Thinking back on my experience in life, I recognized a life lesson that I learned more recently that actually started way back when I was a younger girl. Let me start with a story. 

It started when I got to go for a sleep-over, it was a slumber party, those were all the rage when I was younger. My best-friend had a whole bunch of us over together and one of the things we got to do, was to go on a hike in the woods. It was a big group of girls and we were having so much fun, and I felt comfortable with who I was. 

As we were hiking, we were all excited, and I remember there was a new girl in school who had been invited too. We came upon a crossroad where we needed to decide to go one way or the other way. I recognize now, that I was a leader, because the girls all looked to me for which direction to go. 

I said, “Let’s go this way!” And, this other girl said, “No! We’re not going to go that way; we are going to go this way.” 

I...

Today as I’ve been sitting with others, accompanying them on their journey, there was a light rain that came through. The air is much warmer, as spring is arriving here, and it smelled fresh outside. It feels like new life is ready to bloom. This new life preparing to bloom is happening for a lot of us as we have been experiencing life much different than it used to be. 

There is a sense of stabilizing. Many of us in positions of leadership have needed to work diligently in order to maintain our capacity to monitor our environment, and that of our team members and those that we are responsible for taking care of. As well as being more expansive reaching outside of our inner circle to be a resource for the extended communities in our world, creating places where there are safe zones. There are finally beginning to be places where we can trust it is safe. It’s just beginning. 

I want to acknowledge that for many of us, when we are younger, there is an inner...

What’s it been like for you  with all the changes taking place in our world? Some of us are experiencing a loss of our sense of freedom. Others, even though there are restrictions placed upon them, they live in a place that allows them to experience more freedom of movement. 

Maybe you have new learning curves because you need to work from home, if you still have a job. If you don’t have a job, then you are learning how to be at home without your normal routine. There are new learning curves for all of us in many different ways. 

Maybe you are finding that there is not enough support when you need it. It could be as simple as something went wrong with your computer and you’re at home without an IT person to help you, and you have to sort it out on your own. Or maybe you have a partner at work who got scared, locked themselves down at home and refuse to help at all, out of fear. 

Maybe it feels like there is a lot of weight on your shoulders...

I bet you have been noticing there are a lot of changes that are happening. For many of us this can feel very alarming and scary. Maybe you walked into the grocery store and everything was gone. There was no meat, there were no noodles, all the soups were gone, and it was scary because it’s not predictable. It’s not every day you walk into the store and most everything is gone. This signals an alarm that alerts your whole self that danger is here. 

The other thing that can be scary is this danger is not something you can see with your eyes. It’s an invisible danger that floats around landing on things and you might unknowingly touch it – and that is scary. 

Then you start to notice, when you go out, there are not many people out and about. I had one client say that when they walked into town to go to work, because their business is an essential business to stay open, that it was like walking into a ghost town. There is an uneasiness that comes with...

Today I was thinking about those times in my life when I have just wanted to be griping about something. Or I’m moaning and I’m complaining. I notice what that’s like for me, inside of my system, inside of my thought life, when I’m doing that. What are the behaviors that show up when I’m in that mood? 

Because I also notice, when I’m observing others and they are wanting to grip about things happening in their life; they are not happy, they are moaning and complaining, I know what that is like for me! Sometimes I might guess, “Do you need a little shared reality around what it’s like when people go there? That is like this wild horse got loose and it’s galloping around through the space and no one is even acknowledging it? Or, is it as if you are in this room and a big elephant came in and plopped right down in the center and everyone is pretending it’s not there? But it’s so obvious that it’s...

Today I’ve been spending some time thinking about how some of us might have the experience of being worried whether or not we matter. Maybe we’ve been close to other people in our lives and they go away for a while and we lose that connection that we’ve grown to count on. Then, when they start to come back, there’s an irritation that comes up inside.

You just get angry; you’ve missed them really bad and now they are coming back and you are worried. You are worried that since they’ve been gone so long, they are going to be tired, or maybe their schedule will fill up and there won’t be enough time for you.

Even thinking there’s going to be time for others, but there won’t be time for me. Maybe it’s that you believe you don’t matter enough. If you could just matter enough, then there would be time for you. 

When this kind of a spiraling loop starts happening within us, that is unconscious, we can hear inner voices...

Have you ever had the experience of feeling it’s just too late? Maybe right before you got there you were really looking forward to something. You might have been filled with anticipation, delight, hope, and possibility, and then something unexpected comes up instead of what you were anticipating. It’s just like the shutters come down. There is no conversation around it, there’s no nothing, it’s just like a big wall comes up. It’s too late. 

Maybe you run the mindset that, “It really doesn’t matter anyway.” Or, “I don’t matter anyway. This always happens. It’s just the way it is.” And, there is just no conversation. Instead, there is a complete and utter shutdown. 

It would be painful if you could feel it, but in those moments, it feels so disappointing, that your system blesses you with the neurochemicals to numb you out. You go blank. It’s like there is an invisible field between you and life....

Have you ever felt really inspired by an idea or felt called to speak up about something in community, or in the world? Just when you are about ready to speak up or step out, fear or doubt comes in and starts to have this conversation in the background of your mind. 

It might sound something like, “What if someone gets upset by what I say?” or it could be, “What if somebody comes right out and disagrees with me? That would be really uncomfortable.” 

Or maybe it’s a pattern you have in your life, you’ve just always looked outside of yourself for the answers, so you need permission to speak up. Permission from outside of you. 

This is a familiar path that I’ve taken, more than once in my life. At different stages and different ages, it shows up slightly differently. Yet, the pattern really is not really knowing your own truth. Not really having the conviction deep inside that gives you solid ground to stand on. Regardless of...

I was watching some of these videos that I’ve made, and I caught myself pausing… just like that. Only when I saw it, I wasn’t very nice to myself. I felt some embarrassment, and I realized underneath that embarrassment there was a fear of being judged by my viewers. So, I unpacked that a little bit more and recognized how I sabotage myself, I was judging myself thinking I look dumb, or that I was dumb.

As I slowed down to be with that part of me, that really did believe I was dumb, I was the youngest of 4 kids and to my older siblings I seemed pretty simple. That’s pretty normal for kids. When I could hear that voice was still coming around inside, pretty subtly, I could be grateful that I could notice it. That I could actually hear it and hear what the need is underneath that. The need for self-acceptance.

When I am able to accept myself with grace and give myself the freedom to show up how I show up. It means I let myself pause when I pause, because...