Blog

the gifts of your past in the present

the gifts of your past in the present

This past Friday I went for a walk in a forest I haven’t walked through in about 7 years. A forest which, for over 16 years, I had regularly explored in every season with my growing family.

I sat by the pond we skated on in winter; the same pond where twice in springtime we helped a large snapping turtle return to as she was attempting to cross the main road. She was on the last leg of her journey after following her instincts through the dark night to lay her eggs, who knows where, while navigating the subdivision (our home) that now encroached on her ancestral land.

The same forest that helped forge some of my dearest friendships as we walked her meandering trails, allowing for long chats so we could get to know each other better and better. Often I’d go there on my own for exercise or to simply recharge and rebalance.

This forest — a woodlot it’s called, though the name seems too small for all it contains — was right at the end of my street. In fact, part of it was literally in my own backyard. It was a big reason we bought the house we did. A reason that allowed us to make great friends with good neighbours.

After living in the big city these past 7 years, Friday I experienced the forest as I had the first time — struck by its beauty, its deceptive size, its abundance and variety of vegetation and sounds (and lack of sounds too, specifically traffic).

I walked and remembered. I sat and observed. I listened and absorbed.

They say you can’t go home again. Well, I think sometimes you can, if only to appreciate all over again the gifts you’d once grown accustomed to.

Home is wherever your heart is.

For me, on Friday, my heart was present, in the moment, in my forest, grateful for our years together. And my heart and I were happy.

 

Nature offers so much wisdom.

Here are two nuggets the forest gifted me with on Friday…love notes from Mother Nature. 

 

Growth happens right where you are, amid sunlight and shadow, as you set down your roots, ever deep and strong, to hold you steady as you reach for the sky, enabling you to sway (not topple) amid winds of change.

 

 

 

As I watched a squirrel crawl out toward the edge of a branch near the top of a tall tree:

There’s only so much you can forage on the ground. Dare to climb higher and see what else you can find. Dare to go out on a limb.

I invite you to notice the gifts that are all around you.
What do you appreciate about each?
Have you begun taking any for granted? 

 

I’m here to support you as you create your next chapter, rooted in the gifts of your past and present as you reach for the next limb to climb. Let’s chat. 

 

What your soul most wants you to know right now…part 2

What your soul most wants you to know right now…part 2

 

It feels as if the world is starting to open up again. How does that make you feel? Excited? Happy? Tentative? Worried?

Are you ready to come out of your bubble — a bubble that now, perhaps, feels safe with a new routine?

Do you feel a bit anxious, like you’re not quite ready — there are loose ends to tie up and you need a bit more time?

Are you looking forward to getting together with friends, to move around and go places?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been feeling all those things at different times and to varying degrees.

In Toronto, where I live (a COVID hot spot), about 68% of people 19 years of age and over have had their first vaccine. People 70+ are now getting their second with younger age groups being phased in incrementally. (I hope to get my second in early August.) Soon restaurants, stores and (fingers crossed) hair stylists will be allowed to reopen with limited capacity.

It feels like the pandemic is loosening its grip, in Toronto at least. How about where you live?

At the beginning of the pandemic, in an attempt to make sense of it all, I did what I’ve come to do and trust: I tuned into my Soul and the collective consciousness — the collective of Souls (mine, yours and everyone’s) because at a soul level we are all connected. I asked what our souls most wanted us to know in that moment in time. You can read what I received then here.

Today, as I’m feeling an easing of the virus’ purpose and an opening to what’s next for me, you and everyone, I tuned in again and asked the same question: What do you, the soul collective, most what us all to know right now?

Here’s what I heard: 

COVID was an opportunity to go within, to rediscover what’s truly important to you.

As you begin to go out into the world and expand your physical connections, do not be fearful. Greet each other with appreciation and love, with a shared understanding that you’ve both been through a shared experience, with compassion that you each walked your own path and your journeys were unique.

This time of COVID allowed you to come home to what is most important — each in your own bubble under a global bubble — individuals within a greater whole — the masks forcing you to look into one another’s eyes and see the humanity and the soul of the person in front of you. Take that with you. Remember what is important. Remember your compassion. Remember you are love and have the choice to live in fear or love. You have free will. How will you choose to go forth? What lessons from this time will you take with you?

Remember the gifts of this time.
Remember.
Remember. 

Love,
your Soul

 

 

The courage to follow your heart

The courage to follow your heart

The root of the word courage comes from the Latin word cor, meaning heart. With courage and heart so intrinsically intertwined, it’s no surprise that following your heart takes courage.

It takes courage to step outside your comfort zone.

To start something new
To start over
To leave what you’ve always known — what feels safe
To follow a dream against the well-meaning advice of others
To live with no regrets

It takes courage to be who you are, not who you’ve been trying to be or who you think you should be or who you’ve been told you are.

It’s scary to do something new or different.

The first step is definitely the hardest.

But once you take that first step, you’re on the path and one step closer to making your heart’s desire a reality. And it doesn’t need to be a big step. Often a tiny one is all it takes to get you moving in the right direction.

That single step, regardless of size, declares to yourself that a happy heart is worth pursuing.

You might not be able to see the end of the path when you start out — that’s usually why it’s so scary to start — but if you let your heart lead the way, it will keep you on course.

If it helps (and take it from me, it does), I offer you these three French words as support: pain au chocolat (or your favourite indulgence). You’ve begun a new chapter. Remember to reward yourself as you go; it makes the journey that much sweeter.

What is your heart asking of you?
You need only the courage to take the first (tiny) step.

Want support as you take that first step? Let’s chat. 

navigating change

navigating change

“Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.”
― John C. Maxwell

Change, especially if it’s not your idea, can be difficult. Yet change is part of life. We can’t escape it.

How you deal with change affects your experience. Do you see the change only as a challenge — something that’s been inflicted upon you that you must endure, full of “why me?!” drama and resistance — or do you see change as an opportunity, a chance for a new adventure?

We’ve all experienced change to varying degrees this past year+. Most of us have had losses to grieve of one kind or another, whether it be loss of a loved one, loss of a job, loss of freedom, loss of independence…

Change is inevitable, inside and outside of a pandemic.

However, change is not, and by the very nature of it cannot be, permanent. It’s a time of transition.

Change is but a portal to new possibilities.

Do you try to hold on tightly to what was or do you open yourself to something new? Growth is optional. The choice is yours.

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
— Wayne Dyer

Slipped under the door of change is an invitation to follow your heart. How will you rsvp?

How can I support you in this chapter of your life? Let’s chat

Are you afraid it’s too late for your dream?

Are you afraid it’s too late for your dream?

As Einstein told us, time is an illusion.

While we’ve all bought into the idea of a 24-hour day, and while the earth rotates on its axis creating daylight and darkness, time itself is not the linear ticking off of minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years as we tend to see it.

I’m sure you’ve had experiences when you’re so engrossed in something that time seems to fly by or stuck doing something you dislike and time seemed to drag on and on.

In Western culture where there’s an emphasis on setting and reaching specific goals and milestones in our lives (schooling, career success, marriage, families…), we let time lead the progression.

But time is infinite.

What if we believed time was on our side, instead of something we have to race against with the constant underlying pressure that time will run out before we get it all done and we’ll be out of luck?

The fact is, time will run out before you get it all done.

You’re always expanding and wanting more therefore you’ll always want more time.

Consider this for a moment: What if you let go of the illusion of finite time and opened yourself to infinite time? What would change for you?

Would you do more out of inspiration versus obligation?

Would your stress level decrease?

Would you have less regrets?

Not one of us knows exactly how long we have on this planet. All we know is that, at this moment, it appears we have some more time.

This Groundhog Day existence we’ve all been living in during the pandemic has offered us an interesting perspective on time.

One of the gifts of this time was to shake us out of our to-the-minute scheduled lives into slowing down, living moment-by-moment and day-to-day allowing us, in many cases, to come back to ourselves. We were given the gift of time which before we never seemed to have enough of. Time to really “be” with ourselves and some of the important people in our lives. Time to explore new interests or rekindle old ones. Time to play more or not — our choice.

Time, like choice, is ever-available. The choice is how do you want to use the time you’ve been granted?

Another interesting thing about time is that it doesn’t diminish a desire in your heart.

Something you may have felt you didn’t have time for before or maybe missed the boat on still exists in the timelessness of your inner being where the only agenda is to move you toward happiness no matter how long it takes.

A heart’s desire has no expiry date.

There’s no limited-time warranty.

While how you want to bring your yearning, dream or desire to life may have changed as you’ve grown and matured, if you’re still here, you still have time to do it. Or perhaps a new desire has emerged in recent months. (You’re ever-expanding, remember?)

What does a happy heart look like for you right now, at this time, in this chapter of your life?

Tune into your heart and ask: What desire wants to be fulfilled now, at this time? 

You need only the courage to seize the opportunity while the time you have left allows.

How can I support you? Let’s chat.