During the last year or so as I made hard decisions about the direction of my life and career, I faced strong headwinds of frustration, confusion, and even anger from friends and colleagues.

As I navigated these tricky moments, my spiritual director would often ask me to close my eyes and imagine myself. She would say, "How do you see yourself amidst all this?" or "As you picture yourself in these circumstances, what do you see?"

It took no time at all for me to answer; the image popped into my mind immediately.

My best-loved yoga instructor leads us through a set of poses each class. And in my favorite pose, as the whole class settles our bodies into position, she says to us, "Stand in your power."

The pose I love is a seemingly simple pose called Mountain Pose. Big toes touching, legs firmed up but not tense, core strong, chest open, shoulders slid down our backs away from our ears, tops of our heads lifted to the heavens, feet rooted into the earth. Hands open, arm down at our sides, little fingers barely skim our thighs.

A pose of rest and strength.

When a roomful of (mostly) women take this pose, and our instructor says, "Stand in your power," one can almost imagine a forest of majestic redwoods.

Strong. Beautiful. Unflappable.

Not perfect, by any means, but rooted, tall, settled.

This is how I pictured myself.

Standing in my power.

Resisting the headwinds.

Imperfect, but rooted.

Strong in my choices.

Grounded in the love of God.

Standing in my power.

The small mountain tattoo on my wrist, a daily reminder of those blustery days ...