Be Lazy About It

As many of my yoga students know, I am a follower of Danielle LaPorte’s Desire Map techniques. “Desire mapping” encourages us to toss out our goals and instead write down our Core Desired Feelings (CDFs) for the week. By focusing on how we want to feel, we are targeting the “Why?” behind our ambitions and getting to the core of what inspires us. Makes sense, right? But this week, in addition to writing down my CDFs, something prompted me to write down a declaration that I don’t think I’ve ever written before:

“I give myself permission to be lazy.”

Those seven magical words let me put aside my long laundry list of To-Do’s and just BE. Ironically, I found myself being more productive—cleaning out my closet, covering up my koi pond for the winter—by doing the things I wanted to do, not felt forced to do.

As we look ahead to tomorrow’s full moon in Taurus, Jessica Shepard reminds us to abandon the pressure we put on ourselves and relax into the changing season. This time, being “lazy” is valuable and necessary.

“When I’m experiencing mental anguish, when frustration and anger threaten to send the rest of my life spiraling, I slow down. I get still. I listen to the gentle tumble of the clothes in the dryer, the soft breath of my sleeping puppy laying next to me….or I take a walk. From the trees turning colors outside my window to the stillness of silence surrounding, I ground myself in the gentle steadiness and comforts of this earthly life. These are the things that transport me from ground zero back to solid ground. Taurus Full Moon invites us to sit in a forest, by a stream, next to a tree or on a cushion and discover our solid ground again. We don’t have to do much. We can be lazy about it.”