by Anitra Lahiri, RYT-500
You have sunk into bed under a weighted quilt of guilt for mistakes, transgressions, imperfections, and impurities. You have awakened to a dawn of inner judgments
of what you should or should not have thought or said or done — the unkind, untrue, unwise words that gushed from your lips and the regretful, remorseful, distasteful actions that swept you under. Hamlet’s Hebron trickling into River Avon — sometimes in silent drops, other times in resounding torrents. A quiet haunting that your falls are worse than anyone else’s.
Hear me loud and clear now, dear reader:
The weighted blanket is yours to remove, and the inner judgments are yours to banish.
You have not failed your creator, you have not failed the nameless masses, and you have not failed yourself. You have simply done what every adult human being has ever done time eternal, and will do for time immortal: You have made mistakes, had lapses in judgment, and fallen into murky waters.
But to sometimes speak words that stray from your truth and take actions that diverge from your soul, is to be human.
Let me say that again:
This.
This falling.
This stumbling.
Is.
To.
Be.
Human.
Toddlers fall. Without sprawling on the ground indefinitely — berating, judging, scolding themselves permanently. They use their own strength to rise again. And again. And again. And that is how we all learn to walk.
117 billion humans have learned this way. 8.1 billion humans are learning this way right now. The nuns. The monks. The Christians. The prophets. The leaders. The influencers. The law-enforcers. The teachers. The parents. The rich. The famous. And especially those who sit in judgment of others who fall.
Find solace in knowing that everyone falters, and embrace the echoes of your falls —
they are evidence that you are profoundly human and exquisitely alive.
Anitra Lahiri is a dedicated yoga studio owner and self-love advocate, guiding individuals on their journey to healing and recovery.
Anitra Lahiri 