I have taken on quite a few responsibilities this year.

With ​weekly yoga classes​, ​private sessions​, ​yoga teacher trainings​, the ​Sicily Retreat​, the ​Gallery in Windsor​AND the numerous tasks that go into planning, prepping, organizing, maintaining multiple websites, social media pages, blog writing, bookkeeping, etc…I pretty much have a 7 day work week.

Some days I feel quite frantic with all these responsibilities, and I wonder how I might try to lighten my load...

But then other days, I feel completely peaceful and at ease with all the tasks that are to be completed. Sometimes, I even wonder what other offerings I could add to the mix.

I have noticed that this mental shift is entirely dependent on my relationship with awareness and attention.

When I prioritize ways to be gentle with myself, I am more at ease.

I have this theory that if I can find a very authentic way of being in my body, if I can really feel each moment and be very still and very present, then I won’t feel the pressure of all these tasks.

Can I shift my awareness away from my head and all the things my mind wants to think about? Can I be attentive to the presence of my body? Can I shift my awareness to the one living breath that animates us all?

Echkhart Tolle says: ”When you are present, when your attention is fully in the Now, Presence will flow into and transform what you do. There will be a quality and power in it. You are present when what you are doing is not primarily a means to an end (money, prestige, winning) but fulfilling in itself, when there is joy and aliveness in what you do.”

How I tend to and care for my attention and for my mental state is the fundamental key to feeling at ease, no matter what my obligations might be or what is happening around me.

• Do I feel my feet touch the Earth?

• Do I feel the touch of breath on my nose?

• Do I notice sensation deep in my belly?

• What am I grateful for in this moment?

This shift of attention doesn’t mean that it isn’t necessary to reevaluate actions and obligations from time to time. It is simply a reminder to investigate negative thinking, and to sense the consciousness underneath the thought. And to be more gentle with myself in each moment.

As Viktor Frankl stated: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

Experience the pause with this FREE six minute meditation.

Listen here

With Exquisite Gentleness,

Angie 🖤