Image created with chatgpt (close enough to the vision I prompted for)
This morning was Day 9 of my 30-Day Mindfulness Meditation Challenge. I love Day 9, since it’s the day that I bring in Portia Nelson’s poem “There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk” as the analogy for how our daily mindfulness and mental fitness practices transform our life experience over time.
I’ll share the full poem below, but the quick version is that we all have holes in our paths that we fall into from time to time. Sometimes we fall in blindly, sometimes we fall in out of habit. When we fall in blindly and refuse to accept any responsibility, it takes a long time to climb out of the hole. When our eyes are open to this pattern, we recognize our agency and are able to get out quickly. The most skillful move of all is anticipating the hole and taking a different road altogether.
This Is What Sustained Practice Looks Like
After I guided the group through the meditation portion of this morning’s session, one of our long-term circle members offered the most beautiful reflection. She described how her practice allowed her to show up as her best version of herself for her son’s wedding this past weekend. Her joy was so palpable and the story so inspiring, I asked her permission to share it with my readers.
Before the wedding, she faced a minefield of holes in her sidewalk. Generational trauma, a divorce in an earlier life chapter, and the noise of inner saboteurs generating fear and anxiety around her first child getting married had her completely stressed out. In our morning session the day before she and her husband were hosting the rehearsal dinner at their home, she shared her complicated feelings.
Using all of her mindfulness and mental fitness tools (including connecting with her Sage Navigate power by asking her Wiser Elder Self what was most important at this moment in time), she made an intentional decision about how she wanted to show up for the wedding. She shifted her lens from saboteur-driven fear and anxiety to Sage-driven love, starting with herself. Self-compassion, fanning the flame of unconditional self-love, and envisioning her desired outcome (how did she want to show up as a mother, in particular) set her on an entirely new course.
Our heroine was able to make this conscious choice because she has developed her self-command muscles over years of consistent inner work. Small daily habits, those bicep curls for the brain that meditation practices (or PQ reps in our Positive Intelligence framework) amount to, allowed her to recognize the magnetic force of the holes in her sidewalk.
Instead of falling in out of habit, she powered up her Sage brain, took a running leap, and soared. She described it this way:
“You can leap over the different holes in your path in so many ways. It can be a running leap, or a hop, or a jump. But when you lift off with joy, you find yourself flying.”
My body was tingling and my eyes teared up as she spoke. Her joy became our circle’s joy. Her transformation transformed us all.
Here’s the complete poem that framed our conversation…
There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk: The Romance of Self-Discovery (or “My Life in Five Short Chapters”) by Portia Nelson
Chapter One of My Life. I walk down the street. There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost. I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It still takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter Two. I walk down the same street. There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I’m in the same place! But it isn’t my fault. And it still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter Three. I walk down the same street. There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it there. I still fall in. It’s a habit! My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.
Chapter Four. I walk down the same street. There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.
Chapter Five. I walk down a different street.
If you feel called to strengthen the mental muscles that will allow you to navigate your journey as the best version of yourself, you might be a good candidate for my next Mental Fitness training starting on September 22, 2025. Start by completing this interest form.
