DEGRUMPIFICATION

Yesterday morning after my yoga practice I was feeling pretty fine until I sauntered into the den to find a message on my answering machine and the decline began.

A client was apologizing for the late notice. He’d have to cancel his lomi session. He’d tried to contact me the night before by e-mail but was having computer problems and couldn’t reach me. I hoped all was well with him and appreciated his consideration but none the less I was going to miss our session.

As I drew a line across his appointment I was reminded by another line drawn across my 5:00 appointment that just the night before another “regular” client’s family had to cancel their son's session due to changes in caregivers. I enjoy seeing this developmentally challenged young man and would miss his presence too and wished them all well with their transition.

So, within the blink of an eye the plans for my day were turned upside down. Now, I hate routine, but surprisingly once a schedule for a day has been planned I get “psyched up” to work with my clients and I do find it difficult to “shake it off”.

This is one of the challenges of my line of work and I chided myself, “honey, if you can’t adapt to change you are in the wrong business!” But despite my little pep talk I still felt the emptiness of being in limbo.

And, with all this space in my mind thoughts of another long time client drifted in. Just last weekend he e-mailed me stating that due to the economic climate his family is moving to another locale so he’ll only occasionally be able to come for private yoga sessions. Over the 12 years he has been studying with me on a regular basis. He has formed a solid commitment to yoga and has developed a body awareness we only dreamed of in the beginning. I know he will be able to continue his practice on his own and for this I am very grateful but I felt sad about how the state of the economy is affecting people and their morale.

By now I was feeling not only an emptiness, but a sadness and downright grumpy.

And then to top it off my sister-in-law sends me one of those e-mails. You know the ones – “YOU ARE ONE OF THE SWEETEST PEOPLE I KNOW…send this to 1,000 people in the next 3 minutes or…yada yada yada. (See I told you I was grumpy!) I sure as H wasn’t feeling SWEET! But I sent it back to her anyway and thanked her for the thought and in the process realized that this synchronistic message was yelling at me, “SNAP OUT OF IT! All is not lost. The sun is shining AND now you have a day off. How often does that happen?”

So, though it would be an opportune time for me to prepare my books for my tax return, with the sincerity of Scarlett O’Hara in GONE WITH THE WIND I say, “I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.” call my massage therapist sister and we go for brisk walk.

After letting me rant on she agreed that I did seem grumpy and, she was a tad quick to add, sarcastic. “You need to be degrumpified.”

Her listening ear; my ankles burning as we tore up the pavement; the sun glistening off the lake and warming my skin; the little dog decked out in a home made crash helmet riding in the bicycle basket; and - “to complete the degrumpification process” - being treated to coffee all indeed did work their degrumpifying magic on me.

And, then re-inspired I could honestly declare, “After all…tomorrow is another day!”