2022

“We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words in them ourselves.  The book is called OPPORTUNITY and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”

• Edith Lovejoy Piece

MAKE THINGS GROW

“Some say it’s the sun, some say it’s the rain, but I know it’s love that makes things grow.”

• Vanna Bonta

Happy New Year!

Here we stand at the precipice of time.  We have an entire year as a blank slate in front of us.  We have wisdom from lessons learned, successes and failures at our backs.  Where will we go from here?

What do you want to make grow in 2022?

A new year is a great time to assess where we are and where we want to be.  What opportunities do you want to create for yourself?  What have you been waiting to do, see, say?

Is there someplace you have not visited that you want to plan a trip to see in 2022?  Do you often think about learning a new skill or embarking on a new hobby?  What about dancing?  Is a salsa class, line dancing or something a little slower in your future?

I love to read.  One of my favorite authors is Louise L Hay.  There is not anything she has written that has not impacted my mind and heart for good.  If you have never read her teachings, I highly encourage you to do so.  If reading full books aren’t your thing then she has short affirmations or even a calendar with a daily thought that you might enjoy. Something she always says is, “what you put your attention on grows.”

I believe love makes things grow.  As you enter this new year full of unknowns, I invite you to choose love as your guide.  Put your full attention on the things you love sharing and expressing love to everyone you are in contact with.  Use gratitude and kindness as tools to show your love in all you do.

As you make plans and embrace when those plans don’t always go according to design let love guide your mind and heart. Ask yourself often, does this make me happy?  Do I feel good when I think or speak about _________?  If the answer is no, make some edits! 

Let the vibration of love and kindness be the driving force behind all you do and say this year.  Be focused on the good, the fun, the kind and giving parts of yourself and others.  Allow all the love in your mind and heart to pour forth from you in all you touch.  What a year to look back upon that will be!

NO STRUGGLE REQUIRED

“Sometimes when you’re in a dark place you think you’ve been buried, but you’ve actually been planted.”

-Christine Caine

Is there anyone reading this who can say they have not struggled?  How often have you thought yourself or heard someone else say they have had their fair share of struggles?

If you were in a room with a group of ten people and everyone shared their life experiences you would gain a new perspective of your own.  What was shared could break your heart and make you feel grateful for the issues you have faced.  Or you could think that no one else knows or understands you or what you have lived with and through.  You would see what others have and do live and struggle with too.  No one person is immune to life’s challenges no matter how things look on the outside, no matter their title or commas in the bank.  I often say that life is like Chutes and Ladders, you climb, you slide, you make big gains and short setbacks.  You have times with big setbacks and short gains.  That seems to be the way of it.

As a strong-minded opinionated woman, I often think I can manage what comes my way.  I don’t shrink away from the hard stuff.  I have often viewed life’s struggles or challenges as something that needs to be handled or resolved.  Like some task that needs performed.  I have spent years struggling with health issues.  I have cried, laughed, talked, cried some more while processing and struggling with the unexpected death of my son Joey.  I have lamented and struggled with the deaths of other loved ones.  I have been a care giver and watched bodies and minds fail those I love.  I have struggled to find the balance in and through many of these and other life events.  I have struggled financially.  I have struggled inside the titles and expectations of being all a wife, mother, employee, friend, daughter, sister, and neighbor could be.

Then I read something from Deepak Chopra that said, “No Struggle Required”.  I realized this was a foreign concept to me as so much of my life had been spent in a struggle of some sort. 

What if I didn’t struggle?

What would that even look or feel like?

I realized I had no clue and very much want to find out!  This simple statement has allowed me to turn a corner in my thoughts allowing my mind and heart to see and experience things in an entirely new way.  The whole concept of it is what it is has a whole new meaning. 

Instead of struggling with or through things I am learning, embracing, allowing experiences to flow over and through me.  I ask myself if I am committed to being happy how would I handle or respond in this situation?  It has already taken me on some wonderful and more peaceful paths.  I take on challenges with a childlike wonder knowing its ok to make mistakes, clean up messes when they are made.  I love to stretch my mind and expand my awareness, a journey free from struggle feels amazing already!

I invite you to put struggle on the shelf.  Let it collect dust!  Embrace learning. Leading with love, choosing happy and treating others with kindness and respect as a reflection of who you are not how they have behaved.  Yes, I know this is easy to write and different to practice. Do it anyway!  Plant yourself in the fertile soil of acceptance allowing your very being to expand in light through truth in all you say and do.

May this month lead you into a beautiful new year with more of everything good!

All my best,

Genna