Seeing Christmas reflected in a child’s eyes is wonderful. One of the things that grown ups love most about children is their sense of wonder. The awe a four year old has for the world around them is magical. When we feel wonder, we touch our natural respect for the world. We also feel appreciation and gratitude. And those are things that are so good for our soul.
When life gets busy and stress looms, we can lose our sense of wonder. So here are a few ideas to help you keep the joy this season can bring.
Often we look to the external world to tap into the sense of wonder. Looking to far off horizons seems to expand our own horizon. The ocean soothes us. And we can marvel at the far away galaxies sparkling in the sky. And (thanks to the memory of Clive James) we appreciate the crushed sapphires of the Sydney Harbour water.
But consider this…….
The wonder is within us. And you don’t need to look beyond yourself to feel that awe.
Your body is doing the very best it can for you, under the circumstances. (As instructors we see that all the time; our body chooses the past of least resistance to make it easier to achieve a movement). I believe your mind is doing its best for you, all things considered. And so are your feelings.
But the wonder is inside. Consider these facts:
- If your DNA were uncoiled, it would stretch 10 billion miles. That’s the same as from Earth to Pluto and back.
- Your skeleton renews itself completely every 10 years. This means if you want to develop thinking positive now, in ten years your whole skeleton will be completely build on positive energy!
- Your thigh bone can support 30 times your entire weight. Gram for gram, that’s stronger than steel.
- Your brain contains 86 billion nerve cells joined by 100 trillion connections. This is more than the number of stars in the milky way. It would take you almost 3,000 years to count them all.
But what AMAZES me most about all this is that it all happens without you asking your body to do anything. You don’t think about each of the 20,000 breaths you take each day. Your lungs just do it. You don’t ask your heart to beat 3 billion times during your lifespan. It just does. You don’t need to check your stomach is replacing its lining every four or five days. It just happens. You don’t email your hormonal glands to secrete all those incredible hormones. They just do. This is incredible to me. Knowing this can fill you with awe and wonder. Doesn’t it make you feel AMAZING?
The fact is
Your body is wonderful
You are wonderful
And you are doing the best job you can at the moment.
And you know how to support yourself well. December is a crazy time with lots of extra tasks. So it’s even more important to keep your healthy living routines intact during this time. To protect you from having the wheels fall off, be sure to make extra time to come to class. It’s helpful to feel gliding and smooth with Pilates moves, joyful with barre, to fly with aerial and of course to calm stress and tension with yoga practices.
Blessings to you and yours for the season,
