March Intention: Cause & Effect - By: Erin Cummings
Do you ever stand somewhere and think “how did I get here?”
We all know every action has a reaction, and every cause has an effect. The bigger question is:
Are you setting your life up so that each cause has an effect of redirecting you back to joy?
Though cause and effect seems like a super simple mathematical life equation it’s more like a dance that you have to learn over and over again because you keep forgetting the routine. Cause and effect is so much bigger than running down the stairs in socks that will make you slip and fall. What it actually is: cause - running down the stairs in socks, effect: falling and injuring you so that you can’t [insert something here like do yoga, go running, play soccer with your kid, or even sit comfortably for the next 3 days.] The effect isn’t actually the fall, it’s bigger than that.
Where I find cause and effect really shows up is in our daily habits and thought patterns. Think about a time you drove somewhere and by the time you got there, you couldn’t remember a single thing along that drive, or maybe you’ve been trying to create a new habit and you are having a hell of a time getting that new habit to catch on. Swing the other way, maybe there is something you do all the time and people ask you how, and you aren’t really sure, it’s just that one day you did it or maybe you can’t really place how you figured that thing out, but you did!
Setting a vision for your life gives you a compass of where to go and what to do. Instead of thinking about it like consequences, thing about your action is cause and the effect is redirecting yourself to joy.
Let’s start with something easy, you want to start a yoga practice. There is a couple different cause/effect scenarios:
- You can’t find the time. OR: The time you keep trying doesn’t actually work with your schedule. Is it that you don’t have the time or you are trying to create a habit at the wrong time and it’s stressing you out more?
- You are trying to recreate an in-studio experience at home. Unless you bring everyone from class to your house, it won’t be the same. Let me just say that again it WON’T be the same. In order to have the best home yoga experience YOU have to create the effect. Find a space, turn on a playlist, wear your favorite pants, light a candle, and start with a short class.
- Your new yoga practice started something bigger: you’re eating more mindfully, you’re screaming at your kids less, you’re putting up your laundry (these are just my list, but you might find some similarities). Needless to say the cause was yoga, but the effect was a profound change or even changes.
Just like it is time for us millennials to update our side parts, it’s time for us to update our thought patterns and view points. With using “Redirect To Joy” as the effect, you might end up switching your cause to no longer aimlessly arrive to wherever you are. You will get there with power, confidence, determination, and success because YOU set it up that way, and you’re going to have to do the dance of practicing it over and over and over again.
