Autobiography in 5 Short Chapters

I hope you all had a great week. As humans we are creatures of habit. We have lots of positive habits; we brush our teeth in the morning, take our vitamins…. you get the idea. However, we also develop habits that do not always serve us. In addition to physical habits (staying up too late, having that extra glass of wine), we have habits that are patterns of thoughts or behaviors. In Sanskrit these habits are called Samskaras; deep grooves of thought. These patterns tend to show themselves through interactions in some of our longest and deepest relationships. The good news is that we can shift and change these habits by first noticing them both in ourselves and others when they occur. I recently had the opportunity to be reminded of some of those patterns. The reading below succinctly sums up the process of shifting so I shared with my students on the mat this past week. 

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters, Portia Nelson
Chapter 1
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in.
I am lost … I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes me forever to find a way out.

Chapter 2
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place
but, it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter 3
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in … it’s a habit.
my eyes are open
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

Chapter 4
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

Chapter 5
I walk down another street.

When we can begin to notice our own behavior and take responsibility for it, we then have the power to shift how we respond in situations that may come up often in our lives. This also allows us to see the patterns in the behaviors of others and not fall into the same “trap” of habitual behavior that does not serve us. 

Using our bodies to practice this idea is very helpful. We can explore the habits we have created in our yoga practice; acknowledging the ones that serve us and noticing the ones that don’t. We can do that with curiosity, rather than judgement which helps us have more perspective around the adjustments we can make that will allow for a healthier outcome. Often it is pausing and approaching the situation without judgment that allows us the perspective to shift the deep grooves both on and off the mat. 

It takes patience and practice and sometimes we might think we made it all the way to “chapter 5” just to find ourselves back at “chapter 3”. It is in those moments we have a choice to make.  Judgment and anger can hold us back from the clarity we need to move through the “chapters”. Acceptance and learning can help us move forward. It starts with a willingness to pause and look inside, (even if its painful).  We are the only ones that can choose to climb out of that hole and walk down a different street.