sabbatical

The Question of Balance Has Been on My Mind Lately

The Question of Balance Has Been on My Mind Lately

The question of balance has been on my mind quite a bit lately. Spring is here, and with it, I’m wondering how I’ll balance all I wish to do.

With spring and warmer temps on the way I’m yearning to be outside more, spend time with friends, and yet, still wanting to pursue working on workshops I’m planning and facilitating, along with the many ideas for future workshops I have waiting in the tunnel for exploration. I’ve also immersed myself in a few classes the last couple of weeks to fine tune my facilitating skills. How do I do all of this along with all the other basic functions of life?

While in the planning stages of the next workshop I’ll be offering in my home studio (Animal Wisdom and SoulCollage®) with my friend and colleague, Rachel, this question of trying to balance it all came up for both of us. No matter one’s age, as she is twenty years younger than me, it seems that we are always trying to achieve some sort of balance – and maybe it’s just because I’m a woman, but this question of balance seems to be more of a challenge with women.

Just thinking about it as I write this I feel a shift happening of my mind racing and even feeling a little light-headed and anxious. It’s times like this that I also think about all the reading I’ve been doing about the indigenous culture and how their life ebbed and flowed more in balance like nature, following the energy of the moon, and flowing with more ease as nature does.

We’ve been so conditioned as a society to strive for the top, whatever the top is, and achieve material things, and to keep going at a pace that isn’t really possible to keep up with. And then when we try to slow down it can feel like we want to jump out of our skin!…and as if we aren’t doing enough or being enough!

I know that feeling having taken a two month sabbatical after feeling so burnt out in 2013. Initially that is what it felt like. It was so uncomfortable. I didn’t know what to do with myself. But after two weeks, that uneasy, jittery, feeling began to subside. And so I think about that now as I’m questioning this new sense of a shift again within myself as the season changes. And Lord, if that word trust does not come up again as I give thought to all of this.

And I’m reminded of what my friend and I talked about and how I shared that my energy and production level is so much higher in terms of fulling my works mission from mid-fall through the winter months. When I look back over the past six months I’ve accomplished so much!

This need to find more balance of work and play, instead of all work, is knocking at my door as spring slowly makes its way to Wisconsin. And this is perhaps the lesson of what balance looks like for me instead of losing myself in thinking how our culture defines it. How important it is that we each take the time to tune into our own energy patterns and work with them, instead of comparing ourselves others.

And this is why I love writing as I just worked this question of balance all out on the page and I feel so much better. Hope it was beneficial for you, too!

Thank you for sharing and subscribing to my blog updates.

Signed Copies of My New Book Available Plus Special Gift – Limited Offer.

Signed Copies of My New Book Available Plus Special Gift - Limited Offer.

I have a limited quantity of my new memoir available that I’m happy to sign and personalize as gifts or a gift to yourself. There is still time that I can get those shipped to you in time for Christmas.

Joie gave me the gift of grace and wisdom, helping me understand that pausing in one’s life is essential to one’s well-being. 

As part of my two month sabbatical which I write about in my new memoir, I turned to my toolbox of self-help. One tool I chose during that time was to use Grace cards as a way to answer questions I had, confirmation, or to simply provide whatever wisdom it was I needed for that particular day. They never failed to help guide me in some way.

If you order a signed copy of my book, I will send along a Grace card, picked at random, with you in mind. This will be from my personal deck, the one I used during my sabbatical that led me to understanding the gift of wisdom found in the pause.

I only have a limited quantity of books on hand, so first come, first serve.  Cost with priority shipping within the US is $21.00

 

 

Listening Below the Surface. Signposts Along the Way.

Listening Below the Surface. Signposts Along the Way.

Three years ago at this time I was learning how to just be still.  In our crazy go, go, go world, the idea of just stopping most of everything I was doing in my working world and take a sabbatical felt like a very scary thing to do.

In part, because I was afraid of losing all I had worked so hard to build. I worried that others would think I was selfish or wouldn’t understand. I was afraid to hear what was just below the surface of my consciousness. But this inner niggle had been trying to get my attention for quite some time. It’s request to me was to slow down and re-evaluate what I wanted for my life.

I ignored that inner voice for too long, in part, because I just didn’t know what it was I wanted and that was scarier than just being and feeling uncomfortable. Until my dog, Joie, died…she was my wake-up call to be still and go within.

I can say today that I’m so glad I took that two month sabbatical. There were so many spiritual signposts during that time that were my guides, as they have also been while I worked to complete the writing of this time in my life, and now as I get ready to release that story.

The quote above is one of those, what I call a spiritual signposts, that crossed my path last Friday while perusing a magazine. This quote, and the time I spent on a personal inward mission speaks to what I learned…and that wisdom finds us when we are willing to be still and in silence. Just like when sleeping, answers oftentimes come to things we struggle with come to us during time of rest.

And may I share one other thing?  When I’ve been open to the spiritual signposts it sure has made my life that much more enriching and meaningful – besides the many goosebumps they’ve given me! And that is my intention – to continue to awaken to this time and space I’m within, and all it has to offer me if I continue to practice stillness, listen to my heart, and pay attention to how it truly is all divinely orchestrated if I just stay out of my own way.

Thank you for sharing and subscribing to my blog updates.