abundance

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

Posted by Barbara Techel

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

Decluttering and Organizing Led to Creative Abundance

Posted by Barbara Techel
Decluttering and Organizing Led to Creative Abundance
Photo credit: Julia Engel

Abundance is a process of letting go; that which is empty can receive. Bryant H. McGill

I recently finished reading a book titled, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Organizing and Decluttering by Marie Kondo.

Before I finished reading the last chapter Monday evening I couldn’t help but stop and organize my leggings, tights, socks, bras and undies drawers in my closet.  It’s all in the art of folding and tossing or donating what does not “spark joy” which is the title of Marie’s second book, and I just picked up on loan from my library yesterday afternoon. This new book shows many illustrations that Marie talks about in her first book.

There is truly something to the release and gaining of energy that one encounters when putting these practices into place. While I’ve purged and organized over the years and always feel a new abundance of energy when I do, Marie shares that her method will keep you from returning to declutter. Time will tell as I continue to make small steps toward doing more of my clothing, books, papers, etc. which I will tackle as I feel moved to and more so when winter arrives.

I share photos here of my leggings and socks drawers I did and will spare you my bra and undies drawer.  🙂  But seriously, because I don’t have an over abundance of either of those, that drawer is quite sparse as I’m pretty basic when it comes to those departments. To me, at this age, it’s all about comfort!

leggings drawer
socks and tights drawer

While Marie suggests in her “KonMari” method to tri-fold socks, I found that my wool socks are too thick for that and actually take up more room, so they are just folded in half. So you just have to experiment and do what feels right for you in certain categories of clothing.

But my point of writing about this today is really how beneficial this decluttering and organizing is to ones psyche and energy levels. I really believe there is something to this that if we live in a mess or over abundance of material things that no longer bring us joy, how that can clutter our mind and take up our precious energy – leaving no room for other areas of abundance to flow in.

Perhaps it is coincidence (though I don’t believe so!), but after doing those few drawers in my closet Monday evening, yesterday I had an amazing flow of creative ideas come to me that I’d not thought of before! While I was on a high from organizing those drawers I felt full up with abundance with this new flow of creativity. I don’t know about you, but when creative ideas hit, it feels absolutely magical to me!

And I couldn’t help but share the photo of the truck full of mums for this post as it speaks to me of the abundance of beauty we can find ourselves opening to when we learn to let go of what no longer serves us, or the time has truly come to let go and move on.

Thank you for sharing and subscribing to my blog updates.

Message from Sparrow – Hang On.

Posted by Barbara Techel

Message from Sparrow - Hang on.

Oh spring, where have you gone?

Hey, little sparrow, do you know where spring is?

Spring is always in your heart dear one.

You must continue through your day as if….

As if it is here. It never left. This is what spring is.

A tease of what can be and what will be.

Live in the warm abundance of faith that spring is already here.

Continue to prepare for new things to come so you can wrap your arms around her with the deepest of gratefulness when she peeks in again.

Each day that unfolds brings us closer to all the glories she will bestow upon us if we are patient enough.

There is magic in waiting for that anticipation.

It is also called hope.

Spring loves hope. It is what spring is.

Magical hope that spring never fails to grace us with the sweet smells of fresh earth awakening, tender roots reaching for the sky, and a sun that takes delight in warming every living being.

Hang on, dear one. Don’t lose faith. Spring is already here.

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