First Steps

Is there a point in life when things stop being new? As adults do we lose the gift that children get every day, the gift of wonder and newness? I watch my 9 month old and everything he does is new. From crawling to stepping, to foods, to even his head hitting the wall and to watch him test it again to understand “head, wall.” It is an amazing source of discovery that in our world seems harder and harder to get. I read recently if there are any places to go on Earth where no one else has ever been. The answers were mostly places in Antarctica. Think about when the America’s, Africa or Asia were discovered by Europeans. When the Earth was no longer flat but round or gravity was understood. Are we robbed of firsts or are we unable to think that the opportunity for a first is always present?
My dad made an interesting comment to me the other day. He thanked me for the weekend he spent with my son, his grandson. He said, “It’s not easy to have a first at 60.” I thought true but sad. Why can’t everything be a first? I watch the dissatisfaction people have with their marriages or jobs and they think, “a new spouse or job will make it all better.” I used to think that. I used to think it was everything else around me that made me, but now I think differently. Now I invoke the greatest gift yoga has taught me, the power of what, how, why, when and where I choose.
Try this for the next week. Everyday wake up and think about the things in your life, maybe your spouse, job, family, friends...and instead of thinking of all of them as obligations or responsibilities, instead choose to love them. Choose to see them as gifts in your life. Choose them everyday because then you will get to have first loves, first jobs, first friends, firsts steps everyday.