On my attempts to change the world

With the recent terrorist attacks in Belgium,it's easy to get caught up in a fury of spiraling despair. It is easy to feel hopeless, like there is no good in the world and there is nothing we can do about it.

There is something you can do. Spread love and kindness to every person you encounter. Love is the only way to wipe out hate. Take some time today to spread love to someone you don't know.

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My dream to work in politics came from wanting to help people. That was how I felt like I could do my part. I thought I could help people by electing candidates that I believed in and as a result I would be making the world a better place. While I was working in politics I felt good. I felt like I was doing the right thing, but I was also burning myself out. I wasn’t taking care of myself. I wasn’t respecting who I was. I was following my dreams but I was only respecting my ability to work hard and be passionate (not that those are bad things). But what good is following your dreams if you don’t have any time to share with friends or family, or if I don’t have time to do the other things that I love to do? I was at a point where I didn’t have things I enjoyed doing outside of work because I never had time to discover anything.

It wasn’t until very recently that I discovered yoga was the new way I could help people. Let me back up. When I started practicing yoga at Power Life I noticed my teachers were helping me become a better person. They were slowly but surely prying me out of a shell I had built around myself. When I floated the idea of teaching yoga I realized that I had something I could offer people, too. I was a fat woman that embraced that I was fat. I didn’t let the size of my jeans define me. I started to love myself despite the fact that I was fat. I decided to let other things in my life define me. There is a direct correlation between my self-image and my yoga practice. I realized that if I could help people discover about themselves what I had discovered about myself, then I could make an impact.

So here I am. Let me state that I don’t think I’m doing anything revolutionary. I teach yoga. I’m not doing anything special, or offering something that people can’t get in at least 20 different places in a 50 mile radius. I didn’t know that I could really have an impact until students told me they were feeling better. One student recently told me that she is her most authentic self when she is doing yoga (which was the most amazing complement I have ever received). If I can help people become their most authentic selves for just one hour a week or however long a week they want to spend with me then, I am offering a huge service to this world. Even if I am helping two people become their best selves, really, one by one isn’t that how we make the world a better place?

So I guess I could also say that I have found my true self and am continuing to become my true self. I hope you’ll join me in finding your true self, too.