Sometimes I’m really slow in making connections. For instance, I took yoga for the first time about twenty years ago. Two nights a week I schlepped to the local high school gym to sit on my mat, twist my then more supple body into pretzel positions, and relax by exhaling. It was the relaxing part that frequently eluded me.
Now I’m into stretching, but not in a group environment. Instead, I use my bedroom floor, twist my less supple body into less serious pretzels, and relax. And, I can actually relax. Hey, my brain reminded me, this is what you were supposed to be doing in yoga. At last I see the connection between breathing and relaxing.
Another case in point: When we moved into our current house, Earl casually said, “I would love to have a yard where flowers bloom the entire growing season.” That sounded like a good thing to me, and we proceeded to tear out shrubs and bushes that didn’t flower and replace them with perennials that did. Day lilies took up residence where evergreens once stood. Wildflowers bordered our deck. Tulips, peonies, hydrangeas, and shrub roses became permanent inhabitants.
I love the look of it, but I never realized that many homeowners plant evergreens and yews and forsythia because they require less hands-on care. They don’t need to be weeded but a few times each growing season. Flowering things, on the other hand, demand your regular attention.
I also finally understood that doing the thing you dread first frees the rest of the day from anxiety. Which is one reason I always schedule my dental appointments early in the morning. And after three years I understand why my piano teacher regularly urges me to silently count the beats in a measure instead of guessing at them. It does make a difference.
I guess I’m a living example of the saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher will come.”
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