Stretching

So I went and did an awesome yoga class 2 days ago, and then yesterday was really sore - but that good sore where you feel like you have worked every muscle you didn't even know you had, giving your body a great big thank you for everything it does for you.  All that physical stretching has me thinking about the stretching we do as individuals.
We all have our comfort zone, and stretching beyond it - like the sore muscles, can make us quite uncomfortable -  but is well worth it in the end.  I have been trying hard to stretch myself.  To talk to new people, to think outside myself and not just focus on my wants and needs, but on others.  Some days it feels like I just do the same thing every day- work, clean house, go to bed, wake up do it all again - am I really growing or stretching?
Yesterday at work one of my colleagues looked over (kind of out of nowhere) and said - Nisha you're sure opening up, you're not as quiet as you were when you first got here.  We never know how other people view us - but at least in this instance I felt like her statement was a good thing, and indication that I was indeed stretching beyond myself if someone else had noticed.
I hope my kids will see that stretching is a good thing - we miss out on opportunities to learn and grow from other people when we close ourselves off, but for some of us it is easier to live in our own heads than open up.  I often wonder why that is.  I honestly can't say I have had a lot of negative experience when I open up.  I get so nervous to speak my thoughts sometimes, but I really haven't had anybody make me feel bad for my thoughts, sometimes it's funny because if I were to analyze it - what am I nervous about - nothing is going to happen to me if I say hi, share a story, it's really some internal road block - and yet no matter how much I analyze it, the feeling is still there: what do I say, what do I do, I feel nervous/uncomfortable.
So in the vein of stretching: I have joined the local chapter of days for girls (anyone interested in donating material, kits, money or making their own chapter go online and check it out); I went to a refugee meeting to see about helping those that are in need, I went to a new yoga class, and I invited a family over for a game night that I don't usually hang out with --- would you know not one of those had a bad outcome, in fact the women I met with days of girls are super excited to have a new member, the refugee committee is glad for another volunteer and I feel enriched learning about another culture, I had a super fun time at yoga and met some awesome women, and I had a great time at the game night.  Looking back it really doesn't make sense to stay in my quiet comfort zone as I am neither enriching others or enriched myself, and yet that same old ache is there when I stretch - so funny.
So anyway - here's to hoping you're all stretching a little - but like yoga, for some of us the poses just come natural - we can stretch so far we have to find ways to take that stretch a little deeper and for others of us we are so tight, that even a little movement outside of our normal posture feels uncomfortable.  The depth of stretching is different for us all - but benefits everyone when we are able to push ourselves and dig a little deeper.

spring has sprung!!

Well it seems like it is taking forever for spring to get here, but things have finally started to blossom and bloom.  I planted seeds - after reading in Alma about faith, I was using it as an object lesson with the kids - then the weather turned way cold and all the seedlings died.  I have not had seeds die in - well I don't think I ever had- so I had to change my object lesson from the positive - feed your testimony with light and your faith will grow to a tree - to look what happens when you feel the spirit and then don't follow it.  So now I have replanted my seeds and hopefully - object lesson aside - they will grow again.  We did have some warm weather over spring break and the kids got the telescope out a couple nights in a row.  Kyler placed his phone next to the eyepiece and shot this picture - pretty cool right.  It's awesome to see the craters on the moon.

Other things - Adderly has been doing volleyball - McKye played volleyball in gym and he wants to play recreational - I would like to join a league that plays on the beach in the summer.

We're settling in to spring - but I am hoping summer comes a little faster.  Seeing as the kids have school all the way into the end of June I guess it's good it's not too warm or we would all have spring fever and not want to focus on school.

Today being mother's day the kids made me the traditional breakfast in bed and they gave me a yoga ma6 carrier, I am so excited.  I need to get back into a few of my hobbies now that we have settled in here.  The kids are getting back into activities, and I am ready as well.

No major thought provoking ideas today just within everyone a happy Mother's day with a little peace and quiet.