Please read "Lazy Parenting" before you read this.
The reader a quoted in my "Lazy Parenting blog responded to my response with the following:
"Thanks, Taylor! I appreciate what you said about being gentle with myself. That's something I have to always work on.
From a Reader:
"I absolutely loved your "definition of being a super-mom" blog. It's so so awesome, and it's going on my fridge. I yelled at my toddler last week, and almost immediately started to cry because it felt so wrong and was so unlike me. I had remembered a blog you wrote awhile ago about saying to your kids "let's begin again."
When I was married to my ex-husband (with whom I am now friends), golf was, uh, an issue for us. Or, more accurately, an issue for me. My ex husband loved the game and loved to disappear for many many hours playing it. This I did not love.
Ask yourself right now, "Am I in alignment?"
I am driven. There's no question that I am driven. I can't wait to get out of bed in the morning every morning. This has pretty much been the case for this entire lifetime.
I have a real quick question for you. Ever noticed how when you're reading something or talking to someone, they often say, "Well, 'they' say that…"?
I believe I can find the positive in any situation. And I do my best day in and day out to do this, no matter what's tossed my way. This is Deliberate Creation in action. Using the Law of Attraction to create your BEST LIFE EVER.
Pay attention to how that thought you just had feels. If it feels bad, ignore it and focus on something else. Find another thought.
I was on an early morning walk today and had a thought about something challenging. Two seconds later I glanced up to say "Good morning" to a woman walking by, and smiled at her like I always do
I received this from a reader on Christmas day 2013:
"This morning I woke up to my son yelling,"Mom, Dad Santa came! He brought me X-box games, and toys!" and then he individually named each item.
It just occurred to me as I was using Siri to write a blog while on cardio, that Siri is like the Law of Attraction.
Remember that Seinfeld where Jerry got caught in "a pick" while in a cab next to his (new) supermodel girlfriend? He actually wasn't picking his nose--just scratching it; yet from the angle with which she saw it, it was "a pick" to her.
I was practicing yoga in our 3rd floor movie room yesterday, windows wide open (no screens).
A sparrow flew in - and panicked. So did I.
First I shrieked, ran out of the room and slammed the door, heart racing.
When I sheepishly re-entered the room - this poor little bird’s self-made “cage” - I noticed that the sparrow’s heart was racing too. We were one.
I spent an hour with that bird as she tried frantically to escape. I was practicing all the while, sending light (and clarity) to her and attempting to quiet both her and my anxiety.
At one point, it felt so sad and painful to see her suffer that I woke Philippe at 5 am (on Father’s Day – gasp) to ask how to get her out. We’d had this happen once before in the “normal” daytime hours in our bedroom when our balcony door was ajar and I’d fled the scene and he dealt with it. I thought he might have the *magic* solution. He did not. He said to just open the windows wide (they were) and let her find her way out.
*Sigh.*
This sweet bird taught me many lessons in our time together before she found her way out of her (self created) prison.
As she kept flying against the glass, trying in vain to “get out,” I realized how as humans, until we become spiritually aware of a situation, we figuratively do what that little sparrow was literally doing – slam ourselves against the same wall (window), do the same actions, think the same thoughts – which only keep us where we are – in a prison and in pain.
As I watched her stop at one point and just sit there, frustrated and hopeless, I was reminded how we all have our moments of despair, when we stop and look around for help. But are we OPEN to receiving the help? Are we OPEN to another way?
Then as she started to tap at the window with her little beak (instead of flailing herself against it) I witnessed her beginning to have some awareness. Some learning was sinking into her little heart. We can all relate, n’est pas? She was thinking out of the box -- and seeing what this thing was in front of her. She was beginning to see other possibilities.
As I watched her suffer, I was reminded of my intense desire to help her, even though I could not. I had to just watch, and wait and support her with my love and light. Ah, the metaphor. How many times do we watch our children (I call mine my “chickens”) suffer as they learn a spiritual lesson, and we must let them feel and learn and grow, even though we wish we could do it for them, take the pain away, help in some way. But they have their own path, their own learning. We cannot learn – or do it - for them.
Same goes for your partner, students, friends, extended family, sibilings, readers, team . . . the list goes on and on.
And can we stay calm in a difficult moment? I wondered many times during my practice with that little sparrow if I was getting more grounded and centered and more calm (my practice provides this for me every early morning) or more anxious because of my little friend in the room.
I had memories of my Mom, who died suddenly and unexpectedly in October, 2015. I saw from a new perspective why she couldn’t get out of an impossible situation. She tried. She couldn’t. She was the bird, the sparrow.
We are 3 days away from moving to our dream house in my happy place – Rhode Island – and I’m over the moon. Yet moving brings its own form of chaos, even though I love love love change. We have yet to pack a box (gasp) and I will use this experience with that little sparrow to navigate the waters. To stay calm in the midst of challenge.
And yet another powerful lesson from my experience on my mat yesterday morning : sometimes we ask for clarity and guidance, and then the spiritual learning sucks for a time. It’s painful. It feels like suffering. But eventually it’s better all around. It’s worth it. It’s WORTH IT, everyone. Hang in there. I’m rootin’ for you - but I cannot do it for you.
I'm obsessed with glitter and all things sparkly. I found an amazing silver glitter nail polish at Claire's – yes, the store for 10-year-olds – and I wear it all the time.
One of my readers is a cop and he sent me this story about taking the high road. I love it.
"I have a little side business where I work at conventions--mostly pro wrestling legends. I have fun with it and Its been good this year. I love to hustle. I am a true believer that part of manifesting success is leaving all the channels open.
"A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart."
~ Goethe
What do you carry in your heart? What do you see in the world?
If you aren't loving what you are seeing out there, turn inward and clean it up. Clean the slate. Begin again. It's never too late for a new beginning.
If you are having issues cleaning up on the inside, I may have something that will help you.
#onesimplechange
Remember that "Curb Your Enthusiasm" where Larry David's (cheap) friend always went to the bathroom right before the check arrived when they were out to dinner?
I was on the Acela to NYC to teach at Prana NYC and Prana Brooklyn and went to get a snack in the cafe car --(coincidentally) right when we we were pulling into Providence.
When I returned to my seat, I was still riding solo (no one in the seat next to me).
Later I took a trip to the restroom and noticed as I was washing my hands that we were pulling out of New Haven.
Returned to my seat and still solo.
I smiled as I realized I was pulling a Larry David -- quite synchronistically. I hadn't planned on it, but being in the bathroom or café car works way better than looking elsewhere when people are looking for a seat and you wanna ride solo.
Now I can't do it again because it will then be conscious and thereby unfair to other passengers. Just sorta sneaky. And I ain't sneaky. It only worked because it was magically synchronistic.
As your life will be when you show up to your mat more.
My kids love an Italian restaurant in Newton and their favorite take-out is called a "half bucket" of lasagna. Doesn't sound too appetizing, but that sh** is good!
Today on my mat I was smiling to myself as I realized that I had a "full bucket" of thoughts which were attempting unsuccessfully to divert me from my path of spreading light to the world.
We all have these thoughts. Our minds are relentless. It is a practice to let go of them. A daily practice.
What occurred to me this morning is that each thought, "problem" or painful thing – whatever you label it – has a different flavor and intensity.
Last night right before I went to bed one of my children was sad about something . . . and then as I was about to lie down I – big mistake – looked at an email on my phone that had just come in. Sometimes "customer service" is a bitc*.
So there were two flavors in my "bucket" of thoughts which had varying intensities of pain associated with them for varying reasons.
On my mat this morning I was smiling thinking that those two items in my "pain bucket" made a few other things from days past seem somewhat irrelevant. Isn't it funny how things are relative in time ultimately does heal?
What's in your "pain bucket" today? Can you surround that bucket with White Light and release it to the universe and focus on something else? That's what I did during my yoga practice at 4:30 AM and damn I feel good now.
✨ Taylor Wells ✨