Mastering Discernment: Navigating life’s choices with clarity and wisdom

It’s common for us to judge. As humans, we’re wired to want to make sense of situations, which involves making judgments. We judge ourselves, others, and the world at large. However, our judgments are often unconscious and can come across as blame, shame or attack. Our judgments can be swift and harsh when we’re not paying attention. 

Discernment, on the other hand, allows for conscious and careful consideration of a situation. Like the scales pictured above, discernment allows us to gather data, weigh our options, and make informed choices. For example, when we’re deciding what to say, what to do, what to keep, what to let go of, or even whether to stay in a relationship or not, we need discernment.

This article explores seven (7) ways to infuse discernment into your daily practices so you can live a more intentional life.

The 7 Steps

Here’s the short or TLDR version (Too Long Didn’t Read)

  1. Practice Pausing
  2. Elicit Self-Trust
  3. Cultivate Self-Awareness
  4. Learn through Reflection
  5. Embody Empathy
  6. Find Shared Values (Values = Needs = What Matters Most)
  7. Listen Actively + Express Honestly

Longer version ↓ for how to apply each step ♥

Step 1.  Practice Pausing

  • When you’re making a choice and it’s not an absolute yes, pause. If there’s doubt, it’s a NO in this moment. You might need more information, or just time to process the info you do have before choosing. Give yourself time to sit in the space of no longer and not yet. For example, when a situation changes, it’s no longer what it used to be, and it’s also not yet what it will become. This can feel messy.
  • Discernment requires space to ponder, especially when it comes to life’s bigger decisions like a job change, a move, choosing a college or leaving a marriage. Without discernment, you might make impulsive decisions that you regret. Pausing creates space for you to feel your emotions coming up around the choice. Pausing takes you off of autopilot and brings you back into your body. If you want to make choices that align with your values, pausing is an essential step to creating that clarity.
  • However, when pondering becomes rumination, it may be time to act. For me, if I’m ruminating, I’m starting to do overthink and obsess, which takes more energy and mental space than I want. Rumination tells me it’s time to trust, to decide, and to let the outcome be what it will.

Step 2. Elicit Self-Trust

  • Trust that whatever the outcome of your choice, you (and those impacted by your choice) can handle it. It may not be “perfect.” Perfection doesn’t exist. Maybe you’ll say something that you wish you could take back or you’ll do something that you later regret. That’s ok. Even in those choices, there will be growth. You’ll learn something that you didn’t know prior, and this allows you to evolve. You’ll gain wisdom, and the next time you’re making a similar choice, it’s likely you’ll choose slightly differently, if you’re paying attention. Which brings us to number three. Self-Awareness.

Step 3. Cultivate Self-Awareness

  • Without awareness, our judgements and assessments of others cause us to project onto others. We blame, don’t do our own internal work, and we may walk around on autopilot, making assumptions about why others did what they did, without having any facts to truly back it up.
  • Instead of judging ourselves and others unconsciously, make it a point to notice your judgments when they come up. This takes practice.
  • Each time you hear yourself making a judgment of yourself or someone else, you could pause and say to yourself, “This is me making a judgment. I’m telling myself ________”, and fill in the blank with whatever story or narrative that you believe in the moment. Challenge these thoughts by asking if this is true, or if it’s just the story you’ve been telling yourself. It may or may not be true. What data do you have that has you making this judgment? Is it an old story that you’ve been carrying around? Discernment allows us to carefully weigh data objectively without our own personal bias.
  • Unexamined judgments are unconscious biases formed when we were too young to know what was happening. Our job as consciously evolving adult humans is to do our inner work so we’re not projecting our inner wounds onto those around us.

Step 4. Learn through Reflection

  • To get to the place of wisdom, where “When you know better, you do better” (thank you Maya Angelou), you must reflect on what worked and what didn’t. Reflecting allows us to pivot when needed because we’ve assessed something objectively. To develop your own reflective practice, you could journal, meditate, keep notes on your phone, or talk into a recorder if journaling isn’t your thing. Whatever will support you in gaining clarity about what worked and what didn’t is what you’re looking for.
  • Therapy and coaching are also excellent tools to support inner work. Therapy is helpful to explore and manage emotions. Coaching takes it a step further and holds you accountable to the changes you say you want to make. It allows you to create an intentional destination vs. a habitual one.
  • Two questions to play with: 1) When things worked out the way you hoped, reflect and ask yourself, “In this situation, what went the way I wanted, and what choices did I make that supported that outcome?” 2) For things that didn’t work out the way you wanted, ask yourself the same question above, and then add, “In this situation, what choices did I make that, next time, I’ll do differently?” Allowing space for reflection invites more aligned choices in your future.

Step 5. Embody Empathy

  • Discernment goes hand in hand with empathy. Take time to consider the person or situation you’re judging. If you’re judging yourself, did you make the best choice you could with the information you had? Can you give yourself some grace? If you’re judging another, are you able to imagine what you might have done in their shoes? Or how they might be feeling about the situation? Examine how your own preconceived ideas or biases are contributing to your judgment. Embodying empathy allows for compassion and kindness. The kinder we are to ourselves, the better able we are to make self-honoring choices instead of self-sabotaging ones.

Step 6. Find Shared Values (Needs/What matters to you)

  • When you’re judging, look for places where your core values intersect with another. It’s in these intersections that we’re more inclined, and more willing, to collaborate with others. Finding shared values is deeply connected to empathy. You might find it challenging to recognize someone else’s needs or values if you aren’t able to empathize with them.
  • However, when we are able to uncover our similarities and connect to the motivation (their need) beneath another’s behavior, it’s easier to see the humanity of another, vs. the label that we’ve cast upon them.
  • Releasing the label releases the judgment, and allows us to make clearer decisions from a conscious, discerning place.

Step 7. Listen Actively + Express Honestly

  • Listening to others is nuanced. We all have our biases, so when we’re in judgment, it’s tough to truly hear another person. In fact, it’s close to impossible. If we can’t hear them, how can we make discerning choices that honor both of us? Active listening involves coming into a conversation clean, without an agenda to fix, heal, change or have the other person do anything differently.
  • Alongside listening is expressing ourselves honestly. To do this, it’s helpful to know what activates us, or what sets us off.  It’s even better when we’re aware where that comes from. Louise Hay used to say, “you can’t clean the house if you can’t see the dirt.” In other words, we can’t fix or change something if we refuse to look at it.
  • Hearing yourself is also an art. Sometimes, the voices inside our own heads are not our own. Old tapes played from family members, authority figures, or some other internal critical voice might override our own, drowning out our intuition.
  • Learning to listen to your own voice is critical to making discerning choices that align with your I’ve made many choices where I ignored my intuition, and each time, it’s been a massive growth opportunity, or AFGO (another fucking growth opportunity!). Just a few years ago I had back surgery. Walking into the hospital, I had an intuitive hit that told me not to have the surgery. I ignored my intuition to pause; I wasn’t an absolute yes. But I didn’t let myself pause and I had the surgery. And it’s been AFGO, which is a story for another time.

A final note about judgment. Judgment isn’t right or wrong, good, or bad. It just is. We’re human. We judge. It’s when we go through life judging without our own internal examination to see where our judgments are coming from that creates external havoc. We can’t change what we don’t want to see. (think of Louise Hay with the dirt). Being aware of our judgment is the best way to shift our judgment.

In conclusion, when you practice discernment in these areas, you deepen the connections with yourself and those around you. When you’re discerning in your choices, you’re living an intentional life. Living an intentional life enables you to set clear boundaries, do what you love, and have fewer regrets.

Here’s to operating from a place of internal alignment, where we’ll cultivate gratifying relationships that nourish us, which in turn allow us to serve others in a more impactful way.

A discerning life creates a more intentional life.

May 2024 be intentional and filled with all that matter to you!

Love,

Chris

Additional Resources:

Watch on YouTube:  Taylor Swift’s 2022 Commencement address to NYU graduates, where she discusses life choices and practicing discernment. 28m4s watch. It’s well worth watching!

Listen on YouTube: Alanis Morissette’s song, Tapes (about critical inner voices / self-judgment)

Read lyrics to Alanis’s Tapes.

Enjoy this article? Please share it with your friends and family. 🙂

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By |2024-01-04T19:22:59-05:00January 1st, 2024|Uncategorized|0 Comments
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Change Your Closet, Change Your Life. A TEDx Talk to Share

I’m so excited to share this TEDx talk I found on YouTube:  Change Your Closet, Change Your Life. 

In the video below, Gillian Dunn talks about her own wake-up call when she went into her closet to get a candle that she was saving for a special occasion, only to find a big ball of blue wax inside the box.  The candle had done exactly what it was supposed to do – melt – but it did it without her.  This spurred an inner exploration that changed her life.

This video had me reflecting on how we live our lives in our own self-imposed chains. 

These chains show up as limiting beliefs, excuses, fear, worry and doubt.  These chains stop us from living the life we say we want.  We find ourselves saying, “I’ll do it when…. ____.” and “Someday I’ll …____.  Fill in your blank.  We need to consciously shift our mindset and behaviors if we want to truly change.

 

Change is messy, and not always easy.

The next morning after watching the video, I leapt out of bed to start my day. During the elimination process, my 15-year-old daughter asked me why she’d never seen all these ‘fashionable’ things! She started trying them on, claiming them for her own. 😉 In the end, I donated two large bags to my favorite non-profit, and it was just the catapult I needed to re-fuel my desire to live with less.

Here’s what I want you to do:  Take the next 15 minutes (and 37 seconds) to watch this Video, and then come back and answer this question: 

What’s one thing you’re willing to commit to this week to allow yourself to step into the life you want to live?

Maybe you’re willing to….

  • Have that ‘hard’ conversation that’s been lurking over you.
  • Clear your closet of items that don’t fit (to make room for things that do).
  • Use your “good dishes” or wear your “nice clothes.”
  • Donate your excess belongings to someone in need.
  • Express your needs to someone in a loving, compassionate way.
  • Set a boundary with yourself around what you’ll no longer tolerate.

No more putting things off until “Someday.”

Life is far too short to leave our most cherished belongings tucked away in a box, or our dreams hidden in the back of our minds.

Looking for a great cause to donate to?   Here’s a non-profit I LOVE:  Katelyn started this non-profit when she was just 12 years old after being on the receiving end of an outpouring of support when her family needed it.  Now, more than a decade later, The Angels Community Outreach supports thousands.   They’re located in Pitman NJ, you can contact them here.

 

By |2022-01-30T21:44:37-05:00January 30th, 2022|Uncategorized|2 Comments
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3 Tips to Keep Your Boundaries in Check

Setting Boundaries can be uncomfortable.  But not setting them can create havoc.

Hold onto your Boundaries because 2022 is Yang Tiger Water Energy!

My friend, Karen Alber Carrasco, wrote this great article and I had to share it!  It’s called, 2022 Tiger Wave: Surfing with the Yang Water Tiger. What struck me was the importance of keeping our boundaries in place, especially after the past two years of up-leveling our lives as we created, and re-created, ourselves to be in alignment with our values.

The past two years were ruled by the metal element, and metal represents details, the fine print, analysis of what is working, and what isn’t. Think of really getting inside the box and critiquing every detail.  That requires metal energy.

This year’s element is water. And with water, things can become dark and murky, confusing, or uncertain. Think about decisions you made when you weren’t clear, when your choices weren’t an absolute yes.  I imagine those particular choices might have brought about an unwanted result.  Yes?

That’s why being clear on our boundaries becomes critical.  The thing is, a lot of us may not even know what our boundaries are, let alone being able to hold them in place.

3 Tips to Keep Your Boundaries In Check:

  • First, Have a self-honoring practice or ritual in place – this is for you and only you.  Whether it’s meditating, writing, exercising, knitting, taking a hot bath once a week, etc. Find what connects you to you.
    • When you take the time to self-connect, your choices will be in alignment with what feels true and right for you, in each moment.
  • Second, before making a choice – any choice – check in with yourself and ask yourself these questions:  
    • What do I want? 
    • What do I need?  
    • How do I feel? 
    • What do I think? 
    • Because when we are coming from a place of knowing how we feel, and what we need, we are more likely to have our needs met, which allows us to make clear requests of someone else.   Its when we haven’t taken the time to figure out what we want and need that things get murky.
    • And this year’s Yang Tiger Water energy will be powerful and passionate, and has the potential to uproot us if we’re not firmly planted in our own boundary foundation.
  • Third, and this might be hard to hear, but I’m going to invite you to embrace being ‘selfish.’  I know selfish gets a bad wrap because of old programming of what not to be.  However, when we put everyone else’s needs before our own, we swing to the other side of the pendulum to self-less, and end up feeling obligated and resentful.  This reminds me of Marshall Rosenberg’s poem, The Hungry Duck, where the intention is strive to give from a place of willingness, vs. obligation.


As the first month of 2022 is almost behind us, and this new water energy is upon us, I encourage you to pay attention to your needs, your wants, your desires, and make sure you feet are planted firmly in your own personal boundaries.

Have a question or comment?   Reach out to me here.

You can find upcoming events here.  There are only a few spots left for the Feb 5th Grok Party, where we play games with Grok Cards to connect more deeply to our own emotions and needs.   And, registration for my group boundary coaching program will be opening soon.  🙂

Wishing you clarity and courage to choose YOU!

Love,
Chris

If you know of someone that would appreciate this newsletter, please share it with them. 🙂

By |2022-01-28T13:52:12-05:00January 28th, 2022|Uncategorized|0 Comments
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Pretending, Avoidance & Addiction – 5 Questions to Navigate Change

It’s 2005.  I’m sitting in circle with 15 women and the discussion is being led my long term mentor, Cheryl Richardson, who asks the question, “What are you pretending?”  Each woman answers in turn.  When it comes to me, my answer surprises me.   I respond with, “I’m pretending that my life is OK when it isn’t.”     Thirteen years and a 12-year old daughter later, my answer is similar.  This time though, there’s a slight but significant variation with my response.  This time, I’m not hiding in my discontent.  This time I’m not hoping things around me will change.   This time, I’m changing me.

Getting Unstuck…

How many times do you stay stuck in situations you don’t love?   You tolerate them; you pray; you wish for the people or the situation to change; you hope someone will see your perspective; or you hope the other person will “step-up” to communicate with you in a way that fills your need for connection and attention.  Then, when none of this happens, you stay in the same spiral of disconnect within yourself, ruminating over details and data, living in the same circumstances, wearing a façade of acceptance.  Pretending.

When we choose to stay, in anything that’s less than what we desire or require, we must ask ourselves what we’re getting by not making the changes we know we need to make.  We must acknowledge that we’re getting something or we wouldn’t do it.  Some need is being met, some benefit is coming from our action or we wouldn’t continue with the same pattern or behavior.

So what are you getting by not changing what you know you need to change?

Do you get to avoid discomfort?  Do you avoid exposure of a truth that’s too embarrassing for you, or that you think is too upsetting for others to hear?   Or maybe you get to tell yourself, it’s for “the kids?”  Let me clue you in.  The kids know what’s going on anyway. You’re not sparing them any pain by staying in a situation you’d rather not be in.   They see the upset, the disconnection, the hugs that aren’t happening, the conversations being avoided, the looks not being exchanged.  Even if they’re little, they sense it energetically.

Perhaps you get to stay on auto-pilot.  You get to do what’s familiar. You get to stay in your routines and habits which feels safer and more secure than changing.   You get to avoid feeling pain.  You get to numb out.   You get to say you “have to” do whatever it is, and you continue to not think, not feel, not process what’s really happening around you.   Maybe you get to not have to do the work in your relationships.  Or maybe you get to hide in your addictions.

Addictions

Addictions show up in all of us, not just in those drawn to alcohol or drugs.   We are addicted to alcohol, books, clutter, computer games, drugs, education, exercise, food, learning, Netflix, people, porn, sex, shopping, strategies, work, or even the recovery process.  Our addictions allow us to numb out and avoid the pain we don’t want to feel.

The strategy is avoidance.  The payoff is we get temporary relief by avoiding the pain of change.

What’s the cost of avoiding making the changes you need to make?

Costs of our Avoidance

Maybe it’s disconnection to those you really care about, drama, emotional pain and turmoil, physical pain in your body like arthritis, auto-immune disorders, colds, migraines, cancer or any multitude of other manifestations.   Whether it’s ruminating negative thoughts that dominate your choices and behaviors, one thing is certain.   We can be sure that our bodies will detox pain however they can.  They’ll take us out when we need to reset – I’ve learned this first hand more than once.  In physical form, unprocessed pain might come out as disease.  Emotionally, unprocessed pain is likely to come out sideways through our toxic behaviors and patterns having the potential to destroy relationships.  The question becomes, what are you willing to do about it?

Pain…

Here’s the deal.   We all feel pain.  We all feel sadness and despair at some point in our lives.   No one is spared from pain or change..  Change is the one constant we can depend on.

Change can feel hard and scary and messy.

Change brings up anger, discomfort, discord, fear, resentment, and vulnerability.   Even if you like change, it’s still awkward, especially when we don’t know what’s on the other side.

While I love ritual and routine, I also love freedom and spontaneity, so at times I feel in conflict with my own needs.  In the past I’ve seen myself pass by opportunities out of fear, and I’ve jumped impulsively into a heartfelt YES without knowing where it was taking me.  I’ve experienced situations where anything was better than were I was, so I jumped into the unknown trusting I’d be held in the uncertainty.

Life can be feel hard and impossible sometimes.  These past few months, I’ve learned when I show up as vulnerable and real, unseen doors open that allow more growth and more healing.  I’m learning to trust myself and speak my truths, even if it means people might leave, or not like me, and even if my words might land in someone else in a way I didn’t intend.  How my words land isn’t my responsibility, how I deliver them is.  I can only control my presence in which I offer myself.

You might be surprised at how others show up FOR you when you show up AS YOU.

My invitation to you is this:    Stop pretending your life is ok if it isn’t.  Speak your truth.  Say what you feel.   Ask for what you need.  Take off your mask.

Action Challenge:

This week, take 5 minutes to close your eyes and ask yourself these five (5) questions.

  1. Where are you hiding?
  2. What are you pretending?
  3. What’s one change you’d like to have made 3 months from now?
  4. What’s one doable, small, achievable and realistic thing you can do this week, to take a step toward that change?
  5. Are you willing to make this commitment to yourself? If so, when?

Did you like this article and challenge?   Let me know what shifted as a result of this challenge or even just from reading this article.  I love hearing from you.  Email me here, or leave a message in the comments below.

Sending you so much love…

xo

Chris

Sharing is caring!  If you know someone who would love this article, please share it with them.  🙂

Want to stay connected?   Join my community of change makers here.

By |2018-12-15T22:55:03-05:00December 15th, 2018|Uncategorized|3 Comments
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Avoiding the spiral of mental chatter ♥

We did a street-long yard sale yesterday, and after the sale I noticed myself engaging in mental chatter about lost time.  I spent time prepping for it, organizing it, physically being at the sale, then packing up the remainders for the various charities that will receive them.  Then this morning, I woke with similar thoughts on how this sale took time away from other things that needed to happen, but thankfully, I shifted quickly.

Truth is, yes, it did take time, and, the items are gone, which was my goal.  Our intentions were to make this our last sale, to have fun with family and neighbors, and to let my daughter have a lemonade stand with her friend.  We released unneeded belongings, and created space for things and activities we do want!

So if my goals were met, why the constant inner banter about what I could’ve been doing instead of the sale?  Because my to-do list is reallllly long and my mind chatter never stops.  I desire order, ease, and simplicity.  Letting go brings me these things, and it also takes work for me to get them.  As much as I love to feel at ease, to have order, and for life to be simple, I need the structures in place to have those things.  I also need good boundaries around my time.

How about you?   Does your mental to-do list overwhelm you and stop you from achieving what you say you want to do?   How do you move forward when mental chatter is in overdrive?

Here’s 3 things to do when mental chatter is spinning you into overwhelm.

#1 Start…Something.  Pick one thing and just start.  It doesn’t have to be perfect, and it mostly won’t be, but the act of movement will motivate you to keep going.  This morning, I considered my mental list, wrote out all that I wanted to get done, then narrowed it down to what was most important, and what would feel most productive by simply being started.  I slotted myself a specific amount of time and when that time was up, I stopped and moved on with my day.  I’m putting time and attention to my priorities, which feels gratifying, energizing, and productive.

#2 Ask for help.  I woke this morning mentally listing out all that needs to happen today, and the reality is my husband will be gone all afternoon, so it’s all on me.  In order for me to accomplish everything we need to make our home happy today and this week, I need help.  So I asked.

#3 Receive the help.  This may sound silly and obvious, but sometimes we can ask for the help, then when it comes, we find we’re still doing all the work anyway.  Give up the need for things to be perfect, and allow the support to be there for you.   Example:   My husband was grabbing some raised beds from Home Depot for me while I worked this morning.  He texted me photos with questions, and I couldn’t decide which one was best, plus I needed netting and wasn’t sure which kind.  I almost told him, “Never mind; I’ll run out later and get it.”   I wasn’t trusting that what we’ll get is fine, and we’ll work with it.  Instead I was thinking I needed to physically go there to pick it out.  I quickly caught myself, and chose to receive the help, letting it be enough so I can move on with my priorities.

These three things can catapult you into action, and give you the space and ease you need to feel productive and less stressed.

Here’s the thing.   We, particularly as women, are often the bus drivers in our home.  We drive the bus.  We’re responsible to maintain the bus with gas, oil, repairs, etc.  We create the bus schedule, and we make sure all the riders get where they need to go, on time, and they have what they need upon arrival to their destination. That’s a lot to hold, and often we fall off our own schedule.

Today, when mental overwhelm takes over, try these three things of #1, starting one thing, #2, asking for help and #3, receiving the help.  If you’re like me, your list is longer than you can do in a physical day, yet your Superwoman cape is probably pressed and ready to go!  🙂   Use this as an invitation to start something, drop the cape, and ask for (and receive) help.   You’ll be surprised at what can happen.

A 4th bonus step is to find the gold in the event that has you spinning into overwhelm.   My gold nugget from the yard sale yesterday was meeting a tow truck driver who offered to look at my 20 year old car that runs awesome, but needs an AC unit.  After looking at it, he told me it looks like an easy fix, (where my mechanic told me it wasn’t worth fixing), it shouldn’t cost much, and he referred me to guy that’s local!   Gold!  ♥

How about you?  What’s one thing you’re going to do this week after reading this?   How are you going to use your spiral to inspire you, instead of sabotage you?   

Tell me below or get in touch here.  

Until next time, my friend, put a practice in place that allows you to push that overwhelm to the curb and just start what you don’t want to start.

x’s and o’s,

Chris

If you’re not on my list to receive resources on living a simpler life and want to be, please click here.    If you’ve already joined, thanks so much for the support!

P.S. Sharing is Caring – if you know someone who would benefit from reading this, please share!

By |2018-05-07T01:12:48-04:00May 6th, 2018|Uncategorized|0 Comments
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Minimalism, Simplicity + Letting Go of Perfectionism

As I make my way toward minimalism, I’m still surprised how resistance shows up so big for me. For years my mantra has been, “Order, Ease, & Simplicity”, and in that order.   When I have order, it brings me ease, and when I have ease, my life is simple.

Sounds simple right?  It can be.   And yet, we complicate our lives more than we need to.

We hold on.   We resist.  We deny.  We blame someone or something else so we don’t have to look at our own stuff, our own issues.

Because here’s the deal.   Letting go isn’t about the thing, person, or situation we’re letting go of. It’s about the emotional attachment that the experience or memory has brought us –including difficult or negative memories.

Letting go is a process.

One of the most difficult things for me to let go of is books.   Especially books that my daughter and I have read together.  I can recall all our snuggles, cozying up for all our daily ritualistic reading times – wake-up reading, pre-nap reading, post-nap reading, bedtime reading, or just middle of the day reading.  I can still hear her little voice bursting out when we’d get to a specific page, and I can hear my own inflections as I read certain books.   I fantasize about reading those same books to her children when she’s older.

Maybe that will happen.  Maybe not.

Life can change in a split second.  We have little control over when we leave here or how.  I mean, we do. And we don’t.

In an attempt to keep life simple, I started a book buying ban in August, and created a Little Free Library.  I’ve wanted to create one of these libraries for years, and to keep me accountable with the lifestyle I want to live, the book ban felt necessary.

The perfectionist in me wants to tell you I have it all figured out, and I have this letting-go piece down.  That I can live as a pure minimalist with only what I need.  But that’s not true.   I, too, am in process.  I’m working my way there.  I have my own demons, resistance and challenges, just like you.

What is true is this:  I’ve learned to love and respect what I choose to keep.  I’ve learned to only keep what I love.  When adding something to my home or life, I’ve learned to ask myself if what I’m bringing in adds value, not just to my life, but to all of our lives that live in our home.  As far as resistance, I’ve learned to do one thing – just one thing – instead of letting my mind spin out of control when I feel overwhelmed with too much stuff, too much to do, or too many obligations.  I pause.  I do one thing that I CAN do, then another, then another -not 10 things at once.

What matters is substance, connection, relating deeply to those I love.   What I know for sure is clutter gets in the way.  Mental, emotional, and physical clutter blocks us from the very thing we say we want.  The funny thing about resistance is that it takes so much of our energy to resist, deny, not look at, or avoid something we need to do, or not do.

The truth is, if we channeled our energy into doing the very thing we’re resisting, we’d create more space, more openness, and more connection with ourselves, and those we love.

On this cold Sunday in December, after our first snowfall of the season, I’m going to honor my own resistance today and take control over what I can, which is planning my work week while my husband and daughter are enjoying some much needed daddy-daughter time.   How about you?  What’s one thing you can do today to honor yourself where you are?

Blessings to you!

xo

P.S.  If you’d like to follow my blog and receive my newsletter on simplifying, letting go and creating more ease, you can do that here .  

By |2018-01-07T01:58:56-05:00December 10th, 2017|Uncategorized|0 Comments
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