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New beginnings

People all over the world crave new beginnings.  But ironically, most people also do everything they can to avoid them.

The lawyer who slaves away at her job for an extra few years because she likes her salary and doesn’t know what to do next.  The middle manager who is comfortable with the day to day routine which he thinks he can’t find anywhere else. Or the aspiring journalist who chooses to stay at a big company instead of working in the small town in Iowa for the chance to finally make it on air.  This is because new beginnings are hard and uncertain.

But new beginnings are also the best opportunity you have to change everything. They give you a sense of hope and rebirth. They remind you that more in the world is possible if we just look up.  And they remind you how good you are the moment you break out of your routine.

That’s why we celebrate them on new years and new birthdays.  It’s why we get excited to start over in school again, or start a new job after school.  It’s what makes entrepreneurs excited to wake up each and every day.

The ability to do something for the first time. To chance to tackle the problem that everyone else said would not work.

Every day in yoga, we approach our practice  the same way: with a beginner’s mind. We start every class in “childs pose” and we take our first breath and put our feet down on the mat for the first time.  You don’t know how class will go.  And sometimes you feel sore, tired, and nervous you might not finish.  But every day, you take the first breath, concentrate and more often than not, you not only make it through the hard part, but you also make more progress than you ever imagined.  That’s why so many people keep going back.

In short, new beginnings sometimes give you the opportunity to change everything.