Fall in Love with Falling

Last January, my family and I moved back home to Hawaii. After living away from the islands for 7 years, I felt like a fish out of water coming back to my happy place. It didn’t take long before Sani and I got new surfboards and a new found excitement for surfing. I can recall the exact session I was out by myself, wave after wave, falling off my board. I could feel myself getting frustrated and I started watching my mind being harsh. I paused. I looked around at where I was and smiled. I had envisioned this moment for years, surfing at my favorite spot with my brand new dream surfboard. I created a new thought. “Girl, you need to fall in love with falling”. I shifted my perspective to one of compassion, gratitude, and reality. Being kinder to myself and lowering the expectations of “being good” at surfing. I focused on bringing more playfulness to the experience and enjoying this sacred time that I had to be with myself and the ocean. A pause on mothering duties and my other responsibilities. Gratitude for the beauty all around me. And then you know what happened, I kept catching waves and yes sometimes falling, but laughing the whole time. And smiling even harder when I didn’t fall. Fast forward about 9 months, I’m still falling and still smiling.

I’ve also strived to bring this lightness with me to my work. Moving to a new city, I’ve started from scratch as a yoga teacher once more. I bring with me a lot of hard earned experience and knowledge and yet I’m putting myself out there in ways I’ve never done before. What’s interesting to me is that with each new endeavor I go for, almost always something goes wrong. I fall. The old version of me and my old thought patterns would have torn me to pieces. But with mindfulness I’ve had this ability to brush things off and learn from my mistakes. Whether its in a yoga class, a workshop, or some other offering. I have fallen in love with falling. Because I know its a natural part of the process. Becoming extraordinary at anything from surfing to teaching yoga requires us to show up again and again. Sometimes failing in between. And the truth is nobody really cares if you fall down, in fact they’re not even really watching. Everyone is so busy chasing their own waves that they’ll only remember how you were laughing the whole time making it look fun. So here’s my invitation to try something new you’ve been wanting to. Whether it’s professional or personal. Especially if it scares you and you think you’ll mess up. You probably will, but that’s OK! Focus on the feelings you get when you are doing the things that excite you and light you up! Don’t worry about the results. Give it your best and then be done when the moments over. And remember, if you want to get better, you gotta fall in love with falling!