Baseball, Yoga and a Rental Car – Finding My Grateful Inner Child

I was asked the other day to define my true north, or true self.  What makes me happy and in the zone?  What moves me away from that zone and into internal conflict with my true self?  In 44 years it is something that I have never approached in this manner or given any thought to beyond ancillary consideration.

After writing a page or two of what I thought my strengths were and what I thought made me happy, I was asked to circle 4-5 keywords.  My keywords were quality, fulfillment, inner child, happiness and grateful.  I was then asked to write a sentence that began with “My true north is a….” and I added “Grateful Inner Child”.  It seems to fit, but requires a significant amount of pondering.

Over the next 9 days, I will be attending 8 baseball games in 7 different cities, both major and minor league.  This will start and end in Minneapolis, with about 1,200 miles of driving in between.  I will take the opportunity to also practice yoga in each city, eat the local cuisine and see the local sights.  What a great opportunity to ponder the grateful inner child and to further define the true self; combining two of my passions: baseball and yoga.  If you are interested in following this trip, sign yourself up.  I am going to have fun both doing it and writing about the experience.

You may be asking, what were you doing that led to this mental exercise?

I was asked this question in yoga teacher training.  You see, yoga is more than just asanas (poses) in a hot room (or cool room!).  It is everything; it hones me, it sharpens my senses, it pulls me away from the past, it keeps me from pondering the future, and in the ever precious moment, it is the touchpoint along life’s optimal experiences.  It is tequila.  So I figure that on this trip, I will examine this notion of my grateful inner child.  Examine if that is my true inner self, or just first blush at the definition.  I will have miles of cornfields, a plethora of America’s game, and some new yoga studios to explore along the way!  First stop, Minneapolis.  The Mariners are in town, as am I.