Clamming in the Peconic Bay any time of the year makes my heart sing (bundled up and in waders here).
I recently attended the preview workshop for an upcoming life coaching skills course at the Open Center in Midtown Manhattan. As a side note, I’m tremendously excited to have since enrolled in the nine-month certification program, which begins in early March. The event was a full house with more than 40 people wanting to learn more about life coaching and what the process is to become one.
At the beginning of the session, we were asked to do the following icebreaker: Go around the room, introduce yourself, and ask as many people as possible, “What makes your heart sing?” Responses were to be limited to one thing. You could say the same response each time or alter it. Initially, one could sense hesitancy in the room. After all, it was quite an intimate and slightly silly sounding question to ask a complete stranger. As we got started, however, any awkwardness dissipated and enthusiasm mounted.
It was a delight to go around the room at random. At first, my responses were quite serious and dealt with bigger life picture. My answers included: having purpose in my work, feeling security and trust within myself and loving relationships, exercising my greater potential. As time passed, however, my heavier answers and almost everyone else’s started to take on a lighter feeling. “What makes your heart sing?” “Cooking a great meal.” “Watching the World Cup.” “Eating chocolate mousse.” “Ice skating.” The replies also became increasingly specific and attainable, participants more jovial.
While it’s important to focus on the big picture, it’s equally as important to acknowledge the small details that construct everyday life and our architectural power in shaping them. After all, the cumulative power of small things can have unparalleled strength. Vision is essential, but must be reinforced with the practice of presence. Otherwise, what we think we need can easily eclipse our ability to truly see what we already have, and that is where our foundation lays.
So, today, ask yourself what makes your heart sing? What motivates you? What brings you immense happiness? Honor the smallest answer as an essential building block of the bigger picture. Then, go and do or actively appreciate at least one of these things that bring you warmth.
Enjoy!
Yoga brings stability and calm into every discipline of Sophie Herbert's life. She is an alignment focused yoga teacher (and perpetual student) and a Whole Living contributing editor. She graduated from the Cooper Union School of Art, where she nurtured her passion for documentary photography. It was during this time that she began her disciplined and diverse study of yoga in New York, Paris, and India.
Sophie has lived, studied, and volunteered extensively in India. She feels grateful to still visit and work regularly with the Deenabandhu Children's Home in Chamarajanagar, Karnataka. In November of 2010, she became an ambassador for Yoga Gives Back www.yogagivesback.org, a grass-roots nonprofit that helps destitute women and girls in India build more sustainable lives. Sophie has also shared her knowledge of yoga at the Prana Yoga Center in Astana, Kazakhstan. Currently, she teaches at the Park Slope Yoga Center www.parkslopeyoga.com in Brooklyn and privately. Sophie is also an avid cook.
