Clearing Out

I’m in the process of having a house built and with that comes an evaluation of the furniture and belongings I have now and what will be appropriate for the new house. Some things I’ll keep. Some things I need to buy, and other things I just need to clear out. I tend to be a nostalgic and sentimental person. When I go on vacations I’d much rather have memories, pictures, maybe an olive oil that I loved, or a piece of clothing or jewelry that is unique. I’m not a collector of knickknacks. I like items or memories that linger in my mind as well.

As I’ve been looking for new furniture and determining what will work in the new house I’ve also been getting rid of a few things. The other day I took some dining room chairs to Goodwill. These were chairs that I’d had with my ex-husband and my stepson‘s and they just weren’t going to be the right style for the new house. I have a lot of happy memories with my stepsons and even a few good ones with my ex-husband but there’s also was a lot of turmoil from that marriage. Dropping off those chairs and anticipating my new chairs felt like a clearing out in a way of some of the memories that weren’t positive and making room for some new memories that could be. That’s not to say that I looked at those chairs daily and felt sad but they did represent a time in my life and I’m moving onto another exciting chapter.

While I was running this morning it occurred to me that sometimes we also have to clear out not just items but thoughts we’ve been caring around. I see this often in the Pilates studio. A student who announces ‘I just can’t do planks’ or maybe it’s ‘I’m not very good at back extension’. That may have been true at one point but it doesn’t always have to be their truth. If we hold on to that memory or belief we don’t allow ourselves room for what could be in the future.

I’m in the midst of teacher training and I’ve made sure to tell my students that it’s important that they practice even the exercises that they don’t really like and that they struggle with. And it’s important that they teach those exercises, too. Because there’s generally a reason why we don’t like an exercise and that reason is usually because we’re not very good at it but that we also need it! I have found those challenging ones overtime become less challenging and sometimes even become new favorites when we conquer that challenge and see real progress. So until we can clear out that idea and make room for the possibility we will remain stuck.

i’ve had students tell me they don’t like Bohdi or Tower and then before long - it’s their favorite class. They kept trying and improving and now it feels good! They cleared room for the possibility of liking it and success and it happened!

Isn’t it time we did a little clearing out and open up to what the future may hold for us in our Pilates practice?