When something you love is gone
Studies have found that imagining your life without something that you love -- as opposed to just feeling grateful for it -- has a greater impact on your emotional well-being.
We humans have a natural tendency to take things for granted. It's just what our brains do -- we habituate to our environment so that things don't feel new and scary all the time.
So we have to make a conscious effort to appreciate our lives.
Pause for a moment and give this a try:
Think of a good thing in your life (person, experience, thing).
Think through the circumstances of the beginning or meeting of it.
What had to fall into place for that to happen?
Take a moment to consider this.
Now, what if that had never happened?
Imagine what your life would be like right now.
How would your life be different?
What else wouldn't be in your life if the good thing hadn't happened?
What feelings does this illicit?
After a few moments, come back to the present moment.
Notice what you feel.
This is a visualization I have done dozens of times about the yoga studio I opened in 2005, probably because it's a decision that changed my life more than any other decision I've made. I think of all the small moments that led to opening the doors, and how any of them could have gone differently. The hundreds of people I got to meet, the friendships, the experiences, the immeasurable amount of love in my life because of that place. And gratitude fills my heart to overflowing.
Sometimes things go away in real life and we don't have to imagine. But it makes us grateful (and maybe sad) because we are so keenly aware of their value.
If you are local to Sacramento and/or have been to It's All Yoga or the renamed studio, Ritual, you know it is closing its doors, and you might have many emotions about the loss.
The immeasurable love and gratitude we have, along with everything we learned there and the relationships and bonds we've formed, are an inextricable part of us. How incredible that something can live on past its physical existence.
To quote Ted Lasso: "I promise you there is something worse out there than being sad, and that's being alone and being sad." My friend, if you are feeling alone and sad, reach out. Because of that very special studio, we are now and always connected.
