The journey of cultivating friendship within shows up in so many ways. In September 2020, when I joined a group of women meeting about being 1% more courageous, I did not imagine months later, I would find myself in front of a virtual audience facilitating my first mindfulness workshop with InHerShoes and General Assembly. It is a profound honour to get on this journey witnessing the thoughts and emotions come and go. I did not know what the workshop would look like, but it was like a caterpillar in metamorphosis. A month prior, I was invited to join a meditation where a teacher shared some things I would not know would lead to this moment. Trusting, lightening up, and cultivating joy was a practice that I applied throughout the process of developing this workshop.
No potion or self-care book or technique is fixed or one answer. The month of July 2021 has been full of surprises. I have been observing how to take care of my time. Being a barista whose passion is cultivating community with the people who come to our store, a reimagining and budding presenter, a connector looking for ways to bring people together to ideate. A meditation student constantly discovers she does not know anything at all. A dog mom shows up being a researcher a holistic veterinarian, finding out that there are alternatives to surgery. And a granddaughter, daughter, friend, sister, and volunteer. I have been preparing for my first online mindfulness workshop with InHerShoes + General Assembly, applying the concepts I taught in this workshop. I realize that the workshop will continuously evolve. Working and discovering what people need is something that brings me joy. I got to play with Canva, Notion, Miro, Headspace and playing with music into the workshop as well. If I get to do this again, I will continue to make more adjustments.
We don’t know until we experience it.
To participate, I stay open.
To remain open.
To pause and recognize.
A journey of friendship with myself and including everyone as part of myself.
The things that show up in this life are opportunities for lightness and darkness to play.
There is no need to be a sure way to expect results yet to allow the journey for love, honor, respect. Seeing people and meeting them as they are, starts within.
All this blossomed from sadhana.
Thank you. xo
