Ode to My Mamacita

It’s hard to believe it was nearly 15 years ago that my mother and I argued over banal shit (oops, sorry mom: banal stuff). We’ve both changed by multiple measures since those days of being co-hormonal and grinching about the laundry, what to have for dinner, each others’ driving skills (or lack thereof, depending upon perspective).

Both of us have experienced tremendous losses of multiple loved ones. Sometimes we’ve shared those losses: uncle/brother, best friends, parent/Opa. Each subsequent loss has left us each more tender to the world but raw towards each other, isolated and hurt in our grieving. More often than not, our mournings have been separate as we glimpse at one another, cautiously offering empathy from afar but never quite comfortable co-habitating in the difficult emotional spaces of tragedy and disease.

The quote may belong to Emerson but it is the parenting philosophy embraced by my mother.

Bags temporarily packed again: I’m off to Chiang Rai to the North in the morning.

Por que? To visit a fellow Duck and friend from International Studies (!!!) AND for my first meditation retreat. Good times ahead 🙂

Day four: 30 day yoga challenge

As earlier alluded, I’m pursuing 30 days of consecutive and daily yoga practice while here in CM. Why? Why not?! It’s not as though there’s anything else that I “need” to do and frankly, my body is calling for it; it’s been nearly 6 months since I had a regular yoga, or regular anything, practice.

…I suppose that in turning 28 this month, I realize that my health and fitness are never going to be as elastic as they are now and so I better get down to the business of being healthily, laying a foundation for the rest of my life, if you will.

How do your chakras feel today?

I’m quite content to be alone. This is one of the magical gifts of travel: it exposes what you probably need most by giving you space to be fully self-directed, self-motivated & “selfish.”

There’s nothing wrong with being alone, and there’s nothing wrong with being selfish. The word selfish has a very unfortunately negative connotation. This pejorative implication of selfish can prevent us from making decisions that are in our own best interests. Following the advice of my Oregon Mom, I replace ideas of selfishness with “valuing oneself” and “making choices and decisions in the interest of my self-betterment.”