Be Brave

The hidden wishes behind our negative thoughts.

Watching old episodes of Jane the Virgin, I’m reminded of this wonderfully vulnerable moment.

JANE: …Well it depends. Am I being practical or brave?

RAFAEL: Practical.

JANE: I’m a teacher.

RAFAEL: Brave.

JANE: I’m a writer. Oh, wow, I’ve never said that out loud before.

I’m not sure how many moments we get like this in our life. Moments where our biggest wishes bubble up, maybe even surprising us. But I do know there are plenty of moments - many each day in fact - where our small wishes bubble up.

Unlike Jane (who is staring into the eyes of Mr.Dreamy) our small bubble-up wishes don’t often feel like ah-ha moments. Instead, they can feel more like a twinge of jealousy or a bit of self-disappointment. “I’ll just browse on my phone until the meeting starts,” may actually be “I wish I had more friends at work. “That family is so loud,” may actually be “I wish my family laughed like that”.

Even though our small wishes don’t feel like big ah-ha movie-moments, it doesn’t make them any less important. In fact, yoga argues that our small, everyday wishes require just as much bravery as the big ones. Yoga even has a name for it: Ahimsa. Ahimsa encourages us to sit back and really ask ourselves if a small wish lays under the surface of that little negative thought. That takes bravery.

What if we spent a week consciously on the lookout for our small, bubble-up wishes? What if we were brave enough to do a little something about each one? A friendly wave and a saved seat at a meeting. Finding a funny video to share with family.

What invisible wishes can we make visible this week? Let’s be brave enough to look.

Until next time,

Laura