holding space

My Word + One for 2018 + a Gift for You!

My Word + One for 2018 + a Gift for You!

I enjoy picking a word for the year! But this year I was having a hard time deciding between two. Then I saw my friend and fellow blogger, Lori, of Oh! The Places I Go share that she couldn’t decide either. So she picked two!

While I didn’t need “permission”  to go with two, it was confirmation for me as I’d really been feeling stuck! And goodness, for no apparent reason at all. Sometimes I don’t always see the obvious. And it’s that “good girl” in me wanting to “follow the rules.”  Well, the heck with that! 

I woke a little before 5am today eager to start 2018, but also thinking about my two words trying to narrow it down to one. But neither was willing to budge.

Depth came to me first a few weeks ago. But then the word abundance began dancing in my head. It isn’t just about abundance in terms of financial. But in all honesty, yes, I’d like to bring in some income of my own again. I’ve not done so since my work with Frankie as I’d been in transition for a few years.

During the summer I immersed myself in a passionate idea of launching a new service – one I’ve talked about quite a bit lately and my Intuitive Oracle Guide offering. I went through a 22-week group coaching program to put all the pieces together, followed by attending Oracle School in October and November.

I’ve been, in some ways, quietly building the momentum these last couple of months with plans to officially launch my new offering on January 9th with a free webinar (I’ll announce the details about that this Wednesday)! But as I’ve been doing all the behind-the-scenes personal mastery work, I’ve also been doing reading sessions for those interested.

That is where I became stuck between the two words of abundance and depth, and trying to choose just one. They are both so rich for me in terms of how I feel doing this new work. It brings me such a depth of gratitude and my heart feels full with abundance for those I’ve been able to help guide.

While yes, as I mentioned a moment ago I will welcome the financial piece of it as a new arm of Joyful Paws, it’s also so rewarding! It’s been so rich with synchronicity and magic when I’m able to help someone gain a new perspective when they are feeling stuck. 

These are the type of conversations I want to be having – those rich in depth – because they feed my soul. And it’s something I realized about myself this past year. That the foundation of who I am is that I love seeing life in all its many layers, of which we each have so many layers too, and what makes us uniquely who we are.

To help another by holding space, really listening, and working with oracle cards to start a meaningful dialogue has provided so much new rich content for my own life just by being in service in this way…and why depth and abundance just have to go together for me this year.

And it’s what I want more of to experience because it is bringing a new depth of abundant joy to my life!

So now its your turn. It’s not too late to give thought to a word (or two!) for 2018. If you want to share with me what your word or words may be and why, I’d certainly love to hear. Really! I love this kind of stuff! So bring it on!

And to kick off this new year, which I think is going to be a beautiful one, I have a little gift for you. Sunday, I sat down with the Power Animal Oracle Cards  and asked for guidance from the animals for you and me for the year – one for each month.  

Perhaps it might entice a word to come to the surface by hearing from the animals! But you can read this e-book in full to start if you wish, and then revisit it at the beginning of each month to see what animal is here to guide you with their wisdom.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed putting this together for you!

Just click here to download or click on graphic below.

Happy New Year with love and gratitude,

Barbara

On Being a Space Keeper

On Being a Space Keeper

There aren’t many days I miss my yoga practice, while meditation is something I will more easily skip. That is, if my mind has its way and it can be awfully convincing some mornings!

Today was such a day. I was thinking about my “to-do” list filled with fun things I want to accomplish as I moved through my yoga poses talking myself right into skipping meditation at the end.

As I listened to a new artist I’d not heard before as my music for my practice, Krishna Das, I couldn’t let go of the chanting music so soon and found myself so drawn to it, that meditation became more enticing toward the end of my practice.

As I settled onto my meditation cushion, I told myself I only had to meditate five minutes convincing myself that was at least something. My mind still battled me, wanting to jump right into my work, but the music wouldn’t let me go yet. So I sat. And then I heard in my mind, “this is the most important work you have to do today. The rest can wait and will get done. You are a keeper of space.”

I knew what that meant, “keeper of space.” I love the term “holding space” which for me means holding space for others so that they can move through their own process of figuring challenges out or discovering new things about themselves. I’m not always perfect at this, sometimes wanting to interject advice I think will help, but I too, am a work in progress.

But I enjoy using “holding space” as a facilitator when I teach SoulCollage(r) because I really believe that telling someone how they should or should do something or how they should think is of not always the best way. Being a guide who holds space for others to discover and uncover what is right for them is truly a joy to watch unfold when a person has a “light bulb” moment.

And as I thought more about this being a keeper of space, I realized too that it was the most important thing I would do today. Holding space, sitting in silence with my soul, praying for peace for our world, that energy then moves out into our troubled world.

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