santosha.

Contentment. 

We hear it time and time again-everything happens for a reason. Well, sure but how does that help me now? Sure, its easy to be content when things are going well. All the pieces fit. But what about those hiccups? When things dont go quite as planned. The challenge is practicing santosha when things are a bit out of whack. Your day isnt going as planned..

Today I found myself pondering that very phrase. Everything for a reason.

You see.. Chris and I had planned to wake up early and head up to the South Platte area of the state for some early season rock climbing. We were planning to head to a place called Parachute Rock. Its in an area relatively higher in elevation than town, but the spot we wanted to head to is south facing, so with the sun blazing on us it would have been quite nice of a day.

It wasn't to be. The dreaded time change and our ridiculously late night made for a slow morning. And when we woke, the weather looked less than optimal. So we vegged. We lazed about. Took the dog to the park for a quick jaunt.

Chris gets a phone call from an unknown number and finds out that a group of his climbing buddies did, in fact, go to Parachute today. They are stuck. They took a vehicle up there that is not 4wd and has low clearance. There is still a LOT of snow up there. On a dirt road in the mountains that is NOT maintained in the winter. So off we go in Chris's Jeep to see if we can get them out of there, or at the very least, give them a ride back to town. We are going to Parachute after all.

The crew is home safe. The vehicle is still in its resting spot, way up in the mountains.

And so the train of thought ensues.. If we had made it there before they did (we would have), we would be stuck as well, their vehicle blocking the roadway to the climbing area. If we didn't make it there before them, we wouldn't have climbed anyway and spent the time trying in vain to rescue the poor car straining to push its way out of the snow. Serendipitous, no?

So what does this have to do with yoga?

Reminding me to be present. Live in the now. Stop dwelling on what could have been, or what I missed out on. Learning that the universe will give me all I need, and things somehow have a way of working themselves out to our benefit, even when we don't see the purpose. The missed alarm. The red light holding us up from our destination. The child that inexplicably gets sick right as we are about to walk out the door to some event. I was lamenting the fact that we didn't manage to get out of bed early enough. Lamenting the weather being gloomy. Instead of just understanding that I was not meant to be in the mountains today, I was wishing for a redo.

Santosha is the choice to be happy, not the choice to be happy unless something horrible or undesirable happens, but the choice to be happy no matter what happens. Because, after all,  it can be no other way than the way it is.