Opening Up! Let’s Practice

“Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future.” ~Deepak Chopra

Let’s break out of our comfort zone! Let’s break out of our usual patterns, I say to myself!

So, today, I did something I’ve never done before. Nothing major…and still different: I ordered a “dinner kit” from a highly acclaimed local restaurant group. Aiming to support them and change things up for the nightly dinner preparation. I love to cook…and felt as if I could use a burst of fresh inspiration.

Actually, since the website seemed to indicate that only assembly and reheating the components of the dish would be required, and there were no directions included, I figured it would be a quick and tasty change. Tasty, yes; quick, not so much.

The opened box revealed all of the yummy ingredients–uncooked. With no recipe in sight, I called the supplier who gave directions over the phone…which didn’t work out.

I ended up in unknown territory with new-to-me ingredients which weren’t cooking the way I had been told they would, beating myself up a bit for venturing here. Then I remembered the whole point of this adventure. It was to have an adventure. To try a new vendor, a new dish, a new experience. Along with forging the new pathways in my brain and spirit which newness spurs.

Things are coming together now for dinner (yay!) and I feel revitalized from experimenting, adjusting, reaching.

Same for the online dance class I took a few days ago for the first time. Hungry for inspiration, I went back and forth about whether to sign up, as I know this wonderful teacher does movement that would be challenging and unfamiliar. And that I likely wouldn’t execute well.

While it may not have been the most well-performed dancing I’ve ever done (by a long shot), I could feel my mind and body stretching, struggling, growing, in an effort to understand and accomplish something they hadn’t encountered before.

Ultimately, the class even provided a springboard for a fresh movement phrase to teach my class, something unfamiliar to facilitate the dancers’ development in the learning and mine in the teaching. Perfect!

This practice of opening up to the unfamiliar can be daunting. Definitely so for the ego. Habits and patterns are, of course, useful in some ways. If we had to rethink how to clean the dishes or drive a car every time we set out to do those tasks, we would get little else done.

Yet, when we keep opening up to possibilities, expanding with new ways of thinking, moving, feeling, being, we cultivate vibrancy in ourselves and our lives. It’s energizing! And also, ideally, more fun.

And now, time for dinner! Have you tried anything new lately?

“Stop the words now. Open the window in the center of your chest and let the spirits fly in and out.“~Rumi