specialness is often a misguided attempt at finding belonging. There’s possibly an underlying narrative that says “If I’m special enough, then I’ll be accepted.” - whether that’s into a relationship, family, group, or community.” But there’s a shadow side to specialness too

 I was out of commission and could barely walk! …

“And you are magic, man! Just stretching quads has alleviated knee pain. So simple!

I am now on a complete path toward healing all my ankle, knee, lower back, and hips with mobility and strength.

So, We can tackle Alta Via, Dolomites!!”

I share this message because it encapsulates so much of what I believe we all can do - sometimes with just a little perspective shift and guidance… 

if we shift our perspective, assessments are simply objective information telling us where we are - with our understanding, skill, strength, or whatever is being measured. And in that sense, an assessment is simply a compass direction - helping us navigate toward those things we aspire to. And if the assessments are for things that hold meaning in our lives, these compass directions are powerful motivators to correct course, and enthusiastically wayfind our path toward our ideals!

Sometimes courage isn’t about doing big daring and dangerous things.

Sometimes, courage is just stepping out of your routine,

Trying something new

And stepping into the unknown.

Taking one step toward the life you envision.

Discomfort will always accompany change.

The trap is getting too focused on that discomfort.

It’s helpful to think of discomfort as a cloud in the sky. Take in the whole view - You are the sky. And you are more than enough to contain and hold those clouds.

What’s the smallest, next step you can take?

It would have been easy to say no. I could have said it’s not the right time. Or questioned if it was the responsible thing to do?

But fortunately, I listened to my inner compass - what was my body saying. And I said yes.

Say you’re trying to lead a donkey somewhere. You take hold of the reigns (leash, rope or whatever is around its neck), you stand right in front of it, and pull. 

What does it do? 

It pulls back in the opposite direction. So you pull harder. It responds by sitting down. And now you’re in a standoff - not going anywhere… 

Recently, I heard “yearning” described as: 

The Tension that is created when your True Nature is in conflict with your resistance…

Something happens here, when you DON’T bring that idea to life, where it eats away at your confidence…

I believe very often, we are not able to access the full vision (or version) of our lives because we have not truly articulated what we intend for our future selves. We don’t have the language for it.

How do we develop this new language?

Some principles of evolution may apply here…

Unless you study anatomy and have a real mechanical sensibility, it’s really hard to understand scientific language about movement and translate it into something that you can use.

Another approach to talking about movement is to use metaphor: 

“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”

Movement is just such a language.

Each position or geometrical arrangement  of your body parts are like a word or phrase that opens up the possibility of interacting with your environment and with others in rich and varied ways…. 

Life can only be experienced through movement. 
Without movement, there is no sensation: 

“In a way, all of us has an El Guapo to face. For some, shyness might be their El Guapo. For others, a lack of education might be their El Guapo. For us, El Guapo is a big, dangerous man who wants to kill us. But as sure as my name is Lucky Day, the people of Santa Poco can conquer their own personal El Guapo, who also happens to be the actual El Guapo!”

- Lucky Day from the movie, Three Amigos

Where do you carry your tension? You may have a consistent nagging or even acute pain in that area. You've tried massage, Physical Therapy, acupuncture, stretching, and those can all be useful, but do you feel like you’re never solving the problem? You may have resigned to the belief that “there’s nothing I can do.”

being in a state of constant stress is not natural- it’s unhealthy… and unfortunately, it’s often considered normal in our culture. 

But on the other hand, does that mean our goal should be to get rid of stress altogether?