Patricia Ryan Madson, the author of Improv Wisdom advises us, “Don’t prepare, just show up.” This little gem of a book is filled with maxims like the title of this blog, sparkles of wisdom from her experience as a professor of improv theatre at Stanford University.
At the beginning of each year, many of us vow to change something in our lives, presumably to be better people. The problem is that we do so first without taking inventory of important facts. It just isn’t realistic to resolve to jog every morning if you hate jogging. Or decide to get up early to do an hour of yoga when it is already a struggle for you to get up in the morning, particularly when January is nearly the darkest time of the year. I wonder, now that we are deep into 2016, how many of us have upheld our personal promises?
Howz about we just be average, and do something we know we can do? For me this year, it was being electronics free for the first and last hour of my waking hours. It’s a pretty small resolution, but doing a little bit consistently yields more benefit than grandiose plans that don’t get implemented. I can say I’ve been 70% successful. It has made a difference that exceeds the effort.
I’d like to offer this video from a couple of year back as a possible starting point for those of you who want to do yoga with more consistency. It is just over 20 minutes long, this flow class, so even if you think it might be better to do an hour every day, if it is a new habit, I suggest you start with 20 minutes. If you are able to do this with consistency for one month, try doing yoga for an hour one day on the weekend, and continue with twenty minutes the rest of the week. Set yourself up for success. Just be average.