the network
Gratitude journals may seem cliché in today's world, often used as a marketing ploy by card companies and businesses. However, they still hold inherent value as simple yet effective prompts for genuine reflection on what one is grateful for.
This year, I reflected on the factors that have led me to where I am today, tracing the butterfly effect of my life's journey.
In my early 20s, I met a teacher who saw my potential and encouraged me to pursue training, ultimately becoming my mentor. This mentorship marked the beginning of my career journey. Along the way, numerous teachers, students, clients, friends, and even chance encounters provided guidance and steered me in different directions, contributing to my growth. It's been a web of mentors and pivotal moments that have fostered learning and inspiration in my life.
When I visit certain places, I make time to meet with my mentors, reuniting and reconnecting along our life paths. These meetings are like channels converging at nodes, shared and nurtured together. Yoga Soup is a significant node for me—a hub with many channels that influence numerous lives. Within this hub, there are micro-nodes—a student who gifted me a life-changing book, another who offered timely wisdom.
Moving to Austin allowed me to connect my web to new nodes in the local community, each interaction contributing to growth and connection.
These networks, both micro and macro, reflect the way life unfolds on different scales:
Micro: In your brain, axons transmit signals between neurons, while dendrites, like nodes, receive and process these signals before passing them on.
Macro: We travel on airplanes all over the world, landing at major hubs, and dispersing to our next destinations.
What nodes do you identify when looking back on your own life? This reflection reveals evidence of our interconnectedness. Even in moments of solitude, we are never truly alone; each of us is part of a web of connections.
We all play essential roles in the intricate web of our interconnected relationships and experiences. By remaining mindful of this, we can express gratitude for the support we've received and recognize our capacity to support others—within our immediate lives, broader networks, and in the world.
