Life Lessons from the Weekend

Remember how I told you that I love learning new things and new life lessons?  Well, I do, and once again, this past weekend was full of fun new tidbits and reminders. It's amazing how our daily life just teaches us so much, huh? Life is FULL of lessons--some big, some small, but in my mind, all equally important. 

So here are the lessons that I learned this past weekend. What have *YOU* learned recently?? 

Image via The Wall Street Journal

1. Creativity lesson: Creativity "isn't a trait that we inherit in our genes or a blessing bestowed on us by the angels. It's a skill that anyone can learn and work to improve." 

I read this amazing article, by Jonah Lehrer, in The Wall Street Journal this past weekend, and it shared some really interesting information about creativity and what current research is revealing about the subject. One of the most important points that it made? "For prompting creativity, few things are as important as time devoted to cross-pollination with fields outside our areas of expertise." I love this and think it's so true! I believe we'll all be more successful in those things we are passionate about if we branch out and try/learn new things. Read the article in it's entirety here--it's chock full of great information about how to become more creative. 

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Image via geocities.ws

2. Yoga Lesson: Every pose can be broken down into small, digestible chunks. It's completely okay if you'll never be able to do this variation of Vatayanasana (pose to the right -->), but you will be able to do a stage of the pose, or a step or two on the path towards getting into it, and that's a great place to be. 

As part of an Advanced Teacher Training assignment, a fellow-teacher and I were responsible for teaching a number of extremely advanced poses to the Level 200 teacher training group this past weekend. It was an amazing reminder that no matter how insane the pose, we can all attempt pieces or stages of it. The great lesson here? Working towards a really difficult goal teaches us patience and how to stop at our edge--or wherever we are in this moment. And if we keep working at it, slowly but surely, maybe we'll get there one day. What a great reminder (!). 

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3. Relaxation Lesson: If it's pretty outside, there's never a good enough reason to not take a walk  (yes, this is similar to my last relaxation lesson learned--sometimes you have to get hit over the head repeatedly by a lesson before it really sinks in!). 

Work can always wait. And time spent strolling hand-in-hand, or side-by-side with a loved one should always take precedence. Plus, if you  do take the time for a stroll, you never know what you'll learn along the way. This past weekend, Ben and I wandered to a park, where I practiced handstands (and did my first ever 8-second hold) and he practiced somersaults, something he's always been afraid to do. Needless to say, he did his *first one* and was so excited that we decided to get his second one on video:

Is that not the cutest/happiest thing you've ever seen a 28-year old man do? I thought so. 

And the joke here, for all my non-CrossFit peeps, is that the next workout in the CrossFit Open will be "1 somersault." I wish!!!

 
4. Politics Lesson: Sarah Palin will never be ready to be president (or to hold any national office, really). EVER. 

How do I know this? Well, for one, I was around when she was McCain's running-mate and saw her Katie Couric interview, and two, Ben and I watched the HBO film "Game Change" this past weekend. WOW. It was an extremely eye-opening movie. And my opinion here has little to do with my political beliefs--I think that anyone who watches this movie will see both the very scary aspects of her actually being on the ticket, but also, the very human aspects of both Palin and McCain. I thought it was a very well done film, that Julianne Moore did an amazing job playing Palin, and that anyone and everyone who has any interest in politics should watch it. Plus, if you're like me, it will teach you a lot about how a political campaign is run! 

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5. CrossFit Lesson: CrossFit is hard. Period. 

Um, I may have said this before, but this past weekend I honestly did the hardest CF workout that I've ever done. Ever. It sounds fairly straightforward, but it. was. killer. What was it? An 18 minute AMWRAP (as many reps as possible) of 15 box jumps, 12 push press at 75 lbs (women's weight) and 9 toes-to-bar. As you can see from the pic to the right, the push press almost did me in--my body feels broken today and I have flowering of bruises across my collarbone--but...I had an absolute BLAST. Could anything be more of a yang to yoga's yin? What a fun balance of completely opposite activities :)

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6. Hydration Lesson: Water + lemon + cucumber slices = amazing. 

For someone who drinks as much water as I do (sometimes I honestly worry if I drink too much!), it can be really enjoyable to change things up a bit every once in a while. And for some reason I always forget how much I love water with lemon, or cucumber, or orange slices, until I have it somewhere, which is what happened this past weekend. So my new spring drink? It's going to be pitchers of cold water with one of these delicacies inside. Plus, look how pretty it is? It just makes you feel like you're doing something special for yourself :)

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See? Life lessons come in all shapes and sizes...and as you all know by now, I heart learning!

Hope you learned something this past weekend, too :) Have a gorgeous Monday!

Namaste,
Mary Catherine