“Yoga can be the joy of life, and it’s not just about putting our bodies into specific postures. It’s about expressing what comes from inside of you and showing up when you meet other people to create a oneness.”
Tao Porchon-Lynch
Although today’s wisdom from beloved yogi Tao Porchon-Lynch is about yoga, you can easily apply it to the everyday – find joy in your life, express your true self and show up for others and let your authenticity shine.
One of Tao Porchon-Lynch’s secrets to longevity is one I have struggled with my entire life, but is so important and makes life so much less stressful and easy.
I don’t want to sit there hoping, wishing and wasting time.
Tao Porchon-Lynch
Procrastination, or putting off what you could get done (or should get done) until a later point in time is a productivity and self-esteem killer. It always ok to take rest, but never put off things that need to get done or things that might sing to your soul.
Yesterday, an amazing woman and yogi passed to the beyond. Tao Porchon-Lynch lived to be 101, practicing and teaching yoga as well as generally living as the embodiment of a ray of sunshine and ball-room dancing. Radiating her light and energy is one of my personal goals.
In honour of this amazing woman and personal inspiration, over the next week I am going to share some of her wisdom about how to live life fully and passed 100 years. Even if yoga is not your thing, her simple insights can make an amazing difference to brighten up your world and lighten your load.
Wake up before the sun
Tao Porchon-Lynch
The world is your oyster when you wake up before the sun does. Not only do you get to witness the beauty of the sunrise, but taking advantage of the calm and quiet before the rest of the world can help you be much more productive and reduce stress.
There is a saying that “Rome was not built in a day” which is absolutely true! It took over a millennia from Rome to expand from a city on the Tiber to an empire reaching from the farthest corners of Europe across the Fertile Crescent and Northern Africa. Most likely, your goal is probably not inter-continental domination, so luckily whatever it is you are trying to accomplish won’t take that long, so keep at it. If it is important to you, then it is absolutely worth the wait.
In addition, today’s goat is a friend of a friend of mine. Her name is Cindy and judging from her easy grin, she quite likes October so far.
The tools to success aren’t always military might and a big budget, but rather patience and perseverance.
The world is a fascinating place. Never stop being open to learn.
Stay curious
Today is World Meditation Day. You don’t have to be a Buddhist or a master yogi to reap the benefits from a few moments of silence. Meditation has been found to improve your health, reduces inflammation, increases your capacity for compassion and can even improve your brain! The positive effects of regular meditation have been well documented for nearly two thousand years and have been verified by recent science. So give it a go, perhaps start with just two minutes and see where it takes you! You never know, you just might become even better friends with yourself.
“There is nothing greater than the delight of sitting, just sitting in silence with nothing to do” – Carol Trevor
If you ever find yourself wondering what the best solution to a problem is, the answer is to do whatever is kindest. You can never go wrong when you choose to be kind.
Kindness is a sustainable form of joy.
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt”
Wise words, I guess. The above quote is often attributed to Mark Twain or Abraham Lincoln, but the truth is that no one really knows. Such “wise” statements are often attributed to a many different people including they are just cliches that get constantly repeated Perhaps instead of invoking the words of people long gone (not discounting their achievements and importance in history of course) we should make our own quotes and define our own wisdom!
No need to quote past historic figures, don’t be afraid to share your own truth!
Benjamin Franklin certainly made a lot of inspirational quotes, I think he would have probably really enjoyed crafting some clever memes if he were alive today. He is credited with saying that “in this world nothing can be certain, except death and taxes;” however, he may have been paraphrasing Daniel Dafoe (relation to Willem Dafoe, unknown). Obviously, Franklin was speaking from a certain gendered, upper class, eighteenth-century cultural milieu. Perhaps this centuries old adage should be updated to include laundry. Nothing is certain in the world except for death, taxes and laundry.
Clean clothes are a great way to start a new week.
There is so much noise out there set to distract us. Stay focused, and remember there are always so many wonderful things in the world to discover and be grateful for.
You matter and you are amazing.
Goat of the Day 