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A New Year, A Word, A Signpost

  • January 9, 2025
  • by admin

No resolutions.  No verdicts.  No judgments.  No mandates or grand statements for the new year.  Instead, I choose a word for guidance.  A word that acts as a signpost, gently directing me to how I want to show up in the world and for myself.  

Some years, the words choose me easily.  Other years, it is a more laborious process.  This year, the journey to a new word was relatively effortless; it just required a bit of refinement from a phrase to a single word.  A single word which I continued to let tumble through my thoughts, roll on my tongue as I tested it and played with it for a few weeks, wondering, is this the one for 2025? Then, during a group meditation/reiki session on the last day of 2024, the words from a song being sung grabbed me, 

‘Is there a way for you to shine without fear?…’*

As those words, from a song I had never heard before, touched my heart, I knew I had chosen well for 2025.

Courage. My signpost for 2025 is courage.  It is not something I feel I have lacked, yet I believe it is what I will need to grow in the direction I feel so drawn.  It is a reminder to myself I do have the courage to be seen and the courage to be me.  I have the courage to know and trust I am strong enough to handle the ruffled feathers and possible rejection of being just me and not who others want me to be.  The courage to be the light when it is dark and the courage to allow others to be who they are despite any discomfort I may encounter.  Indeed, the greatest gift we can give the universe is to be who we are meant to be and not shape-shift as society asks.   As Brene Brown said, “Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.”

So, courage will be my reminder to stay on the path as best as I can. To be myself, to follow my heart.  It is my reminder that kindness is never futile, self-compassion is not indulgence, acceptance is healing and I can shine, even in the darkness. 

Wishing you, dear friend, what you need for your heartfelt journey in 2025. 

*Astral Plane by Valerie June

Is there a light you have inside you? 

Can’t touch

A looking glass can only show you so much

Follow the signs, slowly but steady

Don’t rush

The day will come when you are ready

Just trust

Dancing on the astral plane

Holy water cleansing rain

Floating through the stratosphere 

Blind, but yet you see so clear

Is there a way for you to shine without fear?

From other worlds

But you can’t say what keeps you here

Dancing on the astral plane

Holy water cleansing rain

Floating through the stratosphere

Blind, but yet you see so clear

Dancing on the astral plane

Holy water cleansing rain

Floating through the stratosphere

Blind, but yet you see so clear

Blind, but yet you see

Blind, but yet you see

Blind, but yet you see

Blind, but. Yet you see so clear

But is there a way for you to give it your all?

Dreaming a dream

Of sweeter things great or small

Dancing on the astral plane

Holy water cleansing rain

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Less Comparison and More Compassion

  • August 3, 2023August 2, 2023
  • by admin

It’s easier for you because you are smarter.  It is easier for you because you are stronger.  It is easier for you because your situation is different.  It is easier for you because… fill in the blank.  It’s easier for you because is a refrain I have heard throughout my life.  And perhaps things have been easier for me.  I really don’t know because I only know what I experience.  What I do know is that when these words are given back to me, even when I have said nothing about the subject at hand, what I hear is, ‘Your experience isn’t valid.’ Read more “Less Comparison and More Compassion” →

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Allowing Myself to See Me

  • July 15, 2023July 15, 2023
  • by admin

It was a sunny day, warm for the time of year and seeming like any other day, but it was also the day of my father’s funeral. One that I was hoping to navigate and come out on the other side without feeling completely overwhelmed or having to shut down. I was anxious for many reasons and really just wanted to curl up and hide away from everyone, away from my perceived duties, so I could continue to mourn his passing in private. As always, though, I felt the need to be the strong one. The one who was witnessing this not just for myself but also for my sister, who was unable to attend. I was the one who would hold it together, read his eulogy, and offer comfort to others who were hurting. I would accomplish this while keeping a smile on my face and maintaining a positive outlook. Read more “Allowing Myself to See Me” →

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What is the Perspective of Fairness?

  • July 7, 2023
  • by admin

‘It’s only fair, isn’t it?’ Such a common phrase, but I was a bit bewildered when my mom uttered it as a defense of wishing to be treated with simple respect and decency. Fairness had nothing to do with the issue at hand, I tried to explain, but she clung to this concept of fairness in having set a boundary with someone.

Read more “What is the Perspective of Fairness?” →

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Finding Hope in an Unexpected Place

  • June 7, 2023
  • by admin

Recently, I attended a local school board meeting. Because of a few items on the agenda, it was standing room only, and I found myself in the hallway for a couple of hours with a group of high school students and their two advisors. We were all waiting for our turn to make our presentations, and though we listened to what was happening in the boardroom, as is the nature of these events, we found ourselves whispering pleasantries to one and another as well as a few comments about what was transpiring in the other room. Read more “Finding Hope in an Unexpected Place” →

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Holding My Mother’s Hand in New Found Awareness

  • May 11, 2023May 11, 2023
  • by admin

It’s ugly, it’s beautiful, and it’s complicated. There is pain, and there is joy, frustration and acceptance, gratitude, and sadness. With so many contrasts in one relationship, it is hard to define my feelings for my mother. It is also why I feel a contradictory ambiguity, sprinkled with guilt, as each Mother’s Day approaches.

Read more “Holding My Mother’s Hand in New Found Awareness” →

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Choosing to Reclaim My Dream and Power

  • May 4, 2023
  • by admin

How often have I given my power away to a single person? A single person who didn’t even know me. A single person who didn’t even care to get to know me? Perhaps far too often, but obviously not often enough to be aware of it, a lesson brought home recently.

Read more “Choosing to Reclaim My Dream and Power” →

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Abundance, Enough, and Energy Flows

  • June 23, 2022
  • by admin

There is an energy flow to everything. In some things, it can be seen as a river flowing. In others, like ice, the movement is not seen. Science teaches us all things have energy, little tiny particles in constant motion. Even though a rock appears only to exist, or thought seems to be ephemeral fluff, both have energetic qualities. And like a river, we can change the flow of energy; redirecting it so that it goes around us untouched, letting it flow through us supporting our needs, or stopping it much like a dam, either before the energy reaches us or trapping it inside. Viewing life through the lens of abundance has taught me much about these energy flows, how I influence them and they influence me.

Abundance mentality, the acceptance that resources are enough, successes are enough, and there is enough of everything to support everyone, recognizes and acknowledges that we are all connected. More important, it brings me into the present moment, letting go of how I believe things should be and accepting how things are. It leads me from a victim stance to one of empowerment, feeling energized and not drained, hopeful, not hopeless. It opens up opportunities and choices, leading to clarity instead of reacting out of fear or lack of choice. Abundance has taught me life is not as hard as I once thought, but enjoyable, creative, and even fun. 

Approaching life with an expectation of enough or abundance allows the energy to flow, unobstructed and supportive. For example, when a deadline for a project looms and I realize perhaps I may not make the deadline as hoped and accept this as fact, I can feel my body tense. Thoughts become constricted, focused on the premise I will not finish in a timely fashion, which will likely result in a self-fulfilling prophecy. However, when I take a mindset that there will be enough time to finish what needs to be accomplished, I can feel the energy flow again. I notice space for my thoughts and, with space, clarity for how to proceed, given the parameters in place. Please don’t misunderstand. Time doesn’t magically appear and allow me to finish the task, but I can work with the time given more constructively and often, if not completing the job, at least arrive at an acceptable point.  

I am not suggesting that we approach all our resources with the attitude that there will always be enough no matter our actions; this would be foolish as we are all called to be good stewards of the world. What I have found, however, is that by viewing my life with abundance versus scarcity, I open up my choices, able to flow with the surrounding energy instead of swimming against it.  

Here are some key ways that have helped me adopt an ‘abundance’ approach.

  1. Gratitude for what I have-I focus on three things each day, not always material things; sometimes they are experiences and can be as mundane as listening to birdsong as I walk my dog in the morning.

  2. I center myself in the present moment. I do this usually with breathing exercises or using my five senses to anchor me.

  3. Developing and maintaining a growth mindset, I don’t have things all figured out, and there is so much to discover in this wondrous world.  

  4. Being curious about the people with whom I interact. Asking questions about their lives and experiences, trying to understand and trying not to judge.

  5. Approaching things using a beginner’s mind or with my inner child and a sense of awe and wonder.

  6. Being aware of my dialogue with myself and others and reminding myself when I recognize I have put forth a scarcity view that perhaps there is another way.

Wishing you, dear friend, enough, no matter the situation on your heartfelt journey. ~♥~

 

 

Understand that abundance is a flow through energy and not about holding anything or counting anything, because that is when it becomes finite and you are expressing infinite energy.  
~Steve Rother~

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The Magic of Gratitude

  • November 24, 2021November 25, 2021
  • by admin

With Thanksgiving just a few days away, I have been pondering the meaning and influence of gratitude. It seems such a simple, unimportant aspect of life, yet, there is great power in its practice, or lack thereof, whichever the case may be.

Read more “The Magic of Gratitude” →

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The Curiosity and Wonder of A Beginner’s Mind

  • May 13, 2021
  • by admin

Dance has taught me many things in my life.  The need for balance and positioning myself so that I am ready for the next steps to be executed.  It has taught me how to move to the music of the world and how to be flexible, not just in the movement but in adapting to a change in rhythm or a prop suddenly in the way.  It has taught me discipline and hard work bring their own rewards.  More importantly perhaps, it has taught me that in approaching things from a learning perspective with curiosity and wonder, a beginner’s mind, the world of opportunity opens up.  

Read more “The Curiosity and Wonder of A Beginner’s Mind” →

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Text Learning to embrace the uncomfortable, at least at times, has allowed me to be me, the good, the bad and the amazing.
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