If I had a nickel...

...for every time I have promised myself to get a yoga/meditation/morning walk/you-name-it routine started and make it stick!

You know what I'm talking about: the old "starting on Monday, I'm going to yada-yada-yada so many times on yada-yada-yada days, and I'm not going to quit until yada-yada-yada and so on and so forth.

Call me a woose (sv. mes), but that's it, I'm through with this crap. I'm jumping off the hamster-wheel and workout wagon. Because guess what I just figured out? (That is after 20 years of failing to create and maintain a steady exercising routine to suit my taste...) Every freakin' week is different! I feel different from week to week! There will never be a week (at least not before retirement) when I will have finished everything on my to-do list so that I will be able to go work out without the burden of a guilty conscience!

From now on the key to my practice is going to be finding some yogic balance in my life. So when things are crazy (as they are now in a big way) I won't make things worse by stressing about not having time for my physical and meditation practice. When I once again find myself being too impatient with my kids, I will remind myself that I alone own the responsibility for my reactions (note that I said my kids; I'm not quite ready to make the same promise about my husband...OK, fine, I'll work on being patient with him, too.) God knows that if I want to continue moving forward on this lifelong journey, I have to be able to keep a sense of mind. And I believe that the only way to do that is by giving myself what I need rather than expecting it, almost to the point of demanding it, from those closest to me (just a little something I stole from Dr. Phil, but I think he's right on the money on this one, too).

So starting this week: Yesterday evening I came home from Iceland. Tomorrow I leave for Skåne and will be away until Thursday. I'll bring my mat, as always, and if I have the time and space, I will do my practice.

Otherwise this Mother's Day I am giving myself the gift of patience to myself (!) and a note from the spritual Mom within that I am excused from any exertion (outside of work and taking care of my kids) that won't leave me feeling better about myself afterwards.

Good luck, me.