This is a chance to let everything go.
To sit.
To breathe.
To go in.
Inhaling.
Exhaling.
Welcome to a hit of hope.
And fair warning,
This one is salty.
I've been teaching yoga to a local police department this summer,
And at one session I tried on a bullet-proof vest.
It fit over my vitals,
My center.
I felt protected.
And a long,
Slow wait,
Pulling at me.
I imagined what it must be like to walk around,
Day after day,
With this burdensome shield on.
Literally blocking my heart from the world.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Maybe you've put on your own protective vest,
Putting a shell between you and the world to stay as safe as possible.
Nothing's going to get in to pierce you,
Because that kind of pain and hurt can drive you to your knees.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Maybe you've known others who shield themselves behind what I call a protective truth.
This kind of truth protects them from admitting the ways they've failed,
The pain they've caused.
It feels safer,
Easier to lie,
To blame others,
Rather than to face up to the harm that's been done.
Inhale.
Exhale.
What is at work in both of these is how we try to handle the rawness that comes with being human.
If you've been hurt,
You want to protect yourself from ever feeling that pain again.
If you've done the hurting,
It's tempting as hell to turn into a Houdini,
Doing all kinds of mental tricks to allow yourself to feel okay.
Inhale.
Exhale.
I've got some bad news for you,
And some good news for you.
The bad news is you will get hurt.
You will.
Shit happens.
It hurts.
Now,
Can it be well and good to go into a shell when you've been hurt,
Finding a safe and protected place to heal?
You bet your ass.
But the question is,
Do you want to stay there forever and ever?
Amen.
Because you see,
When you go into a shell,
You make yourself somewhat safer,
But things can still get at you.
And more than that,
You make yourself really,
Really small.
Inhale.
Exhale.
I'm afraid there's a little bit more bad news.
You will hurt others.
No one is perfect.
Therefore,
There is no way around it.
And when you do hurt others,
It can be oh so tempting to gear up with that protective truth,
Using lies to protect yourself and blame others.
But as I'm sure all of us know,
That choice can lead to all kinds of collateral damage.
Well,
Aren't I a fucking ray of sunshine?
Inhale.
Exhale.
All is not lost,
Fellow humanoid.
There's good news.
You are in charge of how you think and act.
That means you are in charge of how you handle your humanness.
It's not always easy,
But you get to choose.
Try not to get mired in the manure pile of shame or feed your beautiful soul into the wood chipper.
Get centered.
Get quiet.
Then get real.
Find that space between trust and boundaries.
Live authentically and realize that might lead to some missteps.
But most of all,
Decide what kind of person do you want to be?
Answer that and then figure out what's the next right step to get you there.
It might be hard or hurt like hell,
Or you might have to reveal things you really don't want to reveal.
But in the long run,
You yes,
You get to decide how you become the u-iest,
The juiciest you.
Full and fierce.
Real and wide.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Live light.
