Hindsight is 20/20

 

My nickname as a kid was “eagle eye” as I could spot things far off in the distance before other members of my family could see what I was looking at. I had 20/15 vision and, up until my 40’s, I didn’t need the support of prescription glasses to have clear vision. It’s no longer the case as I haven’t dodged the aging bullet and have a diminished visual acuity. The ability to see things clearly is a metaphor for navigating the events of our lives and can affect how we make decisions. And of course the saying “hindsight is 20/20” is well-known for our ability to look back and understand what has happened. At times, when the present moment is too close to our face, we are unable to make sense of what’s actually happening and things can appear fuzzy.

And so has been the case for this past year, 2020, the year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As we have just flipped the calendar into 2021, it’s a worthwhile exercise to reflect on the past 365 days and in doing so, perhaps keep our inner compass pointing in the direction of our metaphorical north star.

Yet before we move forward, it’s worthwhile to look back and feel into the pain of what we have lost, both as a collective and individually. This past week in the Beyond Asana class, we did the following exercise:

Step one is to write down what you have lost in 2020:

For me, the year began with finding ways to support fire relief for the Australian bushfires that ravaged the country and destroyed huge swaths of habitat and home. Our Desert Yoga Therapy community came together to raise money for the Victorian Wildlife Rescue as well as a GoFundMe campaign supporting a local farming community that had been bowled over by the flames. At the end of our fundraising day, “G’day and Namaste’”, we learned of the tragic death of Lakers Basketball legend, Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and others in a helicopter crash. After such an emotional and uplifting day of support, it felt like a gut-punch.

Then the pandemic arrived and in mid-March, over a weekend, I pivoted from in-person to online classes. It was a massive shift, wrought with anxiety and uncertainty. In reflection, I set the timetable three weeks out thinking that we’d all be back together sometime in April. And here we are, in January, still practicing live but online.

Other pain points have been not being able to see my Mother in person, dealing with a chronic back condition that I thought would sideline me from teaching, hearing about people getting sick and dying from the virus, canceling extensive travel plans and retreats, and still not having any idea as to a return to some semblance of “normal”.

Step two of this reflection process is to acknowledge the challenges and to look for all of the good stuff that’s happened as a result of a challenging year:

As I spent time thinking back, I came up with my second list: Improving my online teaching skills; building a robust online yoga library; enjoying my local environment of California beaches; nightly dancing with my husband; finding greater ease in letting things go; gratitude for many online moments of great depth and intimacy; undertaking four courses of study; and more home cooking.

The third and final step is to look at the good list and see what’s worth carrying forward into 2021:

Studies have shown that one of the best ways to change behavior and form a new habit is to couple it with an existing behavior, something referred to as “stacking”. I knew I wanted to build more spinal stability and was given a sequence of exercises meant to initially be undertaken twice a day. So instead of trying to find another open slot in my schedule, I stacked it into my well-established morning practice. Sandwiched between sitting in meditation I added a new pranayama (breath) practice before and undertook the stabilization program after. It truly has supported my adherence to something that has been deeply beneficial without feeling like it’s another thing on my to-do list.

So as we step into a fresh calendar year, instead of setting short-sighted resolutions, honor what has already blossomed amidst a year of unpredictability and various forms of grief. It’s a reminder that even in the darkest times, we have shining moments of seeing the light…20/20.