Good afternoon, beautiful poopie mamas. I hope this week has been good to you and that you’ve also been good to yourselves. Everything starts from within, so please remember that whatever you seek from others must first be achieved, individually, from the inside out. I also want to let you know that I may only be blogging sporadically this month when time allows. Poops here is attempting to fulfill a life-long dream of completing my first novel. I’ve had an idea floating around in my head for quite some time now, and I decided that 2011 is the year I will take it out of my mind and put it all on paper! November is National Novel Writing Month and yours truly is actively participating. I am banging away on my laptop with every free moment I have. So, please forgive me if I’m not posting as often. It’s not because I don’t want to, there just simply aren’t enough hours in the day for me to devote myself to my kids, husband, the novel and my blog. I know you understand, poops, and I thank many of you for your kind, encouraging words and awesome, enthusiastic support! It is definitely motivating me to continue!

Now, on to today’s MOMtra…another eloquent passage from the Tao:

Throw away holiness and wisdom, 
and people will be a hundred times happier. 
Throw away morality and justice, 
and people will do the right thing.
Throw away industry and profit,
and there won’t be any thieves. 

If these aren’t enough, 
just stay at the center of the circle
and let all things take their course. 

In yoga, we are always practicing balance – both on the mat and in our hearts.  Life is no different, and this passage reminds us of that. As Stephen Mitchell states in his translation, “When some folks are called saints, other folks think of themselves as sinners. When one fellow is called wise, others imagine that there is something they need to know.” If we can remove ourselves from the notion of categories and live without labels then everyone becomes wise and holy, and most important, balanced. Staying at the center means staying away from assigning ourselves and others one thing or another. This is judgment and the moment we choose to judge someone or ourselves, we fall out of balance. How can we stay in center if we’re constantly putting-up road blocks? How can we achieve balance if we’re always in our own way? The Tao tells us the easiest route, it gives us the tools and shows us the simplest way out of sabatoging our own peace. We must let things take their own course. And though it takes a tremendous amount of practice, this is the most worthwhile endeavor you’ll ever experience. Once you can allow yourself to do this, you feel light, and balance comes to you from the inside out. There is nothing left to weigh you down.

I encourage each of you to give it a try over the weekend. Whenever you find yourself ready to comment on someone’s behavior or someone’s words, or you feel yourself wanting to judge them or yourselves for anything at all, simply stop. Reserve it. Don’t assign them or yourself any kind of label or word or category. Just let them be, let yourself be. Take a step back and you will notice just how often you may actually do this from day to day and feel how unbalanced it makes you…how far from the center you’ve fallen. Does it take total awareness to achieve this? Yes. Is it difficult? Absolutely. Has poops here been able to do it? Probably not even for an entire day. But, I’m aware now and I’m learning and living more consciously, and just that has kept me closer to the center. Once you feel a bit more balance in your lives, poopies, I promise your hearts will continue to keep you centered. 

My lovelies, I wish you a terrific weekend full of love and laughter.  Thank you for your patience as I work toward achieving my literary goal. It’s a month of insanity, but a labor of love! Til next time….