What’s your why? 🌷Wednesday Whisper 35/19*
As a young woman, I didn’t think about my purpose or my why the way I do now.
I thought my purpose was to teach sports and gymnastics in schools. I loved it, but before I knew, I was teaching kids with physical challenges. Adaptive P.E. became my gem. How movement can heal became my focus and soon — yoga appeared. Divine intervention? It was in the summer of 1983. I still lived in Germany.
Sitting six months by the incubator, watching my daughter survive a new purpose burned itself into my skin.
When I saw my baby for the first time and wanted to put my hand through the small door of the incubator to touch her tiny body, my purpose electrified me. It had the potential to burn me out of existence.
I pleaded with the universe: I will pour my life’s energy through these walls into my daughter’s seemingly lifeless body. You must keep her alive.
My why was born. It was August of 1990. I lived in Cincinnati, OH.
When I first read Nietzsche’s quote: He who has a why to live for, can bear almost any how, it startled me.
I know exactly where I read it. I saw it on a postcard in black letters on a grey background in my favorite bookstore in Germany. It was October of 2009.
Have you watched the fire die in a fireplace? Do you put one more log on hoping to reignite? The flame catches, and the hot ambers dropping down feed the dying fire, and soon the heat is back on!
That’s what his words did to me. How did I live?
I was exhausted from endless caretaking. And my support was gone. My husband’s PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome) crashed my rock. I had no one to lean onto. But I managed because of my daily commitment to practice. My fire was dim, but it was burning.
This quote slowly sunk into my core, and my root chakra started to spin again.
I had a why to live and I knew my how.I ignite when I teach. The yoga mat is my sanctuary. I understood the very same practice that kept me going wasn’t supposed to be mine alone.
I realized with a clarity I didn’t have before that teaching and creating transformational workshops to share my yoga and mindfulness tools was a calling. I also knew that for parents like me or caretakers in general personal time is a luxury.
My 🌴Tiny Islands were born. Soulful practices I do in the middle of my chaos. There’s nothing left to give if I’m burned up. I created 365 of them to help me and you heal.
And my desire to write caught fire — another chance to share my gifts. Writing for me is the twin sister to yoga. Both fulfill my purpose. As a writer, I find inspiration in my friend Laura’s workshops since 2016. ➡️www.lauradifranco.com
When she offered the writing prompt: How does it feel when you stand in your why?
I took a breath. It electrified me to write about it.
What you read here, the clarity I have now is the gift of this practice. It was August of 2019.😇
Too many of us are broken. The road from suffering to freedom is a rocky one. I can help you navigate. It ignites my fire if I can help light yours.
You don’t live close and want to work with me? My online office will open soon. Sign up for my newsletter, comment on this post or drop me an email if you want to be first to know when.
It will happen soon😇. I know you have heard me say this for a while. Remember:
I walk in your shoes. Since my road is a bumpy one, and I’m often exhausted, my steps are slow.
My belief, that the next step is always possible keeps me going.
Hop on!
🌴 Tiny Island
Pause for a little now. Breathe.
Relax your shoulders and your jaw.
Feel your breath. In and out.
Keep breathing.
What’s your why?
Reflect. Breathe again.
If it’s clear, go for it. If not, accept that it’s not and keep reflecting. Stay open. Tension kills creativity. Ease fuels it. Answers appear in the silent moments when we let go of doing.
Your purpose isn’t only about your work. It’s about your whole life. It’s the gas in your car — the fuel that keeps you going, no matter the obstacles.
💡Ask: What brings me joy? Do that first!
PS: *35/19 stands for the week and year we’re in. I committed in January to write my whisper every week. No matter what. I did! Got to celebrate this!🎊😁
