Sunday morning mantras. Open hearts. Open hearts.

We had a really nice evening with friends last night. The weather was unseasonably warm. I got in a killer workout in the morning ~ stairs and then a weighted bosu strength routine that I made up recently that I've been loving. From there I got Jules to hip hop (and can I tell you, there is just nothing cuter? They purposely close the studio door and have blinds on the window so parents can't watch/distract the kids, but they open the door for the last 5 minutes so you can see them. Its ridiculously awesome. She loves it. It was so beautiful out that I took the boys to a park just nearby while she danced. I stretched/worked on yoga ideas for todays classes while the kids played, then we went back to pick her up. Our original plan had been to go home for lunch, but it was so incredibly nice that we decided to pick up sandwiches and have a picnic at the park. WAWA is now selling a quinoa and kale salad ~ go WAWA! I literally laid in the grass and just let the sun wash over me. To be clad in yoga pants and a tank in late October? Amazing. It felt like a blessing from the sun, a healthy giant dose of Vitamin D, and it was fantastic.

By 2 we hurried home so that I could shower, we met Nate who had had a great day on the golf course, and we all headed off to our friends house for their sons birthday party. Do you have that friend who has the PERFECT house? The house that when you go into it you think "Wow, this is the house of a grown up and clearly I live in the house of a frat boy???" That is this friend. Its just……..perfection. Not my style, necessarily, too ornate for me, but perfection. Its amazing. Its funny how when you come home to your own home, you look at it with different eyes for a second. It looks shabby. Un-done. Of course, I've never had a professional decorator on site for three straight months……but isn't comparison amazing? And I LOVE MY HOME! My home is so comfortable, so perfect for our family, so…..us? Its all about the eyes. I blinked and remembered what our home USED to look like, when we first moved in, 10 days before Christmas, coming from a 1200 square foot home to this one, with hardly any furniture ~ OH~ and we had a 10 month old and I was 7 months pregnant :). We have created a home that suits us. That saying? About comparison being the thief of joy? It is true. It is the truest of true.

I'm up early to meditate and to think about what I will be teaching this morning. I've made a new playlist for my class today. In case you've been living in a cave, its been a bit of a rough week. It has the entire album from Deva Premal called "Mantras for Precarions Times". Seems apt, no? Between ebola, hatchet attacks, school shootings, ISIS, Canadian shootings, and local violence…….well, its made me heartsick to simply turn on the news this week. HOWEVER. We are not the world. We are bright lights in darkness. We are walking a path of light and love. And today, as we practice, I am going to encourage my students to feel their light. To shine their light. We are going to focus on heart openers, to open our hearts to those who are suffering, but to also remember with gratitude all that is wonderful in our own lives. To focus on the darkness is to let it enter you. To focus on all that is terrifying is to let the fear enter you. That is to let fear and darkness with. With open hearts, with clear minds, we can love others, we can see the darkness and spread love and compassion without fear or anger. We can love without hate.

Have you ever caught yourself losing your joy because of comparison?