The Post-It Epiphanies Experiment August 13, 2013

In May, I spoke at Jennifer Pastiloff’s yoga retreat in Ojai about epiphanies and Jen is big into using Post-its for different exercises. (Don’t you love Post-its? What did we do before they were invented? And btw, do you know the story of how they were invented? Uh-huh, an epiphany was involved and you can read it HERE.)

At the end of my talk and Q & A, we had everyone write down in one or two sentences one of their greatest epiphanies in life or an epiphany that they would like to have on a Post-it and then when we were finished, they could go and post it up for everyone to read (or they could keep it for themselves or throw it away — there’s never any pressure on this) — they’re all anonymous.

Below are some of them that were hanging on the kitchen wall of the retreat center that we all got to read. As you can see, anything goes (an epiphany can be a moment of realization or an experience or a person that gives you that epiphany moment) and all are powerful for different reasons. I loved this Post-it Epiphany Experiment and will probably use it moving forward or use varying form of it. (It reminds me of one of my favorite projects: PostSecret — on a much smaller, less artistic scale of course.)

And of course, you don’t have to attend a workshop or talk to write out your own epiphany for yourself. (I highly encourage you write out the whole story at some point!) But you can always just do what we did this day and take the one or two sentences that summarize and remind you of it and write it on an index card or post-it. Then hang it on your wall, put it on your desk, keep it in your favorite book, lay it in your bedside drawer, or place it anywhere you can glance at it from time to time to remind you of one of the times you were so inspired or touched that your life was changed, and you did something about it. It’s powerful, try it.

(Some of the post-it epiphanies have “subtitles” under them just because sometimes they’re a little hard to read.)

My Biggest Epiphany in Life: when I realized that I started having asthma as a kid because I wanted attention.

Epiphanies: 1.) To become a Yoga Teacher while in a cop job; 2.) To move to California (had this realization when I was 15) and moved here when I was 21.

Epiphany: Commit to the First Step. 🙂
(Epiphany for life came through running.)

My epiphany is that by mothering my son, I am mothering myself. (My mother died when I was 5.) This helped me relax into mothering in a way that feels natural to me.

Epiphany: Allowing myself to travel down the path of Yoga and all it has brought to my life.

Epiphany: Waiting for a guy with commitment issues and was reading an article by Carolyn Hax (Washington Post) that said “sometimes lack of an answer is the answer.” Later that night, that quote popped in my head and I realized that the fact that he didn’t know if he could or could not commit was my answer. Said “Peace Out!” to him!

Epiphany: A tragic event in my father’s life when he was 8 years old, had impacted him  and his family to such an extent that emotionally, life froze at age 8 for him. Fast forward to present time: he is 87 and a successful doctor, but my understanding of the event totally explained some of his behavior and has allowed me to forgive and accept him, and this has changed my life.

Please know that if you ever want to submit an epiphany to Epiphany Channel but want to leave yours anonymous — that’s perfectly fine, just let us know. And if you want to join us at another Jen Pastiloff Yoga Retreat in Ojai, you can do that in a few weeks over Labor Day! You can join us in Epiphany talks and post-it notes, Karaoke Yoga, excellent organic meals and optional cooking classes (see pics below), Manifesting Exercises, laughter, friendships, poolside lounging, wine and olive-oil tasting, good ole R&R and who knows what else you’ll manifest and have epiphanies about…