MEMO TO SELF....

...every time you run into trouble on the mat it is because of lack of patience and trying to impose a solution.

If the attack is sooner, faster, or more intense than you anticipated, don't struggle or revert to looking for how to make something happen. Connect, keep breathing, move while keeping the connection and have faith that with patience something will manifest.

I can tell other people that. I often know it. Sometimes (like last night) I don't know it, though, and it is embarrassing to be so frustrated and have to have a senior student or teacher remind me.

I really wish it were permanently etched in the grey matter.

Its funny how that translates across disciplines, too. I am working on a "quilt challenge" (designing and making a quilt within certain parameters), and had backed myself into a corner with a few pieces. After a few days of struggle, I took a deep breath and relaxed and let the solution come.

Yeah, its not just "on the mat."

This is Leo and Lily, our new family members. They are very good at imposing their will on us.