Growth State
Well hello there! It’s been way too long since I have written! I have missed you all! And I hope you haven’t given up on me because I will be back to writing regularly soon!
These last 10 months I have been engaged in finding my way back to being in a growth state! After a few years of feeling like I was in a perpetual state of survival (not personally, but with IBY), that trickster of stuckness had me by the feet and while I was swinging my arms and reaching out in all directions, it felt a bit like chasing my own tail.
But I kept journalling in the dark quiet of the mornings, writing about what I wanted to see more of and how I wanted to feel and where I wanted to head.
Little by little, the flickering of the lights started to shine and I began to see may way back to creating and building - growing in new ways. When we are stuck or in a state of just getting by, we forget how rich and exceptional being in a state of growth feels.
Research suggests that we are our happiest when we are growing. That sounds like a convenient and fairly non-confrontational adage, right? We might imagine growth in the image of a beautiful sunflower reaching towards the sun or a child learning to ride a bike or even our beloved four legged friends learning a new trick.
While those are all examples of growth, we know in our hearts that most growth doesn’t look so pretty.
It’s the late hours of the night when we are wrestling with a situation that calls on us to be softer than we usually are or stronger, more fierce than we are comfortable being.
It is the sweat running down our faces as we stick with the pose, the mile, the climb.
It is the writing of a sentence over and over and over, until it captures exactly what we are trying to say.
It is saying “no” when it would be easier to say “yes” or saying “yes” when it feels more comfortable to say “no.” The growth is reading the same sentence 10 times and until we can finally grasp the meaning of a new concept.
Growth isn’t linear and it often is far from pretty. It calls us forth from our Lazy-Boy chair mentality and provokes us to learn.
Growth stands tall, and faces us down and reminds us of what we are capable of in the most inconvenient moments. It isn’t glamorous or even appealing from certain angles.
But growth is food for our spirit and fuel for our soul. And once the sweat dries and the tears evaporate. It feels really good.
So while I have missed you all, I have been up to growing. And some of that growth you will see soon because it is the shape of a bigger practice space at our Westlake studio!
I miss you all and hope to see you soon - in your own state of growth! On the mat, breathing and moving!
Big love,
Tammy