Mindfulness Monday: “Success” and Health

The road of good health is not a straight line.  It has lots of dead ends, u-turns, and often an accident or two along the way.  Getting every piece in order is like trying to clean the house with a toddler around.  As soon as you pick things up in one area, you look over and another is in disarray.  But just like we don’t give up on tidying the house (or maybe you do and that’s cool, just stick with me on the analogy) you don’t have to give up on health when the road gets rocky.

Frustrations are part of the journey and sometimes it may seem like little to no progress is being made.  Old habits reappear, injuries pop up from seemingly out of nowhere, and yet, if you stay the course….you may still get off track but find getting back on gets easier and easier.  You may figure out ways to treat yourself well during times of physical distress, discomfort, and frustration.  You may find a new way to deal with an old problem that makes your life better as a whole.  You may find things that help make the natural ups and downs a little less jarring to your system.

Homeostasis is not static.  We have to constantly be shifting and adjusting to maintain some sort of balance.  We don’t get to a peak and stand still.  When it seems like the struggle is for nothing I encourage you to focus on refining.  Find ways to work within the struggle that might not lift you up immediately but might lift you up eventually.  Give yourself the space to let go of what isn’t working and try some new stuff that might.  Breathe.

One thing I’ve always loved about yoga is non-attachment to outcome.  There is something so refreshing about just doing the work.  Without the added layer of expectation, it comes as a pleasant surprise when you can do a pose you weren’t able to do before.  It’s simply a nice added bonus because you’ve been content with practicing for practicing’s sake all along.

So maybe, next time when you experience a health challenge, instead of hopelessly projecting about the gloom in your future try focusing on the next right action.  Keep trucking along,  a smoother ride could be just around the bend.

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Picture credited to comedian Demetri Martin, this used to hang in my office at work when I had an office…