When I open discussion circles in my yoga and mindfulness class, we read through the Center for Courage and Renewal’s Touchstones. I ask the students to share out loud the one that feels most important to them. In one of my groups this semester, this came up again and again:

“Know that it’s possible to get what you need.”

There is a certain amount of trust asked of us when we practice mindfulness. Sometimes we can feel immediate effects of practice, but sometimes it takes time to unfold, and we will inevitably be affected in ways we can’t even imagine. We will have sits that feel unproductive and frustrating. We will make the same dumb mistakes again. We will, at times, wonder what all of this practice and commitment is for. We might believe we are “not good” at mindfulness or “can’t do it.”

To continue on, we are asked to trust that there will be fruits of our efforts, and even be open to the fact that they may not be what we seek. We are asked to believe that we can get what we need, even if in the moment it is a tiny invisible seed.