Community Corner

Essay By Bristol Yoga Studio Director Featured on WRNI

Hear Bristol's Tracy Ramos read her essay about attaining what she really wants in life.

Bristol resident and director, Tracy Ramos, will be this week's featured contributor on Rhode Island public radio for her "This I Believe - Rhode Island" essay submission.

According to the RI NPR website, "This I Believe - Rhode Island..." is a segment aired in "effort to share the many stories of people of Rhode Island... the personal experiences that have helped form the opinions of your neighbors."

Tune in to WRNI on Wednesday at 6:35 am, 8:35 am, and 5:44 pm to hear Ramos' "This I Believe" essay or listen online at www.WRNI.org/listen-live.html. Below, read about Ramos' enlightenment when she decided to take her future into her own hands.

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I JUST WANT TO LOVE PEOPLE!” I sobbed into my cell phone while driving down Route 6 one early morning in the fall of 2004. I was talking to my old friend, Kelly. I was distraught. I was working for a woman I didn’t trust, doing a job I didn’t believe in. For the third time that week this unfulfilling job had me driving from Bristol to Hartford, to work on a project I didn’t like or think would be successful. To top it all off, it was slowly becoming clear that the guy I thought was the “one” wasn’t that into me. I was heartbroken.

On that drive, it seemed that all my hard work to get what I wanted from life was for nothing. And then, in a moment of desperate clarity, I told Kelly: “I just want to love people.” I believe we have to ask for what we want.

Find out what's happening in Bristol-Warrenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

As soon as I said it I immediately dismissed it as ridiculous. “What does that even mean ‘to love people?’ Who says that?! How stupid!” I told her. Kelly disagreed. She said “If that’s what you want, you will do it.”

I lost that job working for the woman I didn’t trust. I ended the relationship with the guy who wasn’t that into me. I entered into yoga teacher training in 2005, and as I deepened my own yoga practice, I came to understand that Kelly was right; it was possible to do exactly what I wanted. So I did. I partnered with another yoga teacher to open a yoga studio in 2007. I fell in love with an amazing guy who was really into me. We got married and now have two incredible kids. With every moment, the love keeps multiplying.

I’ve learned that sometimes, in the hardest moments of life, we find clarity about what really matters. And actually saying it out loud plants the seed for whatever we want to grow into reality. Of course my life still has some challenging moments, but now I can see these moments as opportunities, knowing that my work as a mom and a yoga studio director is meaningful and filled with real love. I’ll never forget that morning when I got clear about what I really wanted, and I’m so grateful that I get to live it out every day; all because I asked for it.


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