I was having a great Bikram class this morning. When we got to eagle, the teacher stopped the class and told me, as she had on one other day, that I needed to bend forward while bending my knees. I usually just do what she tells me to, but this time I was confused. In this pose you’re supposed to “lean back” if you’re losing your balance. I just didn’t see how I could bend forward and lean back at the same time. Then, she and my teacher friend Shirley explained something I never knew before. There were two parts to this posture. The first part you actually do bend forward, then you lean back after you brought your one leg over the other. I tried it and promptly lost my balance and faltered. Then the teacher said:
“There’s always something new. We’re never done.”
Today is my two year anniversary going to Bikram yoga and a posture I have done for two years is still not mastered – hell, I haven’t even been doing it quite right for two years. There are still parts and pieces of a movement I’ve done 5 days a week for two years that I didn’t even know existed. All this time eagle was one of my easiest and best postures. I very seldom fall out of it. I can sit in it focused and still for quite a long time. Eagle is a posture I don’t even think about because there was nothing at all I had to work on with it. Until today.
How many times do we feel we have something in the bag, only to find out otherwise? Just like the Packers thinking they intercepted that ball last night, only to find the touchdown was given to a guy who wasn’t even holding the ball. Surprise, surprise.
We’re never done. For my business I’m doing some learning about setting goals. To me, you set a goal, you achieve it, then you say, “Yes!” and feel pretty good it’s done. Yesterday I learned that’s not how goal setting works. When you achieve it, you don’t say, “Yes!” and rest. You immediately set a new goal and motor on.
We’re never done. There is never going to come a day where we can put our feet up and stop trying. I think that’s called dying. I always looked at retirement that way, though. The day when I didn’t have to go to work and I could do nothing if I so chose. I thought I was done. Surprise, surprise. As long as we’re walking this earth there is always more to do. More to deal with. This is a hard concept for someone who likes lists and loves to cross things off and consider things final and finished.
What a shock today to learn through yoga that nothing in life will ever be done. Each accomplishment is just a step up to the next one in a stairway that has no top step. And, even when we consider something done, it can still unravel in a split second when we’re not paying attention. Such as my eagle pose.
We’re never, ever done. There’s always more to learn and change in our jobs, relationships, finances, exercise, etc. This concept is almost peaceful when you remove the final end product.
And so, as another day goes by, tomorrow begins year three of Bikram yoga, it also begins the rebuilding of my eagle pose, and….I have written.
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