I’ve been envisioning “home” for these last few months in a big way – probably partly spurred by being pushed to move by our current landlords since they are moving into their house.
I’ve moved literally over one hundred times in my 42 years – as a single mom for almost 12 years, housing was not an easy thing when I was younger. And I know I’ve had it much easier than many folks in our current housing crisis.
The vision I’ve been feeling into recently, though, has become far more than *just* home for myself and my family.
Weirdly enough, I’ve been seeing a vision of a particular house every time I close my eyes and think about ‘home’ for these past few months. I thought it was just an archetypal representation of a beautiful home.
A few weeks ago, one of my clients saw a post I wrote about my vision, and sent me a listing for a property that just came up for sale…!
When I clicked on the listing, I was like, “Oh my gosh, that’s the house!”
Last week, I spent the morning walking 38 acres of beautiful forest – and envisioning hosting grief retreats, rituals & trainings there, and protecting the incredible magic that this land holds.
It is lush with Cedar, Sword Fern & Salmon berry – I’m envisioning paths through the forest and many sacred spots for people to come and be in connection with nature, themselves & each other.
This is the forest (and me!) …
If you’d love to come to a retreat with me one day, please hold this vision with me – and I’ll keep you posted!!
In other news, our family is preparing to move to our “new”, “for now” rental home next week. Davis has been packing everything into boxes – and while I’d prefer not to go through the laborious process of moving, I’m pretty excited about our new house which is closer to the beach (just a block away!) and has a bigger yard and beautiful deck with a gazebo.
I can definitely imagine myself drinking tea and writing there. (Book coming!! Also hold that vision with me please!!)
As I prepare to embark on these exciting projects, I’m doing a lot of reflecting on where I have come from along with this incredible community.
I’ve got to say, if you told my 25 year old, single-parent self that at 42, I would be leading an international community of incredible humans who are doing this deep work of turning their pain & suffering into medicine for the world, I can’t say I would have believed you.
It is such a privilege and an honour to get to be here and to witness literally hundreds of people in the last several years go through such deep healing in our groups and programs.
Journal prompt & practice for June:
The Summer Solstice is a time of expansive energy, and if you imagine a pendulum swinging, we are right at the top of the swing. There is a sacred pause that happens in this time before, a peak moment. It can also be an incredibly BUSY time of year.
When we are grieving, and really always, it is important to find time to slow down, reflect and feel our feelings.
If we don’t give ourselves the space to feel our grief, we lose track of the ability to feel anything.
We lose our ability to feel joy and connection, and it can be very difficult or impossible to feel a connection with our beloved dead, because to feel them, we have to be able to FEEL OURSELVES.
It’s a seemingly weird paradox that we have to let ourselves grieve that our beloved dead are no longer in a body that we can hug, in order to be able to feel their Spirit.
Slowing down and feeling is critical to maintain a connection with ourselves, each other and especially our beloved dead.
This practice is designed to help you slow down and feel, but in a contained way so it doesn’t become overwhelming.
Choose 1-2 of the prompts below & you will set a timer for 5 minutes. Begin writing when the timer starts, and stop when the timer stops. Pause, breathe, & feel what is happening in your body. Breathe, feel, and put on your favourite music and dance/move/shake your body for another 5 minutes.
PROMPTS:
Choose one of the following journal prompts:
I remember…
What I’m grateful for is…
I miss…
I wish someone would ask me…
______________________________
Great work. Pause, breathe, & feel what is happening in your body. Breathe, feel, and put on your favourite music and dance/move/shake your body for another 5 minutes.
And then…don’t forget to stop and smell the roses…
