PranaBeing blog: Show up

This summer I spent 113 days riding a bicycle around the Rocky Mountains. And I do mean around. You can check out my Facebook feed to read about the journey. I spent the first five months of the year helping my mom through a severe health crisis.

Sometimes we have a choice as to whether to show up, and sometimes we don’t.

Sometimes we’re just in it.

The challenge we are facing might be the obvious result of our own choice—as in my case with the bike adventure—or it could be a culmination of unknown variables resulting in a dire and non-negotiable situation, as with my mom.

Some things I learned over the last few months:

• The choice in any given moment is to show up or give up.

• Even if we give up, the experience at hand will still play out (i.e. have its way with us). This means giving up does not guarantee escape.

• We don’t have to be perfect, happy, have our shit together, or be superlative in any way in order to show up.

• When we choose to show up, something happens. Life responds, inside and outside.

• We can give in and show up. Surrender is not the same as giving up. Sometimes giving in is the only way we can show up.

Showing up is the opposite of avoidance. With practice, tools, and support, showing up can teach us how to stop disassociating in the face of things that scare us. As we explore in the practice of asana (postures), showing up is coming to your edge. Breathing there. Not backing away; not pushing.

The breakthrough can only happen if you show up.

In my experience, when we show up, the breakthrough will happen. It’s only a matter of time.