Of all of the first day pics, this one…. best represents where I was. In the back of the studio, with my backpack – half in travel clothes / half in new yoga top… tired and curious, excited and ready… rings off, hat off, expectations totally off.

Travel is a funny thing to me, you see. You open your suitcase or unpack your intentionally packed backpack and see what was “good enough” or “your favorite this” or what *seemed right* for the time you have immediately ahead of you.

Arriving in St. Croix with only my backpack allowed me to see this quite clearly.

To not have what I had packed with such great attention and detail, specifically the gifts we put together for you each made the anticipation of whether or not we chose wisely completely irrelevant.

What if we lived like that?

I laid there on the mat – having made peace with the idea maybe I wouldn’t get my luggage this weekend – and became excited for the unfolding of seeking out what I needed when the need arose.

I laid there on the mat – feeling the impulse of did I deliver or disappoint disappear. It was a brief glimpse of a new freedom I am so curious to fully taste.

So here we are, stumbling upon our first journal prompt & side quest...

In the past 24 hours, when was something different than you expected?

What was the expectation?

And what if that expectation did not exist at all?

Side Quest: Go to Rouge Café (you have a coupon in your bag) and find a seat on the couch or at a little table. Plant your feet, be fully present, and see if you can breathe in with no thought – no expectation – unwind anything that might still be wrapped in your mind. See if you get a word or an insight or a wink or a nod. Take a selfie or snap a pic, tag @mydearmod or @om_stl Bonus points if you get an iced pistachio latte (AMAZING)