Progress and Improvement

I've been pondering on progress and improvement. I love to see results, good results, quick results. Perhaps everyone does, but I have been learning that

progress and improvement most often require:

-patience

-learning

-practice

-perseverance

-consistency

You don't get to the top of a mountain instantly, you have to climb. You meet obstacles and switchbacks, but as long as you follow a steady upward course, and never give up, you will make it.

I see a long journey ahead of me, and I don't know how far the destination is, or even if there is a destination, maybe it's just always a journey. But I'm looking forward to it. I'm excited about it! 

I am a learner. I love to learn.

I am a worker. I love to work.

So, I'm on my way. I can do it, one step at a time.

I've been practicing yoga consistently for a month or two, and it always helps me feel better, more free, more open, more clean. Am I a master? Absolutely not. I'm really just a beginner, and I like to practice yoga alone (or with my husband) at home with a DVD (usually Rodney Yee) that I can pause and repeat and do my own thing. I can modify the poses to fit my own ability without anyone watching or critiquing or comparing.

When I started doing yoga again after our baby was born (it took many months to start again), 

I couldn't:

-do sitting positions without a cushion

-do downward dog position at all

-roll up to sitting positions from lying down without blacking out a little bit

-do standing forward bend without a tall block

But after a month or two of those 5 things I mentioned above,

I can:

-do sitting positions without a cushion

-do downward dog position for a little bit

-roll up to sitting positions from lying down and feel fine

-do standing forward bend with a small block

It has taken quite a bit of time and effort to accomplish these small things, but it's good to see a little progress, and I enjoy it.

A good friend of mine wrote a post on success that inspired me. She quoted W. Stephen Smith’s book “The Naked Voice:”

 "Success is all about the joy we attain in pursuit of our passions."

And I am pursuing my passions and I am attaining joy from that. I haven't reached my goals - really, I never will because I will always make a new goal - but I am finding joy in the journey, so I am successful.

President Thomas S. Monson, the current prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints advised, 

"Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey, and share our love with friends and family."