What is your comfort zone? I have spent years in a lively and lovely comfort zone. 

With my feet propped up, reading to learn more about a need of the day and leaning into what comes next. 

I also realize that walking alongside each of these were times when I could find discomfort as I also saw myself standing up to do more than I thought possible. 

What did this look like over the years? 

Propping up my feet could look like I was taking time out from a checklist of things to do, or it could be making time to act on one or two things that became second nature to me. 

Meditating is one of those things that became a part of me.

Meditating is one of those things that became a part of me.

It became part of how my comfort zone came to show that it could become a way of every moment in my day. 

There were three steps I took to bring this part of me forward. 

First, I learned to calm my breath. 

Breathing in then breathing out with consistency as the world around me swirled and whirled. 

I found that breathing was key to meditation while I ran the roads in the city. 

Then, taking a breath was what helped me create a walking meditation as I flowed in and out of medical appointments with a small one as he grew. 

As he grew and the medical world became more complex as our son recovered from his first illness and the walking meditation became a part of my breath. 

Finally, I found that meditation is in each moment. 

Even when standing in place with my feet planted and next steps tentatively taken. 

Taking a step seemed to take me back to my first calm breath and the three steps would begin again. 

This is how walking meditation began and continues.

This is how walking meditation began and continues for me. 

This second nature stays with me now.

Regardless of how uncomfortable I am as our son is no longer with us. 

Alongside the discomfort that also props me up when deep moments of learning come to show me what I can do next. 

With the grief that is here, ongoing, tentatively showing me what can happen with love, missing and resilient joy.  

Resilient joy is now not something I create with a checklist in front of me. 

It is something created and found with small glimmers of everyday moments. 

When I take time to look up to see clouds float over a mountain, blue sky with bright white light just after sunrise, or one bird that stops to say hello in the morning. 

Moments that come through when I’m in a zone of learning, leaning in with curiosity.

Moments that come through when I’m in a zone of learning, leaning in with curiosity and possibility. 

Could it also be a time learning the power of yet? 

When I don’t know how to do something then that is a time to say I can learn more knowing that there is still time. 

That I am resilient, can embrace challenges and persist. 

Doing this with a walking meditation is what I now know can bring more to a comfort zone. 

It is also what I am doing now as I remember that strength is built in more ways than physically.

Being strong allows me to be strong physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Amazingly and joyfully, this all has brought me to a place where I am living with daily walking meditation in a comfort zone. 

A zone that also allows me to walk through whatever comes next. 

May you also find your space and place with resilient joy and strength.

Think about the best animal on the merry go round. 

I had two of them when I was kid, and it was a race to get to them at the amusement park. 

First, was the horse and then it was the lion. 

There had to be two in case there were long lines of kids racing to get on board with me.

As I got older and had a young child of my own, I was also looking at how to get the animal that he liked. 

We were now on the lookout for a horse that went up and down at times and then one that stayed in place at other times. 

Then there were the years when the lion won out because it was a marvelous sign with dad. 

Imagine with me a big, clawed hand going over your head with a ferocious roar at the same time. 

It was time to bring on the dancing as the music began.

Joy came at the same time as we knew it was time to bring on the dancing as the music began.

The bright lights and laughter came in bold bounty each time.  

In between these two experiences was another one for me as a young teenager that brings more smiles. 

It has to do with the song Bring On the Dancing Horses by Echo & The Bunnymen. 

This one came to me at the same time as a few friends were thinking about the next year and a dance team in our school. 

These friends were ones who had been in classes for most of their lives so were well prepared to try out for the team. 

I had been in a class as a young child to shuffle step.

I had been in a class as a young child to learn how to shuffle step and do a heel toe, heel toe with both feet.

That’s it! 

Somehow it became an idea for me to try out for the dance team, as well.

I can’t for the life of me remember why that seemed like a good thing to do and yet I had agreed, so the choreography began. 

Here’s what I remember. 

I would count to 8 over and over again to create steps to bring on the dancing.

There were jumps, turns and kicks among the repeating steps for a certain number of minutes. 

Did the time go by quickly or take an eternity as I completed my routine? 

Truthfully, I don’t remember.

I do remember that I smiled during the tryout and then waited for the results to find out who was chosen to dance together. 

The smiles continue now as I somehow have a memory of knowing that I was the least likely to be chosen and yet I had done what I set out to do. 

Tryouts were about putting in the work, standing up in front of a group and then knowing I had done it. 

The results came in a phone call, and I was indeed not chosen for the team. 

It is with a shake of my head that I sit with what that led me to next. 

The latter part of my years in school brought other times when I needed to stand in places on my own. 

Knowing that I had been able to bring on the dancing this time.

Knowing that I had been able to bring on the dancing this one time helped me know that I could do two other things.

I know that trying things that I don’t know how to do yet is what can become powerful. 

In life I have chosen to do that many times for me and with others around me. 

Being able to step into the unknown, put in the time, the work and then stand in front of a group to share has continued to this day. 

The power of yet has been shared by Carol Dweck many times. I have come to now know that this may have been part of what I learned when I was in school.

Learning more about what I can do when I keep learning has become a quest. 

This has included learning more about yoga and a lion pose. 

When our son was just a few weeks old I found that I could use many poses from yoga to become more flexible, feel rested and have fun. 

The lion pose includes stretching your facial muscles, opening your chest wide and reducing your emotional stress and building confidence. 

I learned how to bring on the dancing with this pose.

My friends, I learned how to bring on the dancing with this pose.

It did bring an opening to my chest that created more space to make room for another step into the next unknown. 

I put in more time, lots of work and then stood up in front of another group to share what I had learned as I was next to either a dancing horse or lion. 

The power of yet will grow as I find new friends along with the lifelong group that is with me now. 

Two steps with those who have felt this way while dancing 8 beats at a time. 

Find your favorite animal and dance with me.