Visual Gratitude: #3 Cheese

Now maybe it's my close proximity to the cheese state (Wisconsin), but I can't ever seem to get enough cheese in my life. Cheddar, gouda, brie, swiss, bleu, any cheese! I just love it so much. So today, my friends, I am grateful for cheese.

Those who know me well, know that for about a month 50% of my diet consisted of just brie. Seriously.

Visual Gratitude: #2 My Parents

I know it seems pretty obvious that I'd be grateful for my parents. They did bring me into this world after all. But I am truly grateful that I'm related to these people.

It's your typical child to adult story. Growing up I hated my parents. They just didn't "get me". We were constantly arguing and I couldn't wait to grow up and get away from them. Fast forward about a decade and now I see my parents in a completely different light. My parents are actually pretty cool. We still don't see eye to eye on a lot of things and they still don't always "get me", but my parents are rad! I'm 26 and honestly enjoy hanging out with my parents.

Once I took a picture of my hands and my sister right away pointed out how much my hands look exactly like my mom's hands. I'm proud of my hands. I'm proud that my hands look like my mom's. I hope that in 28 years I'm half the person she is. I also hope that in a couple decades I have a partnership like my parents' marriage. In September my parents will have been married for 35 years. As the years pass I'm constantly amazed by what a strong relationship they have with each other.

So just remember, no matter how challenging your parents may have made your life as a child or teenager, there's a good chance things will turn around with time.

Visual Gratitude: #1 Early Morning Yoga

For my first day of my 30 days of Visual Gratitude, I decided to take a picture of something that I love and kind of hate at the same time. I teach 6am yoga classes every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The alarm clock goes off at 4:30am on those days, and as I hit the dismiss button on my phone I always ask myself, "Why am I up so early?" However, once I get to the studio and see my amazing students' faces I'm reminded why I do this.

Early morning yogis are the best! They roll out of bed, walk through the studio doors half asleep, and go through their Sun Salutations with sleep still in their eyes. That is inspiration! I am forever grateful for these dedicated yogis.

30 Days of Visual Gratitude

In light of my most recent post on why Instagram is better than Facebook, I became inspired to take more photos. More specifically, I'd like to take more photos of the things around me that bring so much happiness to my life.

It's easy to lose sight of the good things in our lives. I figured this month long "visual project" would help me to stay focused on all things great and beautiful.

"Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy." -Anne Frank

Why Instagram is Better than Facebook

Social media is everywhere. You just can't escape it. Criticize it all you want, but social media is morphing the way our society communicates and conducts business. I actually love social media (obviously). Although it often times becomes a substitute for actual human interactions, I think social media is an amazing way for people to express themselves in a low pressure environment. Of course that's only when it's used in a positive manner. I won't even touch the subject of negative use of social media. 

My first interaction with social media goes back to the MySpace days. However, I'm just going to skip over that because I like to pretend that those days never existed... So... My history with social media goes back to my freshman year of college. At the time I was enrolled at a local, private college. I was working at an on-campus restaurant and my colleagues were all excited about The Facebook. They were discussing the rumor that The Facebook might start to include our school. I had no idea what The Facebook was, but my colleagues had informed me that only large universities, like the University of Minnesota, were included in The Facebook. Of course as time progressed The Facebook started to include smaller colleges, businesses, and then it just became open to all. Oh, and I can't leave out that "The" was eventually dropped and it's now just Facebook. (If you aren't familiar with the whole history of the social media empire just watch "The Social Network".) 

Facebook opened me up to a new way of socializing. I could "friend" people I barely knew. I could then read their posts for the day, look at the pictures they uploaded to their page, see what restaurants they frequented. I could even "poke" them and throw a virtual sheep at them! Facebook started from fairly humble beginnings with small colleges just waiting anxiously for their school to be added to the list, to what it is now. Facebook is now an enormous corporation with over 1 billion users worldwide. It has become a regular part of most people's lives. We wake up, brush our teeth, and check Facebook. Everyday.

I find Facebook to be utterly fascinating. I, of course, am an avid user and love to tag myself with certain people or at certain locations just so that all my "friends" know how cool I am. However, I have become so overwhelmed by the use of Facebook as a way for people to air their dirty laundry or start conflict. Most personal matters are meant to be kept private. Most personal matters should not be posted all over your Facebook wall.

Last summer I was introduced to another form of social media, Instagram. I noticed on Facebook that all of my friends were posting pictures via Instragram. When I finally got a smart phone I had to figure out what this whole Instagram thing was. I was obsessed! I was taking pictures of anything and everything and tried out every single filter so that I had the hippest pictures around. Of course after my pictures were posted on Instagram I then had to post them on Facebook so that even more people could be privy to my level of awesomeness.

Of course the novelty of Instagram slowly started to fade. My phone's memory became overwhelmed and I actually had to delete my Instragram app. I took a few months off of Instragram and recently decided to make space on my phone for Instagram again. As I started flipping through the photos of the people I follow, I realized that Instagram is just so much better than Facebook. I could spend all day going through people's photos. Sure some of them are dumb pictures of people hanging out at a bar or self indulgent "selfies". But I look at most Instagram photos as a way to see from someone else's perspective. Ultimately I am seeing the beauty of the world through the lens of others. With Facebook I'm bombarded with words about all sorts of topics. With Instagram I'm bombarded by images that my "friends" took the time to capture and manipulate. I could much rather have the latter.

I would rather see the beauty in this world than read negative words. In a post from a while back I introduced the world to Bodhi the Lionfish Slayer. Of course his name isn't really Bodhi, but he started this awesome page on Facebook called 15 Steps Project. The idea is simple: Take no more than 15 steps from your front door, take a photo, and then post that photo on the page. The inspiration for the page is for people to see the beauty in the most mundane images we might see every single day. The page is filled with photos from all over the world and, to me, does exactly what I see from Instagram. Take a picture of something beautiful. No need to ruin it with words.

Life Lesson from Yoga #4: It's Just Stuff

I love my cats. I'm not necessarily a crazy cat lady, but I do really love my cats. Owen, the fluffy one, has been by my side since November of 2005. Bodhi, the chubby one, has been with me since July of 2007. They are great companions and always keep life interesting. 

As most pet owners know, we love our pets when they're well behaved and feel frustration towards them when they're not so well behaved. Owen, the fluffy one, is often also known as the mischievous one. He really should be featured in the Cats Can Be Jerks video on YouTube. I'll be eating at the kitchen table and he'll most likely jump on the table at some point during my meal. Late at night he'll decide to pick at the cabinet door just to annoy me. But above all, he likes to eat clothing, blankets, and towels. Yep. Just like a dog. He eats stuff that he shouldn't. 

Sometimes I wonder if this behavior comes out because he hasn't gotten enough attention. However, it's hard to believe that the cat who is carried around by either myself or my boyfriend for a large portion of the day isn't getting enough attention. I also wonder if he's just unhappy. Nope. Owen purrs loudly and wags his tail all the live long day. I think I've just come to the conclusion that he's just a jerk.

His ultimate jerk move is when he eats an enormous hole in my favorite articles of clothing. This is a normal occurrence. If I leave my clothes laying around in the bedroom or if a sleeve is hanging out of my laundry basket, Owen thinks it's fair game for him to snack on. Today, for example, I went to the yoga studio to take class. I stepped into the office to put my belongings away and chatted it up with a friend. I looked down and noticed a huge hole in the shirt I was wearing! My favorite lululemon long sleeved shirt had been consumed by my cat. I shared a few choice words and got mad. Of course he never eats the sweater I rarely wear or the shirt I just got a stain on. He eats my favorite pieces of clothing. 

A few minutes later I rolled out my yoga mat in the studio and stewed in my outrage toward my cat. Of course my practice was going to be tarnished by my cat's appetite for shirts. I noticed my frustration with my cat rise up inside of me and then I just had to let it go. The shirt had already been consumed. My cat was satisfied by his snack. And anything I do or anything I feel moving forward will not patch up the hole in my shirt. Ultimately my shirt is just a material possession. My experiences with my cat are much more enjoyable than the happiness my shirt brings to me. 

One of my teachers talks about measuring your wealth by your experiences and not in what you own. I constantly have to be reminded of this idea. It's hard to not buy the latest yoga top in the studio or feel like I need the newest pair of Tom's. What I need are good people in my life. What I need are memorable experiences in my life. Of course deep down, Owen, the mischievous one, has the intention to eat my belongings to remind me that it's all just stuff. 

Practice with a Purpose

Back in December I became inspired by an amazing student of mine. Long story short, she inspired me to start giving more to those in need. I feel incredibly grateful for the fact that I make a living teaching yoga. At only 26 I have my dream job. There is definitely nothing awful about that! Since I was so inspired by this one student, for Christmas I made donations to various charities in my family members' names as a part of their gifts. My family and I are very lucky to have the things we have in our lives, and I thought it was important to give back to those who aren't as lucky. Not only did I want to give to others for Christmas, but I was hoping to inspire my family to give to others too. 

As the last few months have passed I started to brainstorm ways to inspire more people to donate, volunteer, and give back. I came up with a yoga challenge for my students. I have dubbed it Practice with a Purpose. The rules are simple: For every student that takes 25 yoga classes in the month of March, I will donate $10 to a local charity, Second Harvest Heartland. If a student signs up for the challenge but does not complete 25 classes in March, they donate $10 to the charity. I have 40 students signed up for the challenge. They are all so excited to attempt the yoga challenge, but they're also inspired to give back to others. 

When I first started to announced the challenge in my classes, smiles beamed across my students' faces. Some students have even been emotional while talking to me about the charity challenge. So many of my students feel lucky to have found yoga (I am also added to this group) and know what yoga has done in their lives. They now feel compelled to give to others since yoga has given so much to them. That right there is inspiration. It's all about Karma. Pass it on.