Consistency

How often do we decide that we want to commit to a new habit or make something a regular part of our lives, only to skip it as soon as the circumstances aren’t quite right?

We miss it once, then twice, and before we know it, we’ve completely lost sight of what we wanted in the first place.

This is why consistency is such an important skill to cultivate. But consistency doesn’t mean doing the same thing, in the same way, every single day. In fact, I think true consistency requires a huge amount of flexibility.

Life is happening around us at full speed, and the reality is that it doesn’t always leave us with the time, energy or headspace for everything we want to do. Sometimes, being consistent means adjusting our expectations and finding a way to honour our commitment within the circumstances that are actually here.

Perhaps ideally we would have 90 minutes every morning to sit, meditate, chant and move through a beautiful yoga practice. But most of us don’t have that luxury every day.

So what if, instead of skipping the practice altogether, we simply adapt?

Ten Sun Salutations might be all we have time for. Perhaps we sit for a five-minute meditation in the afternoon instead of twenty. Maybe the practice looks completely different from what we had imagined.

And that’s okay.

The importance lies in the regularity, not in the perfect execution. 

If your commitment is to spend more time with your children, some days you might have a whole afternoon filled with fun activities. Other days, you might only manage a five-minute conversation. Don’t dismiss those five minutes because you didn’t get the picture-perfect afternoon. Look them in the eyes. Be present. Let those five minutes matter.

If your commitment is to create more time for yourself, perhaps some days you have 30 minutes for a long bath, candles and your favourite playlist. Other days, you might only have time for a shower. Maybe you light one candle and allow yourself to enjoy the sensation of the warm water for those few minutes.

When we become too rigid with our commitments, the framework we create can eventually become a burden… something so difficult to maintain that we abandon it altogether.

Instead, we can practise meeting our lives and the circumstances  with curiosity and presence. We can honour our commitments while allowing them to change shape.

And this flexibility teaches us another incredibly important life skill: resilience.

How can we continue to show up when things don’t happen in the way we originally imagined? How can we meet what is actually here, rather than constantly comparing it to what we think should be happening?

On the mat, this might mean coming to practise even when we don't feel quite ready, or adapting our practice when our body feels different from yesterday. We roll up our sleeves, meet the conditions that are actually here, and begin.

Over time, that adaptability creates a certain robustness around our practice. And that robustness begins to flow into other areas of our lives.

The dance between fully honouring something and adjusting when needed is one we can practise every single day, on the mat and in life.

Viki xx