This newsletter was first published on my old website in June 2010 as an 8 part/posts newsletter. I am takng the time now in 2023 to add the old newsletters onto my new website. I quit doing these long newsletters in 2014. I’d be curious how you like them.
Each month, “My Better Day” newsletter contains tips for your yoga practice, yoga quotes to bring yoga off the mat and into your life, affirmations to brighten your day and motivate, and more! It is my wish for your well-being that I send this newsletter to help make your day a Better Day!
In this issue: Yoga quote, Practice yoga pose, Meditation on the go, Chakrascope, Hand Mudra, Featured Card Deck and Quote, Healthy News, Favorite Yoga Music / DVD, Happenings at Better Day Yoga LLC.
*By the way–this newsletter is one of the 8 part/posts newsletters. They took quite a bit of time so I began doing single post newsletters after the February/March 2014 newsletter. That being said, if you want all of the posts of one newsletter for the 8 part/posts, please hit the back button to go back to all the posts listed with the newsletter your’re reading. Hope that makes sense!
Namasté,
Sandy Krzyzanowski
Founder, Better Day Yoga LLC
“What you do is vitally important to who you become. It is not the results (the products, businesses, money, success or failure) that matters, it is who you became while making them. That’s what we need from you!” — Column written by Wah! In LAYoga Magazine.
Have you all been watching Betty White’s comeback lately? It all started with her successful appearance in the Super Bowl commercial which was voted the most popular commercial:
Then she hosted Saturday Night Live, and racked up the highest rating they’d seen in years for viewership. Now there’s talk of her hosting the Academy Awards. She’s 88, and she’s the “it” girl!
Betty White’s phenomenon is really a tribute to her “continued success” vs. a “comeback”. I mean it’s not like she hasn’t continued to be in show after show as either the star or a guest star. This also isn’t the first time there’s been late-blooming success.
“Grandma Moses was in her 70’s when she began painting scenes of her rural life in Upstate New York. Colonel Sanders of finger lickin’ good chicken fame, had a difficult start in life but early on realized he had a creative cooking talent. However it was not until he was in his 60s that he started KFC and became a millionaire. Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about her family’s life in the 1870s and 1880s in the acclaimed The Little House on the Prairie series of books for children. She published her first book at the age of 65. Harry Bernstein was in his 90s when he decided to write his memoirs after his wife of 67 years died. His book was titled The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers and he continued writing with the 2008 publishing of his book The Dream.” There are endless others—some of which can be found in the link I found these on:
http://creativityandaging.blogspot.com/2009/05/some-have-struggled-for-years-in-jobs.html
I’m sure you’ve heard of Susan Boyle? I’d watched that YouTube performance several times and cried tears of joy each time. She was 47 when she was “discovered”. Go ahead, indulge another listen. Really “feel good” tears like this performance induces are so good for you. Just when I thought perhaps I wouldn’t cry this time, well…I did:
Recently I heard the story of Nola Ochs, who held the title of world’s oldest college graduate until last year following her graduation from Fort Hays State University at the age of 95. She received her master’s in liberal studies with a history concentration from the Hays, Kansas school May 15, 2010 according to the Kansas City (Mo.) Star. She didn’t let age be a barrier to achieve her advanced education. She did it for the glory of doing it. She lives a goal-driven life.
There’s one point to make here—we love these people not only for the gifts they’ve brought us through their talents, but perhaps more so because of whom they became as a result. Isn’t it the inspiration of Susan Boyle defying the odds that makes you well up with tears? Isn’t it the mutual pride of Nola Ochs achieving her degree at an advanced age despite societal norms dictating the “appropriate” time to go to college that makes you beam? Seeing Betty White’s current comeback and hearing that she stayed up partying with the Saturday Night Live cast the night she hosted the show—well doesn’t it just make you think, “I can do that too! There’s still time!”? Don’t you just want to yell out: “You go, girl!” They are a shining light to us that we, too, can do whatever it is we set out to do. THAT is the real gift these inspiring people have brought us.
“Want to live longer? Then you better have a really good idea of what you’re living for. In a study of older adults, those who lived a goal-driven life were 57 percent less likely to die during the 5-year study period—compared with those who didn’t have much direction or purpose.
Are you making plans for the future? Is there something that you’re actively trying to achieve? Does your life have meaning? A resounding yes to these questions could mean you get more time on earth to accomplish things. Having a purpose in life was so helpful in a recent study that it even appeared to improve the longevity of people with depression, disabilities, chronic medical conditions, or financial difficulties.”
(The site I quoted above is no longer an active site. Here is a link to a similar study.)
There’s a quote about “doing what you love means you’ll never have to work another day of your life.” What do you love? Are you going to let a few excuses stop you from it? Because research shows that spending ample time doing what you love may keep you from developing a whole host of disease risk factors. And that’s a great way to help extend your life. Having fun yet?
There are many lessons to be taken from Betty White’s continued success. Are you over “a certain age” and using it as an excuse to not try anymore? “I’m too old to do that.” Or, “Do you know how old I’d be when I finished that degree, or that project, or whatever THAT is?” The answer is you’ll be as old as you would have been if you didn’t finish THAT.
Or maybe you feel like you’re done with achievement—that the chances of accomplishing any level of achievement, let alone overwhelming success, are so small, why bother? Maybe you’ve been plugging away and plugging away and wonder, is it all worth it? Should I just hang it all up? The message here is You never know what the Universe has in store for you! I’ve heard it said in regards to accepting the gifts of the Universe that you should ask “How good can you stand it? Because that’s how good it can get.”
Just when you think your time in the sun has come and gone, you could have your own version of a comeback or being discovered. You could be the “it” person. Betty White has raised the bar on just when you can (again) come into your own, or when YOUR “it” time will be, so you may as well co-create it. “Life is what you make it. Always has been. Always will be.” Grandma Moses.
Betty White’s popularity is not limited to her own age group. She is hitting age markets across the board. So you, too, can’t really say that your “target market” for what it is you want to achieve is necessarily only what is typical. She’s raised the bar for expectations, hasn’t she? All bets are off. The world really is your oyster!
You can no longer use the “I’m too old”, or “I’m not skinny enough”, or “I’m too young”, or “I’m not talented enough” excuses. Where would we be if everyone thought that way?
(I’m sure you’ve also seen the recent 6th grader sensation on YouTube, Greyson Chance?
Or even the spunky four-year-old Jessica‘s daily affirmations?
We can always find a reason not to try. Or as one movie star character said “It’s easier to believe the bad stuff”. Well, dream your own dream and create your own version of a happy ending!
Most of us aren’t looking for world-fame. Most of us want inner happiness, although we may not really know that yet. There are stories abounding about those that searched for and got the riches and the fame, but weren’t happy.
So, I don’t mean to imply that success = fame = big money. I mean to imply that whatever YOU want to accomplish or do or be is out there, and nothing should stop you from moving toward it. If you are young, don’t let lack of experience stop you. If you are old, don’t let age stop you. The point is don’t let anything stop you from continuing to go forward toward whatever you want to do, be, or have.
So excuses, be gone! For every excuse you have for why you can’t accomplish what you want, I’ll bet you can find someone who has accomplished it with the same, if not more, so-called “handicaps”. I think that the “handicap” is actually a reason to do it anyway. Remember my last newsletter where I talked about your weaknesses pointing to your strengths? The same concept is in play here. Use whatever excuse you have right now to not do something as the impetus to go out and do it. Use it as your sign from the Universe that you were meant to do it.
Just as I started to really hit my stride in the teacher training for my 200-hour certification through the Yoga Alliance, I found out that I have genetic hip dysplasia which, coupled with an old back injury, had predisposed my left hip to be arthritic before it’s time. For awhile I thought, …”Really?” Part of me started to wonder if I should quit teaching yoga. How could I be “as good as” all the others with this going on? Then I realized that I can teach from a level of compassion for those who come to yoga for its healing benefits. It was the very reason I had wanted to teach yoga. With a shift in attitude, I viewed what I started to consider a “handicap” an actual asset in my bag of teacher qualifications.
I’ve told my students that “just when you think this is all there is. That ‘my body couldn’t possibly heal from this’, there is healing; and your body can improve.” I might go so far as to say my genetic hip dysplasia and my back injury combined were a blessing, as it has kept me in love with this thing called yoga—and, by the way, has helped both the back and hip tremendously!
“Whether your purpose becomes a career in itself or just a way to turn up the volume on your talents (and I guarantee, your satisfaction) it’s an exploration worth doing. What’s your blessing/curse? It may not really have a curse to it, so just live it up in a bigger way and watch your life change.”
Based on Chapter Five of “Now What? 90 Days to a New Life Direction” by Laura Berman Fortgang.
(I was one of the lucky students in Laura’s class at the Learning Annex/Open U in Minneapolis a few years ago, and can say from first-hand experience that she’s excellent!)
So write down all the excuses you have for not doing what you want to do, and use that as your reason for doing it any way, for doing it because. Okay, so perhaps you’re thinking “lack of money” is a legitimate excuse that requires more than simply doing it because. You’re smart—yes, you’ll want to research how to finance your goal, but don’t let it stop you. There’s something to be said for visualizing the end goal and letting the Universe show you the way to getting there. “Never, never, never, never give up!” Winston Churchill.
Remember my musings from a previous newsletter: You decide what you will accomplish and then you do it. There is no failure. There is only doing. If you don’t quit, there can never be failure. Your power develops as you take risks and live outside of your comfort level. As the opening quote says, it’s not the end results of what you do that the world needs, it’s the person you become while doing what you do that benefits and inspires us.
We may not all have Betty White’s history of successes behind us, we may not have the voice of Greyson Chance or Susan Boyle, we may not have the artistic talents of Grandma Moses, or the literary talents of Laura Ingalls Wilder; but what DO we have? Focus on IT. “Your feelings are clues about your destiny and potential, and they’re seeking the full expression of life through you.” Wayne Dyer. The talented people I just mentioned didn’t start out thinking they had “IT” either. They took their leap of faith and moved toward “IT”. A Jewish proverb says that “Every blade of grass has an Angel bending over it saying. ‘Grow, Grow!” Be your own Angel.
