Serve & Celebrate

I hope you all had a nice weekend. At one of the recent admitted students days I attended with my son there was a speaker who shared what he had learned during his college experience. He said that the school had taught him how to SERVE and how to CELEBRATE. 

I absolutely loved this message and quickly jotted it down so I wouldn’t forget it. As it turns out there was no chance of that because as I traveled back home I kept thinking about those two words paired together. I realized that if I had to sum up what I would want out of my life in two words it might possibly be those; service and celebration.

The pairing together of service and celebration was a beautiful way to begin our practice on the mat and an important reminder; we are in service to our bodies. The judgment and expectation of our inner critic can erode that intention, so noticing and shifting the inner dialogue is a powerful way to serve. When we serve our bodies then we also get to celebrate; celebrate all that is available and feels good and that this is a practice without expectation. Our intention became to serve what we needed and celebrate all that was available. They pair together beautifully for both a yoga practice on the mat and a mindfulness practice off of it. 

If we evaluate our thoughts, feelings and decisions  through the lens of SERVICE & CELEBRATION we can begin to shift perspective off the mat as well. Being of service means both to ourselves and to others. It brings a powerful intentionality to how we move through the world that offers us the chance to celebrate often and deeply. This morning as I am writing, I am celebrating. The sun that is rising in front of my eyes, the smell of coffee in the pot and the chance to wave goodbye to my son as he heads of to school for one of his last days as a high school senior. 

What that speech reminded me is that the more intentional we are in SERVICE (to both ourselves and others), the more we can connect to the everyday CELEBRATIONS along with the big ones. So I encourage you to serve yourself and others and celebrate often and deeply. We can all practice together.