surrender

Decision Making

Decision Making Is a One Way Street

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I’ll never forget the night I drove across the George Washington Bridge by accident.

It was 2010, and I’d just dropped some friends off at a train station in New Jersey. In a moment of distraction, I missed my turn on the unfamiliar, dark streets.

That’s how I found myself on a one-way road heading straight toward the bridge and into New York City.

Decision Making

There was no changing course or correcting the mistake. If I wanted to get home to New Jersey, I’d need to pay the $8.00 toll, cross the bridge, then get back on course.

Now, this was certainly a first-world problem. I had gas in the tank and my parents’ EZ Pass to boot. (Plus, that same toll is now $15.00, making $8.00 seem like a bargain.)

Yet I remember the strong resistance I felt to paying that toll, the “Are you KIDDING me?!” exclaimed out loud.

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What Happens When You Surrender to Stillness: A Story

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It was the best birthday present I could have given myself: an hour to just be. There I was in restorative yoga, lying on my purple mat, posed to surrender to stillness.

In case you haven’t tried it, restorative yoga is a sublime form of deep rest that releases tension on every level.

I love my local studio’s class, but I don’t go much. The poses are deceptively simple, so often I convince myself I could do them at home.

But of course I am a recovering perfectionist and workaholic, so you can imagine the result of that rationalization.

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Set Down The Strings.

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I have this counterproductive dance I do with my long-distance loved ones.

Here’s how it goes: when I don’t expect to see faraway friends and family anytime soon, I’m pretty good at keeping in touch. I make calls, write cards, and send care packages.

But when I do expect to see people soon – say, in the weeks just before a family vacation – I slack off. I don’t call, and I hold back from sharing. My justification for this is that I’m saving up the best discussion topics for in-person interaction.

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