Balloon Powered Vehicles

Our son burst in the car from school with an exciting parent assignment. He was to construct a vehicle with homemade ingredients that would travel twelve feet via balloon power. An instruction sheet, one balloon, two thin wooden sticks and one plastic straw was included in the “starter” kit.

With two days left until the due date we did what every good parent would do…..we got to work googled. 

From what we found, this vehicle assembly looked easy enough thanks to a few gatorade bottles and caps we had leftover from a marathon basketball Saturday. 

Guess what, it wasn’t as easy as it looked. Needless to say my son was getting extremely mad. 

“Ok, buddy. Instead of getting upset, let’s just get curious. What part is working? What’s not working? What could we change? Did your teacher give you any ideas?” I questioned. 

He paused. Silence. He walked away. An hour later…..

“Dad, let’s try another plan so the balloon doesn’t touch the ground” he said. 

After a hand saw and styrofoam, their vehicle finally moved a few feet! 

This whole project reminded me how you can get mad when things in your life aren’t working or you can get curious. 

You can ask yourself if there is anything else going on when you notice you’re  obsessed upset about how your body looks. Am I not getting what I need in some areas of my life? Am I spending too much time worrying about what other people will think instead of taking care of myself? Is my anxiety high at home, work or with family/friends? Am I trying to get control of something or several things in my life that just feel out of control (hello, pandemic)? 

It’s the same advice I give to my yogis. Become a curious observer as your body moves. When you’re deep in a pose, start asking questions. What does your body need? How can you play to your edge and find that just right challenge? What do you need more or less of? What can you let go of that you don’t need to hold onto at this moment? Trying to achieve “perfection” or getting mad at yourself if you “fall short”  isn’t the point of any class.

Of course you can get mad, too. Sometimes anger is a good and positive force to motivate you on our anti diet journey. But all too often, I find that anger is usually used against yourself, sending you further down the google rabbit hole of bottomless, hollow diet advice. 

I’m curious to see how we my son’s vehicle does today. I hope he comes bursting into the car with some good news. I could really use an “A” for anything something in 2022. Is it February yet? I’m just curious….