Energy Flows
Abundance. Flow. Energy. The words came easily as I wrote them down. Truth, power, transform, evolve, visible, clarity, intuition, and more. Some seemed close, like visible, emerge and become, but they weren’t quite right. I paused in my search for my word for 2022, setting the task aside for another time. The new year was still over a week away, and surely the correct word would find me as had happened the past two years.
A Heartfelt Journey
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.
A Heartfelt Journey
Letting go of something you have loved and nurtured for so long is not easy. Recognizing you don’t have the energy or patience to continue nourishing it as you once did is not easy either. Yet, that is where I find myself today. After building a business and guiding it with care for thirty years, today is the day I let go. Today it becomes someone else’s obligation and no longer my weight of responsibility.… Someone who will have the energy and fortitude to continue guiding it, making the adjustments as needed with the tender loving care it deserves.
Reflections and Lessons
It is a story that is quite old in our family, one that has been retold several times at Christmas, Thanksgiving…anytime we are all together. It is now fondly regaled with lots of laughter but when it happened there was no laughter involved. There was anger. There were harsh words. There was a feeling of unworthiness. Then silence.
Read more “Under All the Chocolate Cake, Frosting and Vanilla Creme”
Mindfulness
Buried in work and responsibilities I have felt stuck these last few weeks with the space in the margins of my planner seemingly to have disappeared. We’ve had family birthdays to celebrate, future plans begging to be made, previous commitments needing to be honored and figuring out the whole voting thing, that in and of itself is a time eater. All this in addition to the day to day necessities to navigate. And, with the current COVID landscape, it seems everything takes. Just. That. Little. Bit. Longer. Leaving little time for the extras.Â
Reflections and Lessons
It was a dreary morning as I was walking my dog in the neighborhood. Treasured time for me most mornings as I cleared my thoughts and prepared for the day ahead but on this one particular morning I was lost in thought, not in preparation for the day, but in dread.  My business was closed due to the pandemic and I felt lost in the myriad of information presented from so many different sources of how I should be moving forward. My shoulders were heavy and the way forward seemed dim. Â
Energy Flows
There are some days and times that stand out in my memory that I will always hold dear and never forget. The night I met my husband, the day I graduated from high school, the day my oldest niece was born as well as the night my first son was born and the morning my youngest son was born. All happy events. All life changing events. Â
Reflections and Lessons
My husband has joked with me through the years about my visits to the beach. Though I enjoy the beach I had developed a very particular experience that I wanted to have when there. It couldn’t be too hot or too cold. Too sunny or too cloudy. I did enjoy a slight breeze but definitely not something that could be called wind. I enjoyed the sand when it was warm to walk on, too hot was definitely not preferred and too cold was not fun. He even teased me that there was too much sand. (Sad to say there were a few times when I would bemoan the amount of sand that kept finding itself on my towel.) I was Goldilocks personified. Â
Energy Flows
My childhood is long past and is but memories, catalogued like still pictures in a picture album. Rather ephemeral and elusive most times, I don’t give it a lot of thought in my day to day activities.  Then something happens and portions of it solidify, eliciting emotion that I thought was long gone, reminding me of experiences forgotten and buried. Reminding me that in getting on with the business of growing up and becoming an adult, my childhood didn’t go away and is still very much a part of this grown up version of me.Â
Reflections and Lessons
It was a beautiful sunny day with just a bit of a breeze and my husband wanted to go for bike ride up one of the trails near our home. I was hesitant as the hill he wanted to climb was rather steep for about a mile and I was not confident in my ability to make it. He assured me we could turn around at any point so we embarked on our little adventure. Surprisingly, I had requested only one brief stop midway up the hill before resuming our trek. Soon the top came into in view, teasing us with its proximity, and we continued until just a few hundred feet from our destination. And then I stopped. Not a rest stop, but a full on my lungs were burning and my heart felt like it would leap out of my chest at any moment stop. As I stood gasping, straddling my bike with my feet firmly planted on the ground, my husband encouraged me to rest and catch my breath. He maintained we could make it, which really meant he knew he could and was trying to make me believe I could as well. As my breathing relaxed he instructed me to begin riding by heading down hill first before turning back up. Crazy idea I thought and stubbornly hopped back on the bike with the tires pointed straight up hill attempting to pedal. Making no progress other than spinning my wheels in the sand, I stopped, completely defeated and gave my husband that look of ‘I’m done and knew I couldn’t do this’ at which time he again encouraged me to try riding down hill first. Shrugging my shoulders I gave it a try. Then the magic happened. Heading back down hill gave me enough momentum that I was able to turn back up hill and made it to the top of the trail. Progress!