Have you ever overcome something? Can you remember being on the other side of a big challenge? How can your past struggles serve you now?

Life is like a winding road, a mountain path, or a trip across Paris on the Metro. You’re on track most of the time, but the nature of the game is that every so often, things go sideways.

You run into a detour, a rockslide, or a transit strike. You have to put Plan B, C, or D into action. If you’re lucky, or resilient, or blessed with immense presence and poise, these little wrinkles remain small, and for the most part, you get to where you want to go with minimal turmoil.

Chances are, however, that you can look back and recall a time when the bottom really dropped out. A calamity in your health, your relationships, your livelihood. The kind of bummer that makes you feel bad for even burdening your friends with it.

It may have changed you. It could have rearranged your circumstances. Scarred for life can be more than a metaphor.

Yet, here you are. If you have the capacity to read these words, you made it through to live and breathe another day. Small potatoes, that’s not! I’m here to remind you to give yourself a little pat on the back.

I gave myself one yesterday at the end of our little yoga session. Isabelle’s daughter Auriane earned her degree back east in Somatic Psychotherapy. Towards the end of the Covid era she started hosting a weekly Zoom class; we do our best to show up.

My favorite pose is Shivasana, that part at the end where you lie flat on your back and melt into the floor. As I laid there yesterday, totally relaxed, I had a flashback and was washed over with a wave of relief.

You see, ten years ago, my spine was a wreck. To the extent that my massage therapist was giving up and the doctors were talking about surgery.

Just walking was tricky, sitting in a chair was painful, but to rest flat on my back on the floor was the most excruciating of all. Shivasana is not meant to be torture.

I remember shifting a situation that was weighing me down, clearing some metaphysical clutter from my life, and making some changes that were long overdue. And I worked a trade with a gifted bodyworker who liked my metalwork and needed a sign.

In short, I made it through. Healing can happen.

Somewhere, sometime, in some situation — you did too. It’s not the sort of thing you want to make your entire identity out of. And it’s only natural to keep your attention on the path ahead rather than looking back.

But occasionally, just once in a while, it’s worth pulling one of these memories out of your back pocket and giving yourself a private little pat on the back.

You struggled. You prevailed. Give your soul a high-5 and keep on moving.

Much love till next Monday!

Merci et à bientôt!

M+

ML #678

Mark Metz
Monday Love Movement Calendar