Your Grass is Green

Happy Monday! I wish happy holidays to all of those who have been celebrating over the last week. Last Sunday we had the Masters Golf Tournament on TV at our house as I am sure many others did. My husband commented several times about how green the grass is at the Augusta golf course. At one point I looked outside at our back yard (we happen to live on a golf course as well although obviously nothing like Augusta) and I thought to myself “Our grass is pretty green.” At that point my message for the week was clear. 

For most of us, our tendency is to notice what could be better in our lives and compare our lives to others; “The grass is always greener”philosophy. This happens both with our comparing mind and our negativity bias (our tendency to focus more on what needs improvement than what is going well). If we are using our “green grass” analogy; think of it like noticing the brown spots in our yard more than the green parts and how much nicer other yards look. These patterns of thought can often distract us from then overall “greenness” of our “grass”.  

We do the same thing with our bodies as we do in our lives- perhaps comparing to our younger selves or focusing so intensely on the aches and pains that we miss all the amazing things our bodies do for us each day.  Once we notice this pattern of thought we can begin to shift with a simple mantra; “My grass is green.”  We used this mantra to remind ourselves of this throughout our physical practice with the hope we could take it with us off the mat. 

I found myself finding using that mantra quite a bit last week; a bit run down from a steady stream of visitors It kept reminding me how incredibly “green” my grass is with all of these wonderful people in my life. It refilled me in those rare  moments of stillness to repeat the mantra “My grass is green.”  I hope you all enjoy your “green grass” this week