I love this time of year! It is so rich with potential with a whole new year ahead. It looks sort of like a blank slate and I can make anything happen.
Looking back over 2010 is my starting point. I am deeply grateful for this year.
There were highlights, challenges, pleasant surprises and solid repeats from past years that keep me grounded. It is not so much the list of things that I did that is important but what they contributed to my happiness and growth.
At the end of April and beginning of May, two events came together and offered a rich menu of experiences for growth. First there were 6 days of semi-primitive camping on an island in the sea, this juxtaposed with 5 days in a posh West Palm Beach Resort. I do the camping trip every year with the same group of friends. It is an immersion in nature, with no electricity, the freshest air, unpredictable weather, dolphins, kayaks, birds, waves, sun, sand, conversation and community. I love it! It is comfortable and wonderous! Every year this trip offers special surprises from nature and spirit. Then there was the Posh Resort just a little over an hour south of the island. I left the island sun-kissed and high on life, infused with nature and feeling peace. I arrived at the Resort in my sand and salt covered Honda packed to the max with camping gear. The valets at the entry paid no attention to me. When I walked up to the front desk, the clerk suggested that I might have the wrong address. How funny. I did look so out of place. I was indeed in the right place but I did FEEL very out of place. Everything was un-natural. My room was upgraded and it was huge. I went from sleeping in a tent as my home for a week to sleeping in a room as big as my house, with a full kitchen, living room, dining room, and two large bedroom suites. Not to mention the large balcony over looking the pools with sea view in the distance. The closet was as big as one of the bedrooms in my house. Opulence! Excess! What choices we have in this world. I felt very uncomfortable there at first. I wanted back my starlight, sea, sand and fresh air. When I was in the elevator, I got a look from a woman that was unforgettable. She was scanning me top to bottom out of the corner of her eye with a scowl on her face. That was a big wake-up call for me. I had to change my attitude if I was going to feel comfortable here and make it more about energy than materials. I got right to work, examining my beliefs, my fears, my feelings...I did a little work with Energy Medicine ala Donna Eden, some EFT, some other release work and decided to be, to just be the embodiment of love and joy. Things changed immediately and by the end of the weekend, I was playing with the valets, and when I asked them to go to my car and get my boogie board out of the trunk, they just came back laughing in a good natured way at the irony of it all. I never got another strange look and I had a great time. By day three, I even had a room-mate, another woman from the conference that had been driving a pretty long distance each day accepted my offer to use the second bedroom, after all, it was just sitting there empty. I had fun playing in the ocean every day too!
The conference itself was another aspect of the value of this time.
At
Caroline Cory's Healers program I had a rare opportunity to practice my skills at tapping into people's energy to see what insights I could gain.
This is something that is fairly easy for me to do with friends and family but then I already know a lot about them.
In this case, everyone was unknown to me and I could experience myself merging with their energy and getting impressions and to follow that with feedback on accuracy.
I also learned more great techniques on what to do from there.
I love the
Omnium Method and by my own experience, find it to be one of the most powerful methods for reprogramming the mind, releasing old trauma and beliefs, and infusing the self with high frequency energies of love and light.
On the last morning at breakfast, sitting with friends made during the week, a woman who was also attending the conference asked if she could join our table. She had been very quiet during the entire week and we had hardly noticed her but this morning something was different and she began to tell of what happened to her that night. It was a tale of angels, past lives, forgiveness and understanding. She appeared and was like a new person. I asked her about her life and she began to talk about her journey as an artist, painting inspired art and I was listening with my whole heart. There was something in this that I was meant to hear.
When I got home the next day, I opened an email to find a story about Stewart Cubley and
"The Painting Experience" I visited the website and was further intrigued.
Within 24 hours, I got one more message about painting from inspiration.
Maybe it was time to go back and see when I could make on of those workshops and it just so happened that there was one in Asheville in August.
Not to far and affordable, so I registered.
And here is some more synchronicity:
Larry and I have been looking for a home in the area around Asheville, NC. for relocation in the next few years. Last May, in 2009, I spotted a home that I felt immediately attracted to. After seeing it, I felt it was "the one" and Larry agreed. We made an offer at a price we could afford in 2009, but it was not accepted. The house later came off the market and had re-emerged and was now listed at near our initial offer. We went together to look at it at that point and restated our offer. This time it was accepted! The closing date, Thursday, August 12th, that conference I just spoke of, August 13-15!!
I started thinking about life in North Carolina, picturing what I wanted and I realized that it was time for me to start doing my work in the world. My youngest daughter is becoming more independent and within 5 years I will have a husband that is no longer working in his current job and a daughter graduating from High School. It is definitely a good time for me to step out. I hired a personal coach and was coming up with the plan to launch my coaching business and create Heart of Prosperity as a successful business.
I attended
"The Painting Experience" workshop in August in Asheville and saw an old part of myself emerge.
I had the chance to feel myself create spontaneously and without judgement for days in a row.
From the space created by the "Experience", I was able to feel the freedom and sense of joy that I have not had so much of since childhood.
That little joyful playful part of me that had tucked herself away when the responsibilities of running a household and caring for a family consumed my days.
She only came out briefly every now and then, but by this event, she got to show herself and all her glory.
I see that she is a very important part of me.
She holds me in the present moment.
I am approaching many other parts of my life now with that same sense of freedom and non-judgement.
It has restored a childlike playfulness and real joyful quality to my life.
I left Asheville with a whole new outlook on life and a direction.
When I got home, I began taking action to get Heart of Prosperity launched and by October, I had my first paying clients. It is expanding and growing from there. I have found some of this to be intimidating, stretching me out of my comfort zone, especially the marketing side of having a business, but the coaching itself has been a great joy and I feel like I am meant to do this. I am good at it. Some beautiful combination of experience, study and skill have come together for me in a very effective way and it is rewarding to offer it to others.
To summarize the year, I would say that I lived from my heart and I see the value and the magic that comes from having trust in the process. I often would say out loud that I felt like every day feels like Christmas, because so many little and big gifts and unexpected delights showed up day after day. That is not to say that there were not big challenges, pain, fear, and all that too, but it was the TRUST that made it all so much easier. TRUST!
Happy New Year to All!
