A Musical Reflection

Another prompt from my upcoming book on Journaling for your Mind, Body, & Soul. 

Put your favorite music on and listen for five uninterrupted minutes. Just enjoy the music and your time with it. Enjoy in whatever way that means for you. Dance with it. Sing with it. Sit quietly and absorb it. Experience memories, emotions and thoughts with it. Enjoy without limitations.

Now turn the music off and let it simply be inside you for the next however long it takes to complete the following prompts:

What music were you listening to?

Has your favorite band, style or genre changed over the years, remained the same, or a little of both?

If you were to select a song to represent the different components of you, what song would you select for:

Your mind?

Your body?

Your soul?

Your birth music?

Your death music?



What influenced the musical selections above? How are they similar/different?


If you could select only one song that would precede your entry into every room, to announce you essentially, what song would you select? Would it be different for different “crowds” or populations of people? Why do you feel this song represents you?

A Pebble in my Shoe

Years ago, I was running some race, a quarter marathon I believe, and this was my experience:

Miles 4-6 were downhill physically and so I thought, "this is gonna be an EASY finish." Then I got a pebble in my shoe. At first, it was REALLY annoying and bordered painful. I almost stopped to get it out, risking a personal record finish time. Then it kind of slipped away and became less annoying, but still very much present. As I often do while running, I began to reflect on how this run may be a metaphor for some aspect(s) of my life; I pondered...what are the pebbles of my life?

For the next two miles, as I begrudged this pebble, I reflected on its meaning in my life, on a grander scale. And today, I invite you to spend some time thinking:

What are the pebbles in your life? Are they nagging, gnawing, making your life unpleasant? Are they less pleasant at certain times than others, but still very much present? Do you want to get rid of them entirely? Adjust so they’re less annoying? How do you accomplish this? Or do you want to just run through life with them and persist despite?

What lessons could the pebbles bring to your life?

Majestic Autumn

I love Autumn.

And not just for the deliciousness of the season...I love REAL pumpkin spice everything (not that fake chemical/lab-created crap y'all call Pumpkin Spice Lattes), I LOVE homemade applesauce and apple butter. Baking anything on a crisp, Autumn morning just seems right.

Beyond that, I love what the season represents. To many, it represents a time of death and entering a long period of death...we don't see many signs of life in the winter, but they're there, I assure you! I love that during the first stages of fall, trees automatically release Abcisic Acid (ABA) that triggers the leaves to fall off. First, of course, they begin to lose that vibrant green color giving us a glorious show of reds, oranges, and browns. The reason for this is trees do not need the food/energy created through the leaves. So they just drop them. They literally drop the leaves which no longer serve them. Except the leaves DO continue to serve...as they break down at the trunk of the tree, the leaves enrich the soil, creating rich soil for the tree and other plants to thrive in.

And then, they go dormant. They withstand some tough elements, fully exposed and naked. They can become ice covered, snow covered, heat covered. They are exposed to biting winds which can threaten to break their tender branches. But they stand tall and strong (in most cases), knowing they are but dormant versions of their full being. They are merely resting up for a stunning display of buds and colors in a few month's time.

And then, somehow by the miracle of Nature, the buds return. And the flowers follow the buds. Before you know it, as the days begin to heat up, the trees are fully covered in their gorgeous, bright green leaves; providing food for the tree and cooling shade for us humans.

I love that Mother Nature just does this automatically.

And I love that Mother gives us this reminder to do the same in our own lives. We must each go through periods of, metaphorically speaking, releasing ABA to trigger an automatic dropping of that which no longer serves us. We must slow down our food and energy creation/consumption in order to rest up. We must tend to ourselves, sometimes silently, in order to burst forth with color and be able to serve others later. We must remind ourselves that our periods of Autumn and Winter are more than just periods of death, they are periods of our lives which allow rebirth to occur!

These times of our lives, and these trees in our lives, are truly Majestic and should be honored as such. They also beg of us to ask the important questions: What needs to be shed (what/who is no longer serving us), what do we need to shed ourselves away from (who/what are we no longer serving?) What do we need to do to slow it down? What will our rebirth look like? Who will we serve during our next phase? ahh yes, my friends, I love this season for what it brings us outside and the change it can inspire inside. Majestic.

Simple Self Care

Simple Tips for Self Care

Those of you who have followed my blog for awhile know I believe in self-care. I also believe self -care comes in many forms. Some people find it in meditation while others enjoy yoga, some love to go for a run and others like to veg out to their favorite show on tv.

The last few weeks have been difficult for America. Regardless where you stand on geo-political issues, it's been a rough bit of time for us, hasn't it? So I implore you, for the sake of our country's future and (more importantly) your own health PLEASE engage in some form(s) of self-care soon. Below are a few ideas to get you started, please feel free to add your own as a comment.

• Take time for just your, to be alone and decompress/process

• Visit with an old friend or family member that makes you laugh

• Enjoy that big ol slice of chocolate cake

• Fix a delicious fruit smoothie and enjoy it leisurely

• Spend some time in meditation

• Go for a jog, run, or walk

• Play on a playground, swinging and laughing like a child

• Color, craft, or other form of creation

• Take a hot bath

• Sleep in 15 minutes longer than usual

• Unplug from social media

• Look in the mirror and tell yourself you're worth it

For me, I always turn to Mother Nature when I need some self care. Tomorrow we will be taking a short hike. Being in Nature always grounds me. Enjoy your moment(s) of self-care and please know you are worthy and deserving of living a happy, healthy, and whole life.

Sweet Victory!

Life has been a challenge lately.

It's hard. Life. Parenting. Solo-preneuring. Processing. Living. It's all so very hard.

And we often make it harder on ourselves. This week, I am launching a new paradigm shift for myself and focusing on small victories.

When my son and I first became a family, I chunked the day up to help with behavior modification and positive reinforcement. It first it was literally in like tiny chunks: From shower to eating breakfast, from breakfast to leaving the house for school, from leaving the house for school to arriving at school. From picking up after school to home, then on to homework, then dinner, then post dinner. etc. About 10 chunks, believe it or not! Slowly chunks of time became longer and the behavior more appropriate.

So I am doing the same with myself. I am chunking my day into thirds: Morning, day time, evening. And for each, I am searching for a personal victory. This is a victory I am experiencing and responsible for, not a victory I am celebrating alongside someone else.

So yesterday my victories included: resisting the pumpkin roll at the coffee shop; I took a self care nap after I picked up my son from school; I overcame the desire to be alone in favor of cuddling w/ my son (and cat and dog) for a bit before bed.

This morning, my victory is: I set my alarm to get up and go for a nice run w/ my dear friend Nicole. Even when I wanted to just stay in bed. Or read. Or Facebook. Or anything else, really.

So what about you? What is your victory for this morning? Even if it is "just" getting out of bed--celebrate it. Some days getting out of bed IS a victory unto itself!

Inhale it all

Today, I invite you to sit and experience your full self. 

What is it you need out of this moment? 

What is it you are contributing to this moment? 

How is your back aligned? Your hips? 

How do your feet articulate with the ground? 

Are your breaths deep and full, or shallow and partial? 

Did you judge yourself on any of the responses to the above questions? Or any others that may have come to mind? 

Release it all. Release all expectations of the future. Release your stress. Release your tension. Release your judgement. Release it all out into the Universe. Spirit created you and Spirit can take it all, if you just release it. 

on the next inhale, breathe in that which the Spirit wants to give to you: joy, happiness, stress-free living. Breathe it all in. Take it. Drink from it. Consume it. It's all your's, if you want it. Just inhale it all. 

My House Felt Like a Home

Fall is always a tricky time for me. I love it. I loath it. It is during the Autumnal months when I most often experience growth personally so it resonates with me. It is a time when I reflect as I enter a new year of my life during the peak of fall. It is when the campfires in the backyard become a regular thing and houses become warm homes filled with the wafting scents of applesauce simmering in the crockpot, a big 'ol pot of chili on the stove top, and cornbread in the oven. It is when the shelves are full of the summer's harvest, safely nestled in their perfectly sealed jars for winter consumption. It is when I get to pull the old quilts out of their cedar lined drawers (ok, I don't actually have cedar lined drawers, but in my mind I do...however quilts are plentiful in this home). Hiking becomes enjoyable with the colors striking and vistas breathtaking.

And it's also the time of year when I lost my dad and moved in with my grandmother to help her die at peace in her home, now my home.

so it is tricky to navigate each year, but each year I am able to do so with a little more finesse. Grief does not know a timeline nor a season for sure, but Autumn is just tricky.

Today, I had some reflections I'd like to share:
I posted that my house smelled and felt like a home today. It felt cozy. It was not clean, but it was safe. My son was gleefully hosting a friend who is becoming more and more part of our extended family. It just felt like a home, not just a house.

When the aforementioned child was told, "it's time to come to the table, dinner's read." He looked at me as if I were an alien. And looked at my son like, "forreal?" So I explained we do this crazy thing called eating together at the table every morning and every evening. So he obliged, without any further hesitation. Apparently, despite telling me chili is fine, he does not like chili. But he ate several pieces of cornbread. And we talked. All three of us. We chatted. Laughed. Shared. Heard. We were a family. Even though none of us are blood related. I readily admit I am totally faking it when it comes to this parenting thing and I hit foul balls more than grand slams but on this issue, I hit it out of the ballpark: To break bread with others is to transform your relationship to family status. Even if for just that moment in time, you are family. Connected, bonded, a sister/brotherhood which cannot be broken in that moment. And, really, that moment is all we are guaranteed anyway. Trust me, I know, fall reminds me each year.

Today, grief played a big role in helping me morph my house into a home; four walls into a safe oasis. Three unrelated people into a family.

Today, my house felt like a home.