The Poetry of Everyday Living

In my yoga teacher’s bio, I say that The Poetry of Everyday Living is my biggest source of inspiration. I realized this when I came across one of my very first poems written in second or third grade. The topic was “If you could be a flower, what would you be?” I don’t have the poem here in front of me but it went something like this…

If I could be a flower, I would be a rose because it is such a beautiful flower but it also has thorns to protect itself so no one will hurt it.

In that line I distilled the essence of my young life and I think captured what many of us feel on a daily basis. I wanted to thrive and be beautiful but I have always been afraid of being hurt. I was also aware that life is full of beauty and pain and sometimes that pain really does serve an important purpose.

This past month of my life has been quite “poetic” – filled with many ups and downs. I’ve had a hard run of pain, theft, loss, fear and doubt. Among other small challenges, my downward spiral began with the re-emergence of an old injury offering me headaches, nausea and neck pain. I lost a job with no notice the week of Christmas. I had my purse stolen. I’m afraid that the person who stole my purse made a trip to my home and to my friend’s home. I’m afraid of further repercussions from the theft. People close to me had sudden losses as well. As soon as I thought to myself, well at least everyone is healthy, my husband’s grandmother suddenly passed away. I’m afraid to think of what might be next and I’m afraid to hope it’s all over. I know it could be worse but it was hard.

Losing Granny Solomon was hard on my husband’s family as well as it is for me. My father was orphaned at nine in Ireland. My mother came from a large but fractured family. I prayed to my “angel” grandmother and I loved the one grandmother that I knew but she passed away when I was 12. Granny Solomon was my grandmother longer than I had one of my own alive. She took me in just like I really was one of her grandchildren. We will all miss her greatly but there is so much goodness, happiness and love that she left behind that will always be felt whether she is here in body or not.

This is the poetry of life. Even in dark times, there is beauty to be held and appreciated. The things that happen to us may not feel good but they do shift our perception and understanding of the world. It is up to each of us to decide how we will look out into the world after life writes challenges for us. There’s no doubt that life is full of challenges and “bad” things do happen to good people everyday. The thing is we can grow from these challenges if we choose.

The other day there was a Facebook comment where someone asked, “Am I the only one who doesn’t think that all things happen for a reason?” I’m not sure about that. I think that perhaps all things DON’T happen for a reason BUT we can reason all things. We have the potential to see the silver lining in every cloud.

In each of the challenges I’ve faced over the last month I have grown in ways that I otherwise wouldn’t have. I’ve experienced that pain as pain draws us deeper into ourselves, it also has the potential to connect us deeper to those we care about and who care about us with love and support. Having said that I’m ready for a little more sunshine in my life!