wisdom from mister rogers

Over here I’m thinking about the little girl who watched episodes of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood every day after preschool as she sat in the green Lazy-boy and imagined she could go to The Neighborhood of Make Believe. My mom says I would sigh as the credits rolled and then find her in the house to talk about our days. I still sigh that deep exhale when I read his words. Also I love how the internet gives us access to photos so we have the chance see our heroes in their more candid moments.

(Photo is from my Water Your Soul journal, which is a class you can join at any time.)

on doing the work of becoming

Here’s to showing up and doing the work of untangling from past stuff, staying curious and open-hearted, and learning to listen to what you need. Oof. That was a big sentence. We are doing it though. With every deep breath, every moment you dance it out, every pause to look at the window and remember the world that is bigger than us, every glass of water we drink, every hand we reach out to another. We are doing it.

Side by side.

what if this uncertainty is a pause inviting you to notice

I sat at my typewriter and wrote these words. Maybe they are for you. Maybe they are for me. Most of all I want you to know that if you’re in a space of uncertainty, we are side by side. And we will still find the goodness, the beauty, the hope, and the miracles. Yes. Yes. Yes.

reflecting on my 2019 word

Happy New Year to you! I hope this year is already unfolding with some ease, some joy, some time to just breathe. And if not, that you'll have moments full of these things throughout the month.

I want to share a bit about my 2019 word before I set it down. Yes was my word 2019. A year ago, I thought it would be a year of growing my business. Hosting more retreats. Teaching more in-person workshops. Saying yes to a few dreams.

Instead, things began to turn upside down in late January, and as a family, we had a pretty tough and at times heartbreaking winter and spring. As a result, I started saying yes to different things. To showing up. To healing trauma (and calling it trauma). To boundaries. To saying no. To rest. To noticing the smallest of miracles even on days that felt really really hard.

Yes became like a pinky swear with myself: You. Will. Get. Through. This.

My business had to take a backseat to parenting and healing. It may not have looked like it from the outside, but it all took its toll. And a piece that is hard to talk about is how financially last year was a rough one. I’m hoping business continues to pick up and that there is some growth or even just getting back to where things were. My little family needs that. I need it. And feeling the joy of all the word of the year orders that come in this time of year feels like a beautiful way to hold hands with “yes” and trust that this hard, quiet, healing year has created a foundation for what’s next. 

Thank you for being part of that.

I had my last therapy session of the year on Monday, and I was thinking about how the healing I’ve done stretches forward toward what is to come but also stretches back toward those who came before me. 

And as I turn toward this new year, I want to say yes to choosing that healing and that love and that belief in myself.

Thank you for being beside me as I've walked through this past year. I will share more stories as I keep moving through them and understanding more about them. The toughness of this last year is a big reason why I started Everyday Tiny Miracles. Gathering up the littlest of joys, delights, truths, stories, miracles was a big way I got through it all.

the choice to keep your heart open (yet again)

This is one of those I need to read again and again and again. Because honey, sometimes that crazy starts to get to you. But then you realize, "Oh, yes, even this can be my teacher." And you shift and set boundaries and choose love and open your heart and sometimes even walk away.

Maybe you need that reminder too...

Pema Chodron would be a beautiful teacher to invite into your world in 2016. This is one of my favorite books by her that's all about loving kindness (for ourselves and others).

september 28.

 

I couldn't let this day pass without acknowledging that I've been blogging in this space for 10 years.

Wow.

I have more to say about this and a fun way to celebrate it that I'll be sharing later in the week. For now I just want to say, Thank you.

Yes.

Thank you.

blue moon dreaming

  

Last week, we had a blue moon, which means we had an extra full moon during this season. And as Pixie explained in her newsletter, it's rare. The next one won't be until 2018. Pixie went on to talk about creating a ceremony where you honor nature's magical cycles and the wisdom inside you and create an intention for yourself that you sing to the moon (literally or in a metaphorical way). 

So I read her words and thought about the kind of ceremony I wanted to create. I love her imagery of the full moon bringing things into the light. But then I didn't set aside the alone time to do it. Summer evenings have a way of getting away from me, and I simply didn't plan well enough to make it happen.

However, I found myself awake in the middle of the night with that moon shining in on me. And I started thinking.

I started thinking about this place where I'm standing these days with a desire to step onto a larger stage. A desire to expand and create the gatherings and teachings and other good things that support women as they create space for quiet, for stillness, and for joy, as they navigate what it means to really live in the space between the beauty and the mess one move at a time. A desire to dive deep and trust that you will come along.

And I started thinking about the longings I have for my own little family, for my day-to-day life. 

Words like courage and "do it anyway" and listen and softness and "tell it" and "focus in" and "what can you set down?" began to float up around me as the moon was shining in.

As I laid there, my head on the pillow, the fan whirring while Jon slept beside me, I tried to just stay in it, breathing, noticing, letting the words and hopes swirl together in a dance and then settle around me. Inhale. Exhale. Trusting the holiness of the moment.

Later in the day, I went out to my studio and gathered up visual reminders that represented that dance and put them on my pinboard so I could see them every day, so I could stand tall in this intention and desire.

No, it wasn't the ceremony I envisioned at first, but instead it became a powerful declaration of who I am right now and where I want to go all while surrounded by the powerful wisdom and strength of so many of my kindreds.

This inspiration board includes postcards and artwork from the following beautiful souls (clockwise from the top left): 

• Pixie Lighthorse's bear postcard from her animal deck
• Andrea Jenkin's photo of hands covered in paint
• Quote from Ali Makes Mail
• Lori Portka's deer postcard from her Gratitude Kit
• Elise Blaha Cripe's ampersand postcard
• My own peony photo, love note, alchemy card from one of Mindy Tsonas' classes, and the photo Jenna took of my hands holding peony petals at the last retreat.
• Kelly Barton's feather painting
• Another quote from Ali Makes Mail
• A card from my One Move mini inspiration deck
• A little original painting from Christine Mason Miller
• A little card of brilliance that came with my Get to Work Book
• An Amy Poehler quote from Ali Makes Mail
• An original painting from Danielle Daniel
• And the Hello Beautiful Soul postcard from my shop

These colors, these women, these hopes, this belief that I can embody the life I want, this is a peek at my heart these days.

And I'm putting a note in my Get to Work Book to change this up monthly so I can keep that energy, that inspiration and connection, flowing. Yes yes yes.

the time had come

In many ways these words are at the core of the work I'm putting into the world each day. This moment when you decide, "Yes, I have a choice." This is where the magic of realizing you truly can hold the grit in one hand and the beauty in the other and live the heck out of your life no matter what. 

*****

If you'd like encouraging stories about the moments when I'm holding these choices in my hands and deciding to say, "Yes, even this" along with self-care prompts in your inbox, please sign up for my (almost) weekly newsletter right here. I'd love to connect with you. (Yes, you.)