Sometimes the most ordinary moments become our greatest spiritual teachers.
This week, what began as a frustrating experience at a hair salon became one of my most meaningful lessons of the year.
I arrived on time for a scheduled appointment, only to wait nearly thirty minutes while my hairdresser continued with another client. It wasn’t the first time it had happened.
Eventually, I quietly stood up and left.
At first, I thought the story was about a late appointment.
The next morning, during my rooftop meditation with a warm cup of matcha, the sun warming my face and a gentle breeze moving through the morning air, I began to realize something much deeper.
The haircut wasn’t the real story.
It had touched an old, tender place within me.
A place that remembered what it felt like to be dismissed.
Not seen.
Not respected.
That realization changed everything.
One of the greatest gifts of this season of my life is that I am surrounded by remarkable teachers and communities, each offering wisdom from a different tradition, yet all pointing toward the same truth.
At Lila Yoga Studio, my Hatha yoga teacher, Chanda, introduced our class to the Sanskrit word Moksha—freedom. She spoke of liberation, not from life itself, but from the patterns that keep us trapped in suffering.
Around the same time, through my meditation studies with DavidJi, I learned a beautifully simple practice. Whenever I notice myself caught in self-criticism, hurt, anger, judgment, or the feeling of being “less than,” I gently return to a single word:
Moksha.
No analysis.
No self-condemnation.
Just the mantra.
So after the salon experience, I practiced exactly that.
Throughout the day, whenever I noticed the story replaying in my mind, I softly repeated:
Moksha… Moksha… Moksha…
Little by little, something shifted.
The situation didn’t change.
I did.
The anger softened.
The impatience eased.
The judgment loosened.
Compassionate curiosity took the place of certainty.
Then another realization emerged.
This wasn’t the first time appointments had started late.
But it was the first time I had clearly expressed how it affected me.
I had smiled.
I had waited.
I had said nothing.
Perhaps she assumed it wasn’t a problem because I had never told her it was.
That doesn’t make the repeated delays acceptable to me.
It simply reminds me that healthy boundaries are most effective when they are spoken early, kindly, and clearly.
Kindness without honesty eventually becomes resentment.
One sentence has stayed with me ever since:
Speak your boundaries while your heart is still open.
That feels like Moksha, too.
My study of A Course in Miracles offered another piece of the puzzle.
I recently facilitated an Osher Lifelong Learning Coffee & Conversation where we explored practical ways to live the Course’s teachings in everyday life. One of the Course’s central messages is that every decision is a choice between a grievance and a miracle.
That simple truth has become one of my daily spiritual practices.
In fact, I created an affirmation that I return to whenever I find myself emotionally triggered:
Every decision I make is a choice between a grievance and a miracle. I relinquish all grievances, regrets, and resentments, and I choose the miracle.
As I repeated the mantra Moksha throughout the day, I realized how beautifully these teachings complement one another.
A Course in Miracles reminds me that I always have a choice.
The mantra Moksha helps me embody that choice by returning me to emotional freedom.
Together, they gently lead me away from reactivity and back to peace.
A miracle doesn’t mean pretending something didn’t hurt.
It means choosing to see it through the eyes of love rather than fear.
As I sat with this experience, I realized that I didn’t want to carry resentment.
I wanted understanding.
I wanted compassion.
I wanted freedom.
That doesn’t mean abandoning my boundary.
It means letting go of the emotional burden while still honoring my own needs.
Looking back, I’m grateful for the experience.
Not because it was pleasant.
But because it revealed a place within me that was still asking for healing.
The haircut was simply the messenger.
The real lesson was learning to recognize an old wound with compassionate curiosity instead of criticism.
To respond instead of react.
To choose freedom over fear.
This journey has been deeply enriched by three communities that continue to shape my life in beautiful ways:
🪷 Lila Yoga Studio, where ancient yoga wisdom reminds me to return to presence.
🪷 DavidJi’s Meditation Academy, where meditation offers practical tools for emotional freedom.
🪷 Osher Lifelong Learning at the University of Utah, where community, conversation, and lifelong learning encourage us to grow together.
Different paths.
Different practices.
One shared invitation.
To live with greater awareness.
To love more freely.
To forgive more readily.
To remember that emotional freedom is not found by controlling life, but by transforming the way we meet it.
Perhaps that’s what Moksha really is.
Not freedom from difficult moments.
But freedom within them.
With love and gratitude,
Sandi Greene
Reinvention Life Coach
“Speak your boundaries while your heart is still open.”
About the Author
Sandi Greene is a writer, meditation guide, teacher, and lifelong learner dedicated to helping people create lives of greater clarity, purpose, joy, and well-being through The Art of Living Well.
Her work is inspired by the timeless wisdom of A Course in Miracles, Davidji Meditation, yoga philosophy, and the transformative power of mindfulness, reflection, and authentic community.
Sandi is an Instructor and Ambassador with the University of Utah Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, where she teaches courses that encourage lifelong learning, meaningful connection, and personal growth. She also serves on the Board of Trustees at the First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City, teaches New Member classes, and facilitates small groups that foster belonging and thoughtful conversation.
Whether through her writing, meditation, teaching, or individual conversations, Sandi invites others to reconnect with their inner wisdom and discover that nothing essential is missing.
The Art of Living Well • Meditation • A Course in Miracles • Osher Lifelong Learning • Well-Being
