Getting to know yourself through yoga and holidays

This is the first time in 20yrs i have been on a longer holiday more than a weekend away without my kids. It's been weird, happy with a touch of guilt for how good it's been. Coming from the heat and humidity of Queensland to the cold and then cool days of the South Island of New Zealand has been a breath of fresh air, literally.  I love the landscape, the people we've met and the 'tramping' we've done. In the long drives my husband and I have done I have read a book or two and daydreamed a lot as I gazed out the window.  I've done yoga in every motel, bed and breakfast I've stayed in.  It has helped me cope with the long periods of sitting and with my arthritis. It has helped stretch my legs before and after walks and calmed my busy mind in the evenings. I really didn't think I'd be inclined to keep up my practice everyday whilst on holiday, but yoga and the feelings of relief it gives me both physically and mentally always draws me back.
This is what I have so far concluded on this holiday about life:
I have lately not been given too many tests to pass that go over the same lessons they were teaching me. What that means is, I must have learnt those lessons and now can move on to other ones, but hopefully not as dramatic or 'big' lessons. All of us are given these 'lessons' in life and sometimes repeat them until we learn from them and can move on.
We often learn this behaviour from our up-bringing and repeat what we have lived or witnessed or ingrained in our psyche growing up. If you find yourself doing this then it may be time to go and talk to a professional about it then scrub that board clean in your mind and move forward. 
Clarity comes from time with yourself. You may find yourself feeling like you did when you were a young child in your quiet moments. Remembering what you thought about back then and how you felt as a person about life and feel again your true personality traits.
I haven't given myself much time to do this in my life, but as I have begun to stop repeating less than helpful behaviours and choices I can now have the time to feel like myself again, before I became tainted by negative events and people around me.
So next time you go on holidays or have some time to yourself, don't forget to do yoga, meditate, read, walk and be yourself and come back to yourself before you return, if that's what makes you feel good.  Hopefully others will see your true self blossoming out like a lotus flower rising from the muddy waters as Buddha says and that self will be welcomed back like a lost child and be a part of the world again as a better version than you left. Stay strong.
Tracey.