What a year it has been. It may not have been the greatest, but I want to share all the best of 2019 with you!
I celebrated my first year of blogging, which was a little disappointing. Honestly, I thought that blogging would come so naturally. It seemed like I got all of these signs to create a wonderful blog. But when I sat down to write; it was like looking at a giant white wall with a blinking cursor of a guard denying my entry to the world wide web. I struggled to see the connection between my spirituality and the work I was doing. SO, I picked my spirituality, which was 100% the right choice.
I was able to create a course based on my studies of lunar phases, menstrual cycles and the Five Chinese elements. I got to work intimately with women and start creating a sisterhood with people who were just my friends or acquaintances. Internally, this has been a massively fulfilling year, but externally it was hard. As I was learning to integrate all of the things I was learning, I wasn’t making the kind of money that I was hoping to, and a lot of that had to do with how much I was doing. I needed to learn how to focus my energy and how to balance.
Less is More
A lot of the time, the answer was less is more. The less I tried to pack in, made a bigger impact. Writing this blog post was more about me doing it than about it being read, maybe I’m not supposed to admit that. With the technical difficulties that I had trying to upload photos to this particular blog post, I even decided to leave them out.
“If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if an hour, I am ready now.”
-Woodrow Wilson
Last year, I packed this post full of products that I would still recommend to anyone, but this year; I want to share some simple things that have been changing my life and don’t cost anything but some of your energy.
Kundalini Yoga
This is probably not the yoga class you’re taking at the gym; Kundalini yoga is a powerful combination of mediation and chanting. It consists of making ancient geometric poses with your body while you call in whatever you might be looking for in life. The truth is that Kundalini is the energy, symbolized by a coiled snake at the base of your spin, and this yoga is to activate that energy within in. The chants used are part of Shaktism; a stem off of Hinduism. LET ME JUST SAY THIS: If you have the discipline to sit down and do this for the 5 minutes it takes EVERY day, you can do anything. For more information you can read more here.
Binge Worthy, but Metaphysically Motivating
I read some good books this year, and I watched some great movies. If you need a pick me up in a couple hours; these might be just what you’re looking for. These are to 2 that really stuck out me, and I found the both on Netflix. If you have any recommendations, I am always looking for a good movie.
- Brene Brown’s Call to Courage (see the trailer here)
- Heal documentary (check out the preview)
- Tidying Up with Marie Kondo (here’s the trailer)
Shedding, Literally….
I have been all about personal transformation this year, but I’m talking about literally shedding some skin here. I have heard a lot about dry brushing and exfoliating, but I had not tried invested in it for myself. This year for my birthday, I was gifted a spa treatment that involved the use of some woven, exfoliating gloves. It was…invigorating. I finally understood the effects of the blood flow stimulation, and the smooth skin was unreal. The health benefits from this kind of circulation boost is just what your lymph nodes need during the winter season(AKA flu season).
Here’s a dry brush:
You can find an inexpensive one, like this little guy from Target
Here are the exfoliating gloves I LOVE!
Real Release
It felt like I could never really surrender something; a thought, a feeling, a habit, a wound. I spent a lot of my life trying to be ok, when I knew I wasn’t really, and part of solving that problem is asking for help. When we let ourselves be helped, we release that burden from ourselves. So too, we when we really let ourselves find out why we do, feel, or think things is the only way to break free.
What does release look like? A symbolic gesture, an innocuous decision, and painstaking growth. All of these things are milestones on the spiral of change in your life. I used to pray for patience, and I’m still always surprised when I have to use it for things like personal growth.
Release doesn’t look like much when you’re just looking the difference between this and last year, but you can feel the grace. Learning how to surrender the shame of not being where you think you should be, and trusting that if you keep trying you will eventually see the change. Nothing happens overnight, except pudding.
Sources:
Kundalini Yoga