an attitude of gratitude.... changes everything

for the past couple of weeks, i have noticed that people are being challenged to list five things that they are grateful for on Facebook for a week. i love this challenge but i am going to have to encourage you to take it one step further. pretty much every morning i start my day by writing down three things that i am grateful and i have to admit, it's pretty life changing. try it out for a week, a month, a year.... i guarantee you'll try to do it everyday. there's even an app for it! check out gratitude journal for iPhone if you are more likely to do this electronically.

with gratitude,

melissa

we remember

today along with the rest of the country, i remember the tragic events thirteen years ago. i still remember standing in my college apartment watching this happen. of course i understood what a tragedy this was but after reading a 9/11 widow's book and going through my own loss did i truly understand the magnitude of grief that was caused in it's wake. thinking of all those that were affected and hoping they have found happiness. below are pictures from a trip in 2012 to NYC. this city certainly can't be held down by it's loss and has moved on to be better and bigger than ever. 

tree pose in NYC where you can see the new World Trade Center being built

still standing grand

the breathtaking 9/11 memorial

namaste

Melissa 

yogi luv... judgement free

doing a judgement free yoga class today! we judge ourselves in our practice, we judge others, and we judge ourselves. give it up for today and love a little more!

yogi luv

perfect given my new camera obsession!

back to school!

there are few greater things in life than back to school supply shopping... headed into a new year of school with a cool new backpack and all the fresh supplies you would ever need! in honor of that wonderful feeling i started a new notebook today to log all my yoga classes. i find it helpful to write them down to not only help me remember for class but also to refer back to if i especially loved a class and want to teach it again. and best of luck to all the scholars out there... esp to my friend's kiddos starting kindergarten... where has the time gone! 

namaste! 

hindsight is 20/20 but finding the positive isn't

it's hard to believe the summer is winding down although around here it's really for the best because our little beachside community starts to slow down a bit. the past few weeks have been hectic which seemed to be primarily fueld by technological breakdowns. i hate to say it but i am so reliant on technology and perhaps to attached to a few other material items.

first of all my phone finally beat the dust after a long battle to make my cracked screen last until the new iPhone was announced. looking back i should have just spent the extra $ to have the screen fixed but alas hindsight is 20/20. in the panic of not having a phone and wanting to get the latest and the greatest, i switched over to an old iPhone 3 and in the process deleted all of matt's voicemail. i was devastated. i didn't listen to them often but i liked knowing they were there. when someone isn't around anymore, you struggle to hear their voice and for a moment you freak because you can't hear it in your head anymore. but they are gone and there's nothing listening to a voicemail can do about it. all i can do is move on and realize that listening to his voice really has no bearing on what he meant in my life.

then my car finally bit the dust. i mean it could have kept going but it was having major issues and was starting to get to that dicey stage of should i put more money in to it or just get something new? so i got something new. i got a cute Nissan Rogue to zip me around in all my California adventures. it's a crossover so it's not huge but there's some room for camping supplies and once i put the cross racks on, a place to tie down boards and bikes. jumping from a 1999 to a 2011 was huge and i am so happy bopping around town in my reliable transportation.

so there were these little losses the past two weeks. through it all i tried to remember that these things really don't matter and i am lucky to be in a position to be able to get a new phone or car when i need it. and also lucky to have a past that i want to hold on to. i am also lucky that i have my special someone, Kyle, by my side. he was so understanding and caring when i lost those voicemails. and he wheeled and dealed with the folks at nissan to get me a great bargain. so while there were some setbacks, it really gave me the opportunity to see what a great guy i have in my life now that understands my past and supports me in our future. so while hindsight is 20/20, i was struck by my ability to find the positive in this situation a little quicker this time around.

namaste

Melissa

yogi luv

letting it go today in class... with lots of forward folds to help us do so