Safety

This weekend found me back in a familiar circle. Leading yoga teachers in training, a values workshop with faces both new and known. My dear friend leading us through the exercise of circling what matters most on page.

I've done this before. As expected, my paper would end up looking like a confetti explosion of circled words. Compassion. Growth. Connection. Equality. Authenticity. Hope. Simplicity. Peace. Dozens of values that felt like are me and what I would like to see in others. What I often see in those in my circle.

But this time was different.

After gentle guidance and perhaps a bit more life honesty between then and now, I found myself drawn to just two words on that crowded page: contentment and wealth. 

Wealth surprised me. Not because I don't value financial security – I do. But because I finally understood what it really means to me. It's not about luxury or excess. It's about abundance that creates safety. It's about responsibility with resources. Responsibility with my time. Trusting that there is enough. For me, for my family, for tomorrow.

And contentment? Well, I think they're all connected in ways I'm still uncovering.

I find my contentment in the quiet moments at home. When all four of us are together, and I catch everyone laughing or just being well. The days when nobody is rushing anywhere, when we're simply existing in the same space. Contentment arrives in morning coffee with our dogs curled nearby. In the simple abundance of having a safe place where we can all breathe.

The beauty in finding these values wasn't in their complexity but in their simplicity. How different from previous workshops where I circled everything I have become or witnessed that inspired me. I thought then I would never be able to pair down to just two values. But these values hold everything. Safety, security, peace, simplicity.

Perhaps this is what growth actually looks like – not adding more to our plates or our values list, but recognizing what has been there all along, quietly sustaining us.

What resonates from within isn't always what we expect or what we've been told should matter. Sometimes it's as simple as the peaceful feeling of enough-ness. Of safety. Of home.

Life isn't often easy. But in finding what truly resonates – not what we think should resonate – there is a different kind of peace.