All of my life has been a journey of change and self discovery.   Since I began practicing yoga, mindfulness has played a larger role in my navigation.   
Here, now, in the middle of summer mindfulness seems to have taken a backseat.  My routine has changed,  my kids are home, we have family vacations, barbecues, and of course, beer.  
Sometimes it feels as if I’m walking backwards on my path, or maybe taking one step forward two steps back.    Two or three rungs down the ladder.  
As I thought about change as a ladder,  I realized that the ladder in my imagination was not long and straight, but a spiral.  And then the ladder wasn’t a ladder anymore, it was a hill. 
Stay with me, now. 
Let’s say  you’re a cyclist. And you’re riding along the left side of the road. You realize it may not be the best side to be on ( you’re an American cyclist).  So you decide to cross over to the right side.  As you are pedaling on this new side, you realize the road has become a slight hill.  Not a steep hill ,  just a small steady incline. 
So you pedal harder, you try to shift gears, but it seems to be a bit too much.   In order to keep moving forward, you decide to weave over to the left side on a diagonal. Still moving forward, but heading to the left.
So now you find yourself on the left side, your old side of choice. But you are much further on the path than you were.  Even though some things seem similar, you are not back where you started. And you are only here for a short time. You will weave back over to the right for a while, then back and forth and back and forth, until the road levels. Then you can stay on the right side. Until the next incline. 
So that’s where I am right now. On the left side of the road. Some things are familiar here, but I am much further along than when I started.  And just the fact that I am mindful of my location, means I am still moving forward.