To Joyful Yeses..

In the last month, I have been invited to actual parties. Mainly birthday ones, as it appears nearly all of my friends were born between late July to early August. Words cannot express how NICE it is to be social! To be in a group bigger than 2! Of hearing the excitement of pent up forced confinement over the last year and have some feeling that normal times are ahead of us and indeed possible! I’m cautiously optimistic (but also vaccinated and masking up in inside spaces). :)

I hadn’t taught a public yoga class in 6 months. And while I am lucky enough to pay my bills through private yoga classes and coaching, damn has my spirit been missing y’all. I have added a live class at Jivamukti Thursday morning at 8:30 and the Studio Thursday at 12:15. I am also subbing at Yoga am Engel

The change in my social and work calendar has got me thinking about what to say YES to and what to say NO to now that we actually have this option. I don’t know about you, but after months of none, my tendency is/was to say yes to everything just because I CAN. But that would bring me, and most of us, back to where we were before - overcommited and lacking in healthy boundaries.

Boundaries around our time.

How do we know what to say yes to and what to not?

A good friend of mine gave me advice a few years back when I was working out my coaching and private schedule and pricing. She said, I agree to things I can joyfully commit to and I set my pricing so I can also feel joyful about this energy exchange. Simple advice that has guided me into a lot of my decisions in the last years and my guiding mantra in when I enter things INTO my calendar. And it’s an easy mantra to say in one’s head..

Can I joyfully commit to this, or

am i doing so begrudgingly in any way? If so, what are my reservations?

If I do have some reservations, is there any way I could make my half-ass yes into a joyful yes..?

Joyful yeses should be ones that your gut tells you is something you want. With no reservations. An emphatic YES. My friend actually always puts his hand below his stomach (the literal place the”gut” resides) to see what it says. Our intuition or “gut feeling” is never wrong. We just may need to start to flex the muscle of listening to it so that muscle memory guides our actions.