ABC's of Lost Things

Gavin,

I have been reflecting on the hard things. Reflecting on death and the idea that you will die, I will die, and everything you know will one day be gone. Depressing I know, but I wanted to share my thoughts - after all my job is to prepare you for life, but life is not made to be easy. It has triumphant joys and horrific lows. And you must learn to ride the wave of it all. I am a teacher that teaches yoga. Not just the physical movement (asana), but the real deal, the 8 limbs of yoga. The principles of nature, the cultivation of Self, breath (pranayam), the inward connection, the awareness and reflection, the opportunity to experience the whole of you and connect to that thing that is greater than you. This is... yoga.

ABC’s of Lost Things

In one lifetime we encounter millions of moments of loss.

Millions of moments of suffering, searching, anguishing over lost things.

Lost…

Agreements Beliefs, lost belongings Culture, lost community, lost creativity, lost control Determination, lost direction Emotions, lost energy, lost endurance Freedom, lost friendship, lost familiarity, lost faculties Lost... Grounding, lost glasses Humor, lost heroes, history, lost hope, loss of a home, lost help, lost homework Innocence, lost icebergs Joy, lost the ability to jump without peeing myself, lost jobs Kindness, lost keys Lost... Love, loss of life Memories, lost motivation, lost my mind, lost myself Nutrition, lost normalcy (hello pandemic) Organized thoughts, lost opportunity Pets, lost people, lost patience, lost packages, loss of physical abilities, lost password Questioning Relationships, lost reason, lost responsibility Stories, lost silence, lost seasons, lost sanity, a favorite tv show that ends, lost species, lost sock Lost... Time, lost temper, lost touch, loss of trust, lost things, lost treasure Uniqueness, lost umbrella Virginity, lost vacations Wealth, loss of wisdom, lost wallet, lost a war, lost my way X-excitement Youth Zealousness

Loss is unavoidable, human, endurable even when we feel it isn't.

Loss can be great or small. Finite or infinite. I wonder do the small losses help to prepare us for the big ones? Are these lost keys, lost socks the Universes subtle reminder that everything changes, that nothing stays the same, and that you can’t take it with you when you go? What about the overcoming fear of what we haven’t yet lost, yet know - one unknown day, we will lose? The blatant knowing that this very moment in time, as you read and I write this, is fleeting. The fear reflects back the idea that if we never knew loss and the feeling of loss, we would never know the goodness of being present in the moment. This moment, impermanent, bittersweet.

We grieve an alphabet of lost things. And we grieve them at our own rate, in our own ways.

Our grief is fluid, liquid, pouring into different aspects of our lives, filling our wounds, leaving battle scars behind.

One day might be easy, and then an aroma, a sound, a word, a memory unburies a grief that we felt was dormant.

As if being sucked back into a funnel - to the day the wound was fresh, we are reminded that this moment is all we have. That it will not last, time will carry on, whether we are ready or not. And all that we can do is cherish, trust, tend to what needs tending, and be willing to detach from our attachments of what was not ours to keep.

Always loving you here and beyond, Mom