LIFE | LOVE | LOSS

“Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.”

– John C. Maxwell

SMALL EDITS

“It’s in the small habits. How you spend your mornings. How you talk to yourself. What you read. What you watch. Who you share your energy with. Who has access to you. That will change your life.”

-Michael Tonge

Have you ever paddled in a canoe with someone?  Perhaps you have been in the position of rutter in the back?  If you have you know how small edits, slights movements can make big changes to your direction.  You know that if only one person on one side of the boat is paddling you will spin in circles, getting nowhere fast.  If you have not yet had this life experience I recommend it!  If you are single and dating, even better!  Take your date on such an adventure, you will learn a lot about yourself and them!!

In life these same principles apply.  Often small slight edits in our thinking can change a situation or bring about new perspectives that shed light on a circumstance allowing us to view it in a new way.  We are here to learn, to grow and evolve.  We do that in change.  We need awareness first, to watch, listen, be aware of the things we are doing, saying, thinking or behaviors that are influencing us for good or not so good.

What are small edits you can make right now at the halfway point of this year to bring you MORE ___________.  You fill in the blanks!

What is it you are longing for more of?

• Peace                                    
• Contentment
• Joy
• Laughter
• Spirituality
• Growth
• Courage
• Forgiveness

I invite you to make one small edit to bring you closer to that which will give you more!

When my youngest son Joey died by suicide, I didn’t know if I would ever know peace again.  I didn’t understand the loss, I couldn’t fathom why my beautiful boy was gone, why it was by his own hand.  I wanted/needed it to make sense, and I could not make it make sense. 

I watched my husband, daughter and son all grieve in different and unique ways searching for their own forms of peace in the pain.  We lost the same human being but we each lost someone very different in our lives.

My daughter was married and lived out of state.  She missed Joey the most at holidays and family gatherings when she would have had the most time with him.  My husband was in law enforcement and worked nights and weekends.  He missed his son and having a child who liked his dad to make grilled cheese sandwiches after school when he woke up from working a graveyard shift.  My son lost a brother who he was best buddies with when young and mortal enemies the last teenage years, so he had added guilt to his grief.  That was heavy.

Each of us had to find and create ways inside our unique pain to have peace, joy and laughter in our lives without Joey.

I invite you to find ways inside your own grief journey to learn, grow, embrace the hurt of finding the untapped love waiting to be expressed in new and different ways.

I invite you to make one small edit this month to bring you closer to that which will give you more!

All my best,

Genna

MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT

“that was her magic,

she could still see the sunset,

even on those darkest days.”

– Atticus

Summer is awesome for more time in the sun.  Be outside, put your bare feet on the earth, sand, and in water!  Breathe deeply!  Let the summer sun warm you from the inside out.

It can be a great season of renewal and recharging!  It can also be a season of too much together time!  Say, no!  It is a full and complete sentence that does not require an explanation.  If you know a specific gathering will push you over an edge, cause stress or wear you out emotionally, don’t go!

I have found the older I get the more I make decisions on where I will spend my time based on parking, what kind of lights there are and definitely WHO will be there!  JOY-MO is real.  Discover the joy of missing out!

You can decline politely, ask someone to share pictures of the gathering or event with you.  You pick the times, places and events that feel good to you!