Picture by Steve Haase, after a night of spiritual practice. Shortly after Steve and I decided what our 6 Weeks of Small Tweaks were going to be, I received news that a friend in the Hamilton yoga community had died suddenly. Upon receiving this news most of my energy and inspiration was overshadowed by shock and sadness. And to be honest, I really thought it was silly to think about the little things I can be doing to improve my own already wonderful life, when someone else's had been cut short so suddenly.
Now however, after the initial shock, I am beginning to look at the whole thing a little differently. The small tweaks we are all trying to make this week are actually very important. In the realm of "Living" we are focusing single-mindedly when with loved ones. This is exactly the appropriate thing to do during hard moments, as well as in times when the waters are calm. We are told that life is short and unpredictable and although we know it is true intellectually, in situations when we lose someone or something important, we feel its truth deeply. When we focus on the person in front of us, it shows them that we care about them and that they matter.
In the "Working" domain, scheduling time appropriately at work is very challenging for me personally. My schedule is wild and varies from day to day, but in the last few days, this small tweak has meant that I fully utilize my downtime and don't sneak over to my phone to respond to emails or stay up working later than I had planned. It has been an important shift and I am starting to pay attention to the fact that I need more downtime than I usually allow myself.
Finally, our tweak in the "Being" dimension is a short morning meditation. Meditation has been nothing short of a life raft. In the midst of trying to make sense of something tragic that I just can't make sense of, meditation has provided the space for me to have zero problems. (Have you seen our new visual meditation instructions?). These may be small things, but improving your focus will have a huge ripple effect on your life and the lives of those you come into contact with.
If you haven't already joined us in this week's small tweaks, do it now and share your ongoing experiences here in the comment section, or send an email to erin[at]aquinyoga.com and on Friday we will publish some of the insights from this community!
