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I know nothing about the nature or path of an avocado pit. I’ve tried to sprout them before but this is the first time it’s ever worked. And I’m pretty smitten about it because how darling is it?!

And, also because, I am not patient by build (neither by nature nor nurture). I have an intensely fast inner speed, I process information often too quickly, and I’m usually “done with it” before I’ve really even started.

But, over the years, as I’ve seen the damage this impatience causes and I have worked to cultivate and grow patience; to learn to slow down, to wait (without inner conflict), to be curious about operating at other speeds.

Yoga has helped. Meditation has, too. And doing my best to be a somewhat decent partner and parent has challenged me to work harder at it.

But you know what has helped the most? The continual, ongoing work of acceptance of what is. And never have there been more opportunities to practice than there are now in these intensely challenging conditions.

I have a love/hate relationship with the word “acceptance.” Conceptually, it feels passive and apathetic. But, experientially, it feels like the most truthful and real way to be in relationship to what is. This is why language can be problematic.

Acceptance does not mean I agree with or like “what is.” Acceptance doesn’t mean all of the sudden there’s no pain or sadness or difficulty. Acceptance is simply SEEING things as they are - seeing through the falseness to glimpse the truth. When we can see the “actual-ness” of what is, then we can be in relationship to it, we can see what’s really needed, how to step into and work with it. We can respond to it precisely because it can show us, it can inform us of exactly what’s needed, exactly what’s right in this moment.

Patience is watching, listening, and paying attention with nothing more than curiosity. Trusting that what needs to be seen will be seen, what needs to be heard will be heard, and that what action is needed will come from there.

This little sprout is a reminder of this: cultivate the conditions for growth and pay more attention to what life is telling you than what you are attempting to to tell yourself about life. 

* For anyone interested in purchasing any of my RECORDED yoga classes from mid-March through last week, please let me know. I will be editing them to be sold individually or as a package and will let you know the details if you'd like. 

, Ellie