Feel the Love. Pass it On.

Super excited as I sit down to plan out and write some of the emails for Feel the Love. Pass it On. 30 Days of Grounding in Gratitude. A free offering for love and inspiration through out the holidays. (Sign up here on my blog to join the mailing list!)

Each day you'll receive an email with words... images... art and love. And there are some beautiful souls who are contributing to the offering. Shelly Norris was the first to answer my call for people who wanted to participate. She is a bubbling, gorgeous person with a huge heart. 

She recently spread her lovely wings, and started Soul Fire Retreats. Her offering where "Shift Happens" and her vision is to help heal one beautiful soul at a time!

Her first beautiful retreat will be in February and it's not to be missed!
xo

Note to Self

 

As pieces of me crack open in souLstorm, pieces I did not expect to be revealed... I am looking to spider as a reminder to return to my center each day and to commit to my intention and legacy. To stop complaining gather my shit and MOVE my ass out of the stagnant flow.

The following started as a reminder to me but I hope it touches you as well.

 

We organize our time and energy around our goals. They help give direction to our lives. And committing to and visualizing those goals can assist in reaching them BUT it’s not necessarily the same as setting an intention. And often when our goals don't shake down the way we thought they should, we don't have our intentions to bring us back to center.

 

With goals the future is what our mind is occupied with. Setting intention, at least according to Buddhist teachings, is quite different than goal making. It is not oriented toward a future outcome. Instead, it is a path or practice that is focused on how you are "being" in the present moment. Your focus is on the “now”, this precious moment, in the ever changing ebb and flow of life. We set our intentions based on what matters most to us and then align our worldly actions with our heart values.

 

Intentions need love, we can’t just set them and then ignore. We live them every day, by surrounding ourselves with reminders, filling our baskets with our “word”, meditating on them, reflecting and committing to them. Through these actions our intentions bloom.

 

Being grounded in our intentions is what helps us regain our mental footing, a way to establish ourselves in a context that is larger and more meaningful than our goal-oriented activities.

 

Each time we reconnect to our intention, we move closer to finding your own authenticity and freedom.

 

In that moment, you are remembering yourself and grounding your life in your heart's intention.

 

xoxoxox

Stepping into my Shadows...

When I was eight I was terrified of the night, of going to sleep, of being swallowed up by the darkness and not being able to wake up. When I was nine a ghostly figure floated at the top of our staircase, this didn't do much to calm my fears of shadowy corners. For most of that year I slept on the floor next to my parents bed. Even through my teens I would wake with such an intense fear of being alone in the dark, I would go sleep on the floor in my sisters' room. (My youngest sister sleeps with her eyes open, so most nights she'd freak me out too and I trod back to my own room.)

This year, December, marks 20 years since I lost the love of my life and best friend.  It happened at midnight. Knock on the door. A car ride so clear I can still see the rain drops on the windows and the street lights reflecting dark shadows into the car. I prayed for the best but I knew in my heart he was gone. When the words were spoken, I fell to my knees in a corner devoid of light.

For months I couldn't sleep, the dark screaming its silence in my face. On a curvy, long road at dusk the car started to fall into the arch, depths of dark wintery trees to my right. What if... what if I just let go of the wheel and drift into the trees. What if I let the darkness swallow me, maybe the pain will stop. I eventually made it around the bend and continued straight, on the road, leaving the bare trees in my rear-view mirror.

My bed has contained only one for many years and my house shelters me at night like a safe cocoon. I sleep well. Still, I've yet to make friends with the shadows. Even sunglasses block too much light most days.

But today, in SouLodge, I begin a decent with Black Panther, I'm eager to discover her offerings. My battle with shadow begins....

Feel the Love...Pass it On....

For many of us it's fall, which brings with it less light, colder temperatures, nesting and going within. I get tired, my motivation drops, the sadness sets in. No green leaves, only bare branches blowing lonely in the wind. I also start to get overwhelmed by the start of the holidays. So many people rushing everywhere to spend money they don't have, feeling obligated to buy gifts for loved ones they never see. Bells jingling at the grocery store entrance asking for donations to dozens of causes. Commercials and movies and traffic. Who is having Thanksgiving dinner, where is everyone going to sleep. Days off spent driving to family events.

But what if...

What if we slowed it down a bit, took a breath and noticed what is good in the now?


30 Days of Gratitude from Joanna on Vimeo.

https://vimeo.com/50925830
(music by Florence and the Machine) 
*Big thanks to Shelly Norris of Soul Fire Retreat for her addition of artwork to this video*

Life is complicated and often a hot freaking mess. But practicing gratitude means appreciating the gifts that are present in our lives and appreciating every small blessing. Often when things feel uphill there are tiny seeds of learning being planted for us to sprout.

Create a sacred practice around even the smallest blessing...

The goal is to bring gratitude to every experience, even the not so awesome-sauce ones. Life has its own ebb and flow. Learning to appreciate the tides can make for a much more delicious life. When this becomes a true daily practice our world can shift in ways we never imagined.  

Join me in breathing in the gratitude-love and sharing it with those around us.
For 30 days, November 24 - December 24, you'll receive a love note from me. An inspirational message, a prompt to feel the gratitude for the moment.

It will come in the form of an image, words, collage, art, straight love... handmade by myself and other wonderful souls who also wanted to share.

The offering is free, just sign up for my mailing list here on the blog. Your first note of gratitude will arrive on Nov 24th.  

Feel the love of each note, breath it in… and then pass it on. You can forward the email to a loved one or friend. Print it and leave it randomly for a stranger to receive, or even use it as tags for holiday gifts.

Let's feel the love and gratitude for every special moment and share it with others.

I hope you'll join me.
xo
Joanna

Day Ten

Open sliding door to deck... cat flies out to deck, dog stumbles quickly out after cat, I run out after both of them. Cat soars down deck stairs to yard, dog trips all the way down the stairs after cat, I run down the stairs after both of them. Cat circles chair, dog circles chair, I circle chair. Cat runs back up the stairs, dog trips all the way back up the stairs, I run up the stairs after both of them. Cat runs around table, dog runs around table, I run around table. ENOUGH, I laugh out loud! What they hell am I doing, everyone inside! Cat runs back in the door, dog trips in the door, I walk back in. Hello neighbors, did you enjoy the circus show :)

Day Three

*Ralph Steadman, Alice in Wonderland

Sharing my ever deepening gratitude for my souLodge and souLstorm sisters. I've never met any of them face-to-face but there is a deep connection to them all, they are forever woven into the fibers of my heart and soul for many lives to come.

These are real women, changing the world with a fierce love. And moving mountains so others can experience joy and success and happiness and peace... find discoveries and connections and healing.

They will travel down the rabbit hole and hand you a light, they will send you energy from across the globe, they will hold your hand and lend you a shoulder. They use my favorite word - fuck - almost daily. They dream without limitations, honor each other and covet generosity. They make me laugh every day, respect my dance with the shadows but etch the pathway with brightness so I can find my way out.

I've learned more from them in the past year, and am inspired by them hourly.

Aho my sisters. Much Love!

xoxo

Day Two

 

Grateful for early morning walks with Crosby, especially in the fall. When the air is cool but the sun is still warm. When you can smell wood smoldering from fires the night before. When the neighborhood is still asleep and the night crickets are peeping but the birds are starting to wake up. When the cars are quite and you can hear the wind move from tree to tree...When the sky is so blue you can see the sun and moon at the same time...

(I'm even grateful that we have to stop every five steps so Crosby can sniff and pee and ponder what's in the grass.)

What are you grateful for today?