What Do You Do When The Power Goes Out?

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Tessa Todd Morgan

What do you do when the power goes out?

I’ve been without power since yesterday around 4:30 PM. I kept thinking it would come back on, but it hasn’t.

The storms in Texas have caused hundreds of thousands of people to be without power the past few days and it sounds like 100,000 homes are out just in the area I live in alone, in Dallas.

Driving around to try and catch a yoga class last night seemed impossible. And actually it was because I didn’t make it in time. Most of the stoplights were out. I had people jet out in front of me running these imaginary stoplights and it seemed that frustrated people were all around. Once I made it to where I wanted to go, I couldn’t even find a parking place because the shopping center was so packed with people circling around three floors of a parking garage to find a space, so I just left and went to eat dinner instead.

It took my boyfriend 3 hours to get home last night and it took my sister an hour and 1/2 to drive a mile and 1/2. She had her 2-year-old little girl in the car and had to get creative on how to entertain her. She picked up dinner in the car and just improvised with what was in front of her until she got home. Smart woman 🙂

It was hot last night and a little hard to sleep, but it made me think about all of the things that we take for granted and it made my gratefulness journal easy to write in this morning. I am grateful that I have a comfortable bed to sleep in and that I can find rest. I am grateful that I have electricity (normally ;). I am grateful that I have things that keep me warm and cool me off when I sleep. I am grateful that we have the ability to switch a switch on the wall and can automatically see much better. It’s amazing how even after hours of walking around with a flashlight and seeing by candlelight, you still switch it on out of habit over and over again. It made me laugh each time.

We can complain, get worked up in traffic, yell, scream and get frustrated and feel like crap or we can decide to enjoy the silence when lying in bed thinking about what it was like for people back in the day when they had no electricity and count all the things we have to be grateful for and look forward to when we have it again. I’m choosing the latter.

So, as I sit here on a hard bench in a restaurant in a tiny spot where I could find an outlet to charge my phone, be on my computer and get wifi, I’m grateful that I could find a place to get some work done. I’m also choosing to find things I can appreciate about the others surrounding me that our in the same situation I am after catching myself from starting to be annoyed that their voices were too loud and annoying because they were so close to me 🙂 I promise life is much more fun this way.

What can you choose to be grateful for despite your circumstances today?

How To Leave Work Behind This Holiday Season

Posted on December 20, 2013 by Tessa Todd Morgan

Last night, during a yoga class I was taking, I was reminded of a blog I wrote last year for the Institute for Health and Human Potential. Getting prepared for the holidays can be such a stressful time trying to figure out how to get all of your work done before you leave the office and how to set yourself up to not be really stressed when you return.

You can read the article with my suggestions of how to set yourself up for the holidays here: How to leave work behind this holiday season

With all of the hustle and bustle, sometimes we just need to take time to slow down. We’re going to get done what we are going to get done, but the key is to try and stay as calm as we can through the whole experience and stay present and enjoy ourselves and this season with friends and family.

My yoga instructor last night was having us inhale and say the word “slow” to ourselves and exhale and say the word “down” to ourselves. I thought that was another helpful tip for the holidays.

Here’s wishing you all a safe, peaceful, loving and joyful holiday season and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Until next year…

I Guess I Get Embarrassed When I Cry Sometimes…

Posted on October 11, 2013 by Tessa Todd Morgan

I guess I get embarrassed when I cry sometimes. At least I did this morning.

I’ve been thinking alot about the way that we can judge ourselves in certain situations. And sometimes we can be our own worst critic. We’re not good enough, we could have done something better, we’re not in good enough shape, we’re weak, we’re not smart enough…and the list could go on and on.

I read an article last week about how meditating and yoga can be opportunities to observe ourselves without judgment. We have an opportunity in a yoga class or while meditating to pay attention to our thoughts and not judge them.

What if when you are in a yoga class and your body starts shaking uncontrollably for no reason that you could just be with it vs. thinking about how weak you might be in that moment or how out of shape you think you are?

I was meditating tonight and purposely didn’t judge myself when my mind wandered. I just went back to thinking about my breath and didn’t allow myself to go to the judgments of thinking that I could be a better meditator if my mind didn’t wander so much.

I typically don’t get embarrassed when I cry. I think crying can be a beautiful release and for me it usually seems like I’m one step closer to getting to where I want to be after it happens. It’s a way to see areas that might need our focus and possible changes we need to make or things we can choose to work on if we think they are important enough.

I cried this morning and I was very aware at how embarrassed I was and how stupid I felt about why I was crying. Part of it was because I was crying in front of someone that I care deeply about and that I care what they think about me.

The more embarrassed that I got, the more frustrated I became and I even started to become angry at myself.

This afternoon when I had time to sit and be quiet and still with myself and my thoughts, I decided to cut myself some slack and just realize that I was feeling exactly what I was feeling and that was exactly what I needed to feel at that moment and that is totally fine.

The more I judged myself this morning, the more frustrated I became and I began to dwell on something that wasn’t even actually reality. Had I allowed myself to just feel what I was feeling and express it without judgment, the tears would have stopped sooner and I would have been alot more loving towards myself and the other person involved in the conversation.

What is judging yourself costing you? Communication? Honesty? Joy? Peace? Love? Living your life to your fullest potential?

I encourage you to challenge yourself and try and listen to and observe yourself without judgment and be ok with what you are feeling as you feel it. Observe it, take action or decide not take action based on that information and then let it pass. I think you will be surprised at what can open up for you.

I hope you all experience some form of joy, peace and love in the next few days to come.

“The highest form of human intelligence is to observe yourself without judgment.” – Krishnamurti