The calendar is rolling around to the end of 2012, but we
still have 12-12-12 to look forward to. What will you be doing on Dec 12, 2012
at 12:12? Maybe you’ll be sitting down with your journal looking back at the
year’s highs and lows.
There’s a lot to be grateful for, isn’t there? For myself, in
spite of having faced several huge challenges this year, it still feels like a very
heart-full, healing year. Wouldn't that make a great journal exercise I thought,
as I read a newsletter from a life coach who was celebrating her year with her
business. Why not look back at January 2012, instead of forward at 2013, (not
yet, not yet). How did the year start? If I go back and read my journal entries
from that month, will I find my hopes and desires were fulfilled? Did I have a
clear idea of what I wanted to explore and expand and bring into my life?
If you could make yourself a little ritual for the end of
this year, sometime before the Christmas holidays get you ramped up and
over-scheduled with baking, cooking, shopping and wrapping, it might just make
your holiday season that much more gratifying, as you give thanks for
everything that has come to you, all the projects you manifested, the actions
you took, the rest you gave yourself, the time you allotted for self-care and
finding balance in the mad rush of days…the love you shared with family and
best friends.
Last year, my sister Sue, who does astrology charts, told me
that my purpose was to learn how to nurture myself better, then to teach this to
others. I found that in my journal from January 5, 2012. What a good reminder….must
nurture self first, so I can walk my talk. I take a look back to see how I did
this year…
In January, I was preparing to launch my book for women, The Tao of Turning Fifty. How could I forget
those crazy months of proofreading and sending in corrections, waiting
impatiently for the book to be ready to go to print so I could hold my book launch?
Fifty lovely people came to the launch party at Enoteca Mozza in February. Within
one hour of my Press Release, Mitsumi Takahashi from CTV had called to book a
live TV interview (which ran in April). That was a good feeling! I had a few
reviews and write-ups in local newspapers. Book sales are coming along, slowly
but surely (about 200 sold online or directly through my classes, and speaking
engagements). On the way I’ve met lots
of fascinating women, attended workshops on publicity, networked and blogged
and twittered and Facebooked away the hours, connecting with menopausal women
and women turning fifty. One more milestone on the recently revamped website –
100 subscribers to my newsletter!
I feel it’s time to thank you for all your encouragement and
support in this, too. A writer without an audience is like a lone mountain climber
calling his name into the canyons. She may get feedback, but not a sense of connection,
which is really why I write.
In my forties, I had no idea what my fifties would look like.
They have turned out to be the most creative years – something to do with kids
growing up and leaving home, for sure. They were both away at school this year,
one in Architecture, one in Interior Design. My daughter made it through
Hurricane Sandy in October, and my son made it through a serious ATV accident
in Greece earlier in July. In spite of having his jaw wired shut for 6 weeks,
he was ready to get back to school in September, with not too many consequences.
I was very close to my Vitamix blender all summer and back to motherhood 24/7. Time to practice what I teach about getting enough
quiet time and rest. Looking back at 2012 has made me tired!
Lots more happened, of course. I filled up two ring-bound
notebooks with pages of soul searching, questing and seeking for inspiration. Listen to your life calling was the name
of 2012 journaling class. And it’s been calling me loud and clear. New classes
in 2013 will be called The Creative Circle, as I welcome women into the circle
of journaling and SoulCollage®. I hope
reading this blog will help encourage you to listen in to your life too.
Journaling is such a great, totally inexpensive, accessible way
to find out who you are and what you want. As long as you have a pen and some
paper, it’s the cheapest form of therapy I’ve found. In those pages, you learn
how to be your own best companion, how to let the answers bubble up of their
own accord, and how to tune into your inner guidance system, just by sitting
and breathing, grounding and centering, then listening in for the gentle nudging
and whispers from your soul… Here’s a short exercise for you to practice with:
What do I need today?
What do I want?
What am I grateful for?
Three questions to set you on the road to wellness and
self-knowledge.
Namaste,
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