In our everyday lives we forget to stop, to look around, to listen. We get caught up in routine and out of touch with ourselves, with our bodies and with our minds.

I was thinking about all of this today in a yoga class. Yoga is like life. You have to be strong, you have to be focused, and you have to balance. You must fix your eyes on a point in the room, clear your mind and balance. If you get distracted, if you forget what you are doing, if a random thought crosses your mind just for a second, you lose stability.

In life you have to have a purpose, a purpose that will drive you to be a better person, that will challenge you, that will help you keep your balance.

I believe in hope. I do. I believe in miracles, and in crazy coincidences. Maybe I even believe in fate. Our job is to keep a balance; whatever needs to happen, will.

I spent last Easter in Spain watching the magnificent processions. It was then that I bought a little image of Mary with a prayer on the back. The prayer read: “Dios te salve Maria, llena de gracia…” It is the Spanish version of our English prayer, “Hail Mary, full of grace.”

Maybe it was the Easter atmosphere, but there was something about that Mary. I felt close to her.  I put her in my planner, in my purse and, busy with the errands and tasks of the next week, I forgot about her.

A few weeks later, I was stressed, frustrated, tired and I accidentally dropped my planner on the floor of my room while I was trying to get my countless looseleaf assignments together. Everything scattered. And then I saw her, Mary, among all the papers.

I looked at her a bit perplexed, trying to remember where she came from. Then I read the prayer on the back and said, “Please, Mary, help me get all of my work done.” It sounds almost silly now, such a miniscule problem.  After that, I began asking her for help for little things every once in a while. Of course, when they worked out I would say, “Thank you! Thank you, Mary, for helping.”

What I’m trying to say is that she helped me find my balance, at least with all the little things. It is important to find a purpose in life and it is also important to find something that will help you keep your balance for the times when things become difficult.

Dorotea Lechkova is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences.