Week 20 Challenge - Purification

This year I decided to challenge myself to reflect on various Yoga and Buddhist aspects throughout the year. The challenges come from a variety of places including readings in Deborah Adele's Yamas and Niyamas and Thich Nhat Hanh's Heart of the Buddha's Teaching and Happiness.

This week's challenge was purification. To work on the purification of my body, my mind, my spirit. It was an interesting challenge that led me in directions I didn't necessarily expect.

Generally, when I think of purification I think of healthy eating, staying away from toxic thoughts / environments / people, meditation, Yoga asanas, dharma reading, etc. Lots of self-care items that I love but that I also sometimes struggle to bring into my life.

So, this week I've worked on a bit more patience with myself. And instead of trying to tackle the big numbers, I've worked on the little ones. Asking myself the little questions. Should I take my clothes down to the laundry room or leave them laying on my floor? Laundry room is the loving choice (clutter bugs me), so that's what I did. Should I take the time to put lotion on my feet after the shower? The loving choice is yes since otherwise my feet are dry, cracked and itchy.

These may seem like tiny things, but there is a common theme. They both speak to procrastination. I often procrastinate the simplest things (buying gas, taking the recycling out to the garage) but I also procrastinate the big things (healthy eating, exercise, spiritual study). I know that procrastination is not the loving choice and that in the end what I'm really procrastinating is my happiness.

Attending to these little items of purification is helping me feel happier. Which I'm hoping will make it easier to make some loving choices on the big items as well.