A challenge in a time of darkness

Friday’s tragedy in Connecticut has the Internet and the airwaves abuzz with opinions on gun control, health care, politics and religion. I turned on the news for a brief moment, then quickly turned it back off when I saw that the media was sensationalizing the story and exploiting the families of the victims.  With a degree in PR, yes, I know that the public tends to gravitate towards stories and images that shock and horrify, but as a mother, I find myself instead craving words of warmth, love and hope.

My friend Lyndsay posted something on her Facebook page on Friday that resonated with me, and I couldn’t get it out of my head all weekend: “The best response to hate and hurt is more love and gratitude.”  There is so much wrong in the world that no one mortal person has the capability to right it all.  There is no magic switch we can flip to take away all the pain.  However, each of us has a light within us that we are capable of shining and potentially lighting the path for someone else.  One on one, we can work magic.  Sometimes all a person needs is a smile, a word of encouragement or a hug to make their situation just a teensy bit better.

For this reason, and many, many reasons, I am so looking forward to my upcoming journey to become a yoga teacher.  Yoga generates peace, warmth, hope, gratitude and confidence, and my hope is that I can share one (or all!) of those gifts with others on the mat to make their experiences off the mat just a little bit better.  My hope is that I can shine a little light on someone’s world.

I’m not saying yoga is the remedy for all that’s wrong in the world, not by a landslide. I’m just saying that by making a difference in ONE person’s life, yogis make a difference in MANY people’s lives because that one person will leave his or her practice with a renewed attitude that positively affects each person he or she comes in contact with.  Could yoga have saved the children and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary? No. Could yoga potentially help heal some of the grieving parents, classmates, colleagues and friends? Possibly.  I challenge each of you to find a way to shine a little light on someone else today, whether on or off the mat.  Because you never know when someone might be feeling like they are all alone in the dark.