastination and without allowing myself to become distracted.  The less time I had the more efficient I became. It reminded me to schedule my time and to use it wisely.

This realisation also spilt over into my personal yoga practice. At one time or another every yoga teacher faces some form of challenge with managing time and motivation for their own practice. Often I would get distracted looking for inspiration for my practice on youtube or found it difficult remaining completely present when queuing my own practice and having to think of what move to do next. As a result of this challenge I found myself not practicing due to running out of time after all the fussing around. I later went on practicing having made a commitment to myself to do 7 Sun A’s everyday, which I still do. I found that after a few weeks they became Sun A’s with a bit of a twist and would often lead into practicing a few more poses along the way. To me the key element here was picking a time of the day scheduling it in and being consistent.

In understanding the way in which I express my passion for things and taking the time to realise how others may express their passion, I’ve been able to stop and see more people for who they really are. By committing to myself a simple daily practice of yoga I’ve been able to see and feel the effects of my procrastination and embrace the time within a day much more.

2016 was all about learning to live passionately and appreciating the time we have. Looking forward to 2017 being full of passionate engagements and continuing to commit to making the most of this time we have.

Dane