I find that often times I feel like I am overwhelmed at all of the things I need to do, yet when I look at what it is that needs done, it seems as if these are things that I used to do with such ease years ago. I've begun to realize that I've just learned to slow down. I never realized I was overwhelmed in the past, because I wasn't. I was continuously stressed and constantly in motion. My emotions were always elevated to a peak level, and it didn't take many things not going as planned to aggravate or irritate me.

Things have changed for me in the past five years. Although I slowly began taking that inward journey twenty years ago, I never applied myself wholeheartedly. I'd meditate for a while, read some books, and then it was back to the old way of being. Stuff needed to get done. At least stuff that I thought was important. Getting stuff done. It's the way I grew up. Everything was a task to be completed. Children, chores, work, church. Check it off the list. I don't know if the intention was to teach me that, but somehow that is what I absorbed out of my upbringing. The past five years have brought a real concerted effort to take that journey inwards; to really SLOW DOWN and decide if what I am doing is really what I want to do or if it's something that needs doing. If it does need doing, does it need doing right now?

Yoga has helped me quite a bit, but relearning how to breathe is what has really brought me inward. Being conscious of my breath, being conscious of my breath while in motion; these things are what has helped me go inward and slow down. And in that slowing down, I am beginning to find myself again. I get to decide what's important. I get to take care of myself for a change. As a society, I feel as if we don't teach taking care of ourselves as an important part of our life. It's our "job" to take on our various roles and forget about our own needs. Caring for oneself is thought to be selfish. How sad. How can we love others as much as we love ourselves if we don't love ourselves first? We can't. That's obvious when you look at the world and some of the events that are transpiring. We are in fact loving others the way we love ourselves, and it's not with kindness.

The best gift we can give others AND ourselves is to work on ourselves. To become the best ME I can be, and it starts with being honest with yourself. Really honest. Look at what you do each day and ask yourself what are your motives for doing these things. Are you just unconsciously going through the motions because that is what you always do? Are you really giving of yourself, or are you more interested in what you are going to get back? There is nothing wrong with receiving. The world operates on giving and receiving, but if your only motivation is to get, you'll find you have to work awful hard for it and you'll still feel empty inside. BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF. It's the greatest gift you'll ever give yourself.