What You Focus on Grows

My yoga teacher says the same thing at the end of every

class every Monday night at 9 pm. After we’ve all lay prone in the dark with our hands at our sides for
several minutes, she has us sit up in the lotus position and she reminds us “Take yoga with you this
week, don’t leave it here in class. Especially when you feel stressed, remember
your posture and your breathing.” That’s good advice. Every week I pledge to try to stand and sit
up straight instead of my usual shuffling and slumping around.  Then she begins meddling a little. “Remember
to stay focused on the positive. Remember that what you focus on grows.”

This yogic advice reminds me of Philippians 4:8,9 “Whatever is true, honorable, just, pure,
pleasing, commendable, excellent, worthy of praise, think on these things.” I
hear her say it every week, but last week, for some reason, the truth of what
she was saying struck home. A person can take only so many years of being
negative before you discover it’s tiring and not very productive. Nor is it
very original. Her advice, “What you focus on grows,” reminds me of mobile
devices where, with the motion of thumb and forefinger, you can shrink an image
or paragraph, or you can expand it. We have the same power mentally if we
would use it. My yoga teacher is absolutely right. What you focus on grows.