Expectations and Assumptions

      I love yoga and go every week that I can. Saturdays mornings are my favorite, because those are Karin's classes. Karin is an amazing yoga instructor...she just has a way of bringing the practice alive, of capturing your attention, of encouraging you to push yourself while teaching you to be accepting of your limitations. She is fun and intriguing and someone that I feel everyone should experience. I look forward to her classes and always leave feeling refreshed, hopeful, alive...the world is full of possibilities (and a strange urge to knit lots of fun things).
      This morning I went to yoga class as usual, ready to start my morning...and Karin wasn't there. Another yoga instructor was filling in for her, one I had never met before. And I started thinking that this wasn't going to be the same, that it wasn't going to be as good a class because it wasn't Karin...and felt a little bit disappointed. And then I realized what I was thinking. Here I was, already making assumptions about this instructor, already expecting the class to not be as enriching as usual. I was comparing the instructor to Karin, before she even started the class. I had expected the class to be Karin's and was allowing myself to become let down. Why? I consider myself open-minded, yet here I am NOT being open-minded. We do this all the time...we make assumptions, we pass judgements, we let expectations get the better of us. And most of the time we don't even realize it. We need to become more aware of ourselves and our thoughts, take the time to perhaps think again, and maybe look at things from a different perspective. This class WILL be different than my usual Saturday's, but that doesn't mean it won't be as enjoyable or as enlightening. I need to readjust my thinking and not jump to conclusions. Don't we all?