I just love articles by Phillip Moffit (Yo Phillip! When’s the book coming out?).  Did you catch the one in the latest Yoga Journal?  It must be the February issue, about Starting Again.  I’ve had the opportunity to use that one a lot lately. 

It’s about noticing that you’re stuck in your mental patterns or whatever useless activity you expend your energy on when you’re stuck.  And you try to stop and notice. And Start Again.  You Start Again by coming back to the present and doing the next small doable task that gets you back on the road toward your goal.

I love that.

It’s great on the yoga mat.  We all forget to breath and can Start Again every time we notice.  We all have poses we dislike and what a perfect strategy for that.  How can I Start Again with this pose and take a fresh perspective?  Instead of just diving into it full of grumblies like a sullen teenager. 

And of course it’s great off the mat too.  My big lesson these days is in letting go and these two ideas go hand-in-hand.  I’m embarking on a big project with my Honeybunny – the details don’t matter.  But it’s an in-for-a-penny-in-for-a-pound kinda thing. 

And I Want. It. Bad. 

I can see it, taste it and smell it.  You know the kind right?  And we reached a roadblock.  Not just a road sign, but a mountain of boulders in the middle of the road.  And I crashed.  I went through anger, victimy stuff and all the emotions that patchwork together to form my own stuck patterns. 

And when I was able to get my head on a little straighter I asked myself – what do I need to let go of here to move forward?  How can I Start Again with this one? 

It’s a lot bigger task when it’s something you really care about.  But I found out it’s also a lot bigger relief.  It’s like finding and using that ”letting go” muscle.  And when I pulled it off it was like stumbling out of the dark cave.  And with that fresh perspective I felt like I could get creative with my roadblock.

What else can I Start Again with?