This year has taught us all so much, about ourselves and others.
Some months have felt like lifetimes others have flown in a blink of an eye.
Some days were deeply spiritual and inspirational more so than I've ever experienced before. Others, well, I boarded the emotional rollercoaster and experienced a high and low each minute.
January
As you begin to listen to yourself and follow your InG, the Universe rejoices "She's remembering" -
I began Transcendental Meditation this month, and it reconnected me on a deep spiritual level.
The lesson here for me was TIME - Time for me, I was wasting this precious currency at a rate of knots. TM gave me back the structure and the control to stop squandering it away. Having a daily meditation routine for at least 20 mins in the morning and again in the late afternoon, you stop and realign, reconnect and listen. Through gifting myself the TIME to practice my TIME has become better spent on others.
When we fill our own cup, it's able to overflow to others.
February
'The best investment is the one you make in yourself" Warren Buffett - I'm a lover of learning, it makes my heart incredibly happy, I could spend my days easily consuming information then using it to create change.
This month I expanded my learning by completing a Plant-Based Nutrition Course with eCornell University. For me, changing to a plant-based lifestyle was a game-changer in so many ways, health-wise. I'm able to hear what my body needs for energy and repair, it's truly magical.
The unexpected lesson was - MINDFULNESS - the deeper the research and learning took me on my plant-based journey the more MINDFUL I became, not just around food, but the planet, consumption and the power of healing ourselves.
"Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing". Jon Kabat-Zinn
March
The month's lesson was simple - CONTROL - life will always throw curve balls but how we choose to respond to them is what matters.
This month taught me that I don't have control over everything that happens around me, BUT I do have control over everything that happens to me.
I can choose my reactions, emotions, thoughts, and words - this is powerful stuff.
"No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change." Barbara de Angelis
April
Exercise, mushroom & brussell lasagna, sunshine, working outside, family, grocery delivery, dog walks, meditation, tarot, music, birds singing, patio therapy, my first Sunbow, spiritual gifts.
This month's lesson was definitely - GRATITUDE - my pages were literally overflowing. This is one reason I love looking over previous journals the reminder of everything that we have to be grateful for. When times get tough as they often do, it reminds us how lucky we are to be alive.
May
Quizzes, karaoke, game nights, family movies, long walks and bike rides, we did more this month as a family than we probably have ever done with surprisingly little arguments. Apart from the Monopoly night, honestly, that game should have a warning on the box WARNING: May Cause your family to Implode - I would love to hear if anyone family playing Monopoly has ever survived without tears or an argument.
The lesson here was definitely - BE WHERE YOUR FEET ARE - Giving yourself 100% to every moment you are in is magical and realigning.
From cooking, talking, playing games, be there 100% you realise how much you miss when you're not PRESENT.
June
"Embrace uncertainty, some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives won't have a title until much later" Bob Goff.
Do what you can, with what you've got. This month the realisation was hitting home that uncertainty was here to stay for a while. I'm a planner, I love schedules, but also love being a fly by the seat of my pants type of girl - I'm a Gemini I'm allowed to be both. So it was beginning to feel a little weird that I couldn't plan more than a week ahead, with anything or anyone.
The lesson was this - GO WITH THE FLOW - its actually really nice to move organically through life, barefoot and happy, I think I've adopted this forever now. Yes, i know some things need to be planned, but I've learned to love and appreciate the Universe has her own schedule, and I actually like it….its exciting.
July
The bottom step of my stairs had a few visits this month. The realisation that we weren't getting away for the Summer had hit, groundhog day and cabin fever were at an all-time high, and my head according to my journal felt very full all of the time.
My lesson this month was - IT's OK NOT TO BE OK - you're allowed to feel crap, emotional, exhausted, frustrated and all of the other things that aren't exactly joyous and fun, just don't let them stick around too long. I get asked a lot, 'do you believe in faking it until you make it' regarding being positive and my answer is NO. I believe in acknowledging every emotion the good, the not so good and giving myself the time to deal with that then reframing and moving on.
Simon Sinek author of Start with Why said it best "There is a difference between being positive and optimistic. Positivity is telling ourselves and others that everything is good, even if it isn't. Optimism accepts the truth of reality and looks forward to a brighter future."
See, it's ok to have a yuk day, just remember tomorrow is a new day.
August
I missed not being on holiday so much, I love sunshine, sand between my toes, and the ocean (definitely a mermaid in one of my past lives)
But one of the lessons I learned this month was WE ARE NOT ALONE - sometimes it really feels like it, yet we never are, there is always someone somewhere on hand to be an ear or a shoulder to rest your head-on. I wrote in my journal this poem, so I thought I would share.
FootPrints in the Sand
One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.
After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.
This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You'd walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."
He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."
September
I was getting power back and feeling a little bullish against COVID and all that it had brought us.
My lesson this month was GROWTH - you grow through what you go through, so very true. Like many, my life has changed in so many ways, not being able to see clients face to face, not hugging my parents, and adapting to living in a different way.
But I have grown spiritually and emotionally more than any other chapter in my life to date. Healing happens by feeling.
October
A flare-up of CFS took me by surprise, I felt weak, tired and emotional.
This month's lesson was LISTEN - our bodies are wise if we pay attention great things come to light. When I was first diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue in 1997 the specialist said to me, listen to your body when you're hungry eat, tired sleep, thirsty drink… wise words, which for many years after I choose to ignore.
Reconnecting with myself and learning the true art of listening has helped tenfold, mentally, emotionally, and physically.
We so often go through life at breakneck speed and spend so much of our time listening to others, wants, needs and opinions we forget to listen to our own.
"The word listen contains the same letters as the word silent" Alfred Brendel.
November
Through November, I had a lot of thoughts of the past. Not in a yearning to be back there kind of way but in a being thrown back to acknowledge kind of way. I can honestly say I'm not proud of many times in my life, many times I could've been a better person a better human. My actions, words and thoughts have not always been, well, nice.
When I looked back over these chapters of my life this month, the lesson I learned was FORGIVENESS - to be able to move forward, I have to release the past. I am no longer that person so:-
to the girl I was - I FORGIVE YOU.
December
As this year comes to a close, with a new year ready to begin my lesson I've learned this month is BE YOURSELF - so much time and energy is spent trying to please others or fit in in a particular way, which always leaves you feeling empty, unfulfilled and out of balance. BE BRAVE, BE YOURSELF - your tribe will find you. BELIEVE IN THIS.
Wishing you a happy, healthy and purposeful 2021 - dream BIG
Love & light Kate x
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