Grace | Gratitude | Grit

Happy November!

I hope this finds you well as we begin a new month and officially move into the last couple of months of 2023. This year has been a bumpy one for so many people and as we prepare to start this new month, I wanted to share the messages and themes that I’ve received for November. You may be receiving these messages too because as a highly sensitive soul, you’re aware of the subtle energies and shifts happening around and within you.

In the states, we celebrate Thanksgiving in November and there’s a large focus on the theme of gratitude at this time of year. You don’t need to live in the states to embrace or focus on gratitude in your life, this month or any month. However, this practice can help to shift our focus to a place of reflection on what it is that we’re grateful for and research shows that this practice can reduce stress and increase happiness. These are only a couple of aspects or outcomes that people report when participating in active gratitude activities. I often find that it also increases love and opens the heart chakra for clients. I’ve often found that it can help to clear and open up stagnant or slow energy as well and help to get energy, inspiration, and even creativity moving for people. There are lots of ways to participate in a gratitude practice and there are videos, blog posts, and entire books devoted to the topic. However, what I know for sure is that there are no right ways to do this; there are the ways that work best for you,  your schedule, and personal style. If you feel guided to participate in a gratitude activity throughout the month of November, this is a wonderful day or week to start. You may want to document how you’re feeling on day 1 of your process including stress levels, health, and overall well being so you can reflect back on that at the end of the month to see all the takeaways that you personally receive from the process.

You may be thinking that gratitude seems like a very prescient theme for this time of year and may wonder how it stands out as a specific message for the month. The big themes that have shown up for this month include a deep focus on taking care of the nervous system, immune system, and our inner personal strength or constitution. When we look at these themes, one of the biggest aspects that ties all of them together is stress or stressors. I know, not a very flowery or fun topic. However, this has been the strongest theme for us as we move into this month.

The nervous system is the first line of defense for us as we go about our daily lives and when we are overly stressed we can experience an overwhelm or even an overload on our system. This can create a lot of different experiences for people including but not limited to exhaustion, fatigue, lethargy, and feeling as if you have limited bandwidth for stress. This experience can have an impact on your immune system as well and can lead to feeling off or unwell or even experiencing a lot of the cycles of sniffles and yuck. Both of these can impact your personal strength or constitution by making you feel like you don’t have enough get up and go to get things done. This can lead to feelings of self doubt, worry, or even passing on positive experiences or opportunities.

The good news here is that each of these aspects work together, hand in hand as a team. As we pour into and take care of one of these aspects, we automatically help to support the other aspects at the same time. As we invest in these areas this month, even in seemingly small ways, we’re more easily able to move through the energy, news, and day to day experiences that are happening within and around us. When we look at the overall message, we can see that it’s about taking good care of ourselves.

Another word for Grace is Kindness.
Another word for Gratitude is Appreciation.
Another word for Grit is Determination

• When you see and feel the impact of these words, and think about how to apply them to yourself, what kinds of images, thoughts, or feelings show up for you?

• When you think about ways that you could support and honor your own systems and personal well being, what things show up for you right away? Why?

• Which of these three words do you feel you’re being guided to focus on the most right now? Grace, Gratitude, or Grit? Why?

• Which of the three words feels the most challenging for you to honor or pour into for yourself?

• How can you find ways to increase this aspect in your life even in seemingly small ways?

Hopefully by answering these questions, you’ll be able to better understand the areas or themes that are especially prescient for you right now. Like most things, you may find that you share common interests with people in your circle about how to honor these aspects of your life. However, you may have a different style than some of the people in your circle too. This is about finding the ways that work for you because these will be things that resonate with you and your lifestyle and allow you to continue to practice them in your daily life.
I’ve included some items below that can help to support these themes of Grace, Gratitude, and Grit while we work to honor our systems this month. Please remember this is not a be all end all list in any way. This is just a small list to help inspire you to create a practice or system that is right for you.

Grace | Kindness

• Using positive words to describe yourself to others and to yourself

• Making space for rest and relaxation even if for only 15-20 minutes each day

• Treating yourself the way you treat others

• Watching a favorite movie or show that you love, just because.

• Reading for pleasure

• Listening to or playing music

• Enjoying a creative project

• Taking a nap or going to sleep early if you feel tired

• Using the fancy dishes, table linens, or candles that you always save for someone special. (You’re someone special)

• Make a meal or a special dessert that you really love just for the fun of it.

• Ask for help when you need it and allow someone to help you when it’s offered.

• Drink more water

• Eat nutrient dense foods

• Add broths, ferments, and other nourishing foods to your meal plan

• Take vitamins and minerals

• Learn a new skill or hobby that you’ve been wanting to try

• Laugh out loud, for real, watch or listen to things that make you laugh

• Play and have fun

Gratitude | Appreciation

• Participate in a gratitude practice (in any way that resonates for you)

• Get outside into nature to see and take in the beauty and changes that are happening all around you.

• Walk or participate in gentle movement or exercise. Taking care of the body is a deep appreciation practice.

• Practice something that you love and is intrinsically part
  of who you are

• Tell someone in your life what they mean to you

• Read through old letters or look through old pictures of people and places that have deeply impacted your life.

• Ask someone you trust (or as many people as you feel guided to include) to share 3 aspects about you or 3 words to describe you to help you better understand and appreciate your impact on the people in your world.

• Focus on increasing the aspects of your life that bring you joy, happiness, glee, and overall peace. (Only you know what these are and any increase in them in any amount counts as an increase.)

Grit | Determination

• Focusing on one step at a time

• Having a clear focus on what you’re working toward and continuing to make concerted effort toward that goal.

• Reaching out for support from people in the area of your focus

• Saying no to demands on your time and energy if it’s draining you or creating extra strain and stress.

• Saying yes to positive opportunities and experiences.

• Celebrating small and big wins

• Saying yes to support and love from people in your inner circle and even from your outer circle

• Knowing when to take a break and when to begin again.

• Resting when you’re guided so you have the energy to cultivate momentum again when you’re ready.

• Taking inventory of how far you’ve come as a reminder that everything you’ve been through in the past is proof that you’ve gotten to where you are today from determination and taking things one step at a time.

I hope this will inspire and support you as we move through this month, together. Remember, it’s not about how many things you’re doing, it’s about finding the ways that are right for you to honor and support you through this process. It may be 2 or 3 things that you know you’re being guided to do that make you feel great and add value and joy to your life right now. As you pour into any of these aspects, you will automatically support the other aspects as well, cultivating a positive experience for yourself and supporting you as you move through these themes, this month.

As always, I’m sending you love and support from my teeny tiny corner of the world straight to you!

If you’re celebrating Thanksgiving this month, I’m wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving.

With love and gratitude,
Kristy~xoxo

Would you like to become a Member of My Community?
You'll receive a Free Meditation MP3 plus a Special Price on a session.
Click Here to become a Member, now.

Gratitude Gift

Looking Forward, Looking Back

Well, we made it to March 2021 which means we’re officially closing in on the 1 year anniversary of the first round of shelter in place orders. Can you believe it’s been a whole year? Some months felt like an entire year on their own while others seemed to move along a little more quickly.

Who knew that March would become a global anniversary for all of us to take a little time to reflect on the past year... #2020. Most people have celebrated their at home birthday, (mine was yesterday) some will have theirs in the next 2 weeks; but overall we’ve experienced a lot of changes in this trip around the sun.

I was thinking about some of the big themes that showed up for me during this time and how I feel about them now, a year into this process. It’s hard to choose just one aspect because so much has changed, yet so much is still very similar. Are you finding that too?

My big themes were:

• Streamlining

• Simplicity

• Surrender

When I was thinking about this, I could see how they all fit nicely under a larger umbrella of letting go but at the same time, they each feel like they had their own moment and focus during different phases of the past year.

Maybe you can see how your personal themes have a common denominator too.

For me, a huge focus was on trying to get things as smooth and simplified as possible and to keep pivoting when and where I needed to so that I could make space for the unexpected. (to the best of my ability.)

I feel like there’s almost a quality about this year that feels similar to wrapping up a school year. As a student you can look back and point to so many specific things that you accomplished, learned, overcame, and the insane hours of the non-stop getting it done-ness that comes from being a student. As adults, it seems like the growth curve tends to look and feel less severe as it did as a student. However, this past year was a lesson in what seemed like near constant growth.

If you find yourself feeling tired or a bit like you’re crawling over the one year anniversary mark, you’re not alone. We’ve been going through it, simultaneously, even if in our own homes with varying degrees and decrees of lock down orders.

I wish that I could give you a gold star, a certificate of achievement, and a huge high five to help mark all that you’ve been through and how well you handled all this constant and unexpected change handed to you.

I was thinking about the opportunity I’ve had to support people who’ve worked with me during this past year and how incredibly people were rising to the occasion in so many aspects of their lives. Often times, when things get tough we just start where we’re standing and then when we get a little reprieve we almost forget how much we’ve done because we just kept going day after day.

Maybe you:

• Became an expert at zoom

• Created a home office and officially joined the working from home community

• Became a Homeschooling professional or a Distance Learning Wiz

• Became an expert at managing multiple schedules, including your own so everyone had a place to work, study, and have some down time.

• Became an expert at maximizing small spaces, organizing everything so your space was efficient in setting everyone up for success.

• Became really good at capturing small but significant windows of time for yourself so you could decompress.

• Became interested in something new like making sourdough starters, canning, gardening, meal prepping, house plants, or _______________.

• Became interested in something that you have been meaning to get back to again like playing an instrument, pulling out that sewing machine, or actually writing pages for your book, song, or screenplay.

• Became more clear about yourself, your needs, and the direction that you want for your life.

• Became more connected to the real you again. Maybe you could more easily hear that small still voice inside letting you know which things were on your list of values and which things had been moved to your list of letting go.

• Maybe you’ve fostered deeper relationships with the people in your inner circle.

• Maybe you’ve become crystal clear about the way you want to feel, and the way you want to move forward now at this one year anniversary.

• Maybe you can see how this time has shaken loose some of the things that were on their way out and you may not have known it at the time, but now you feel much lighter.

• Maybe you can see how far you’ve come.

• Maybe you can see all the progress you’ve made.

• Maybe you can feel an increased sense of self worth and self reliance.

• Maybe you can see actual proof in your own life reminding you that you can move toward the things that are calling you. You are stronger than you give yourself credit for and you do have what it takes to make big changes, even when they’re unexpected. Not only did you keep moving forward this past year, but you thrived while taking each step.

I think this is an important moment to stop and reflect on your own personal experiences as well as the overall impact, changes, and shifts that you’ve been a part of for someone else this past year.

None of us arrive at this anniversary alone, we arrive together even if we can only connect via technology, we’re still having this experience together.

Going forward from here, there will be more changes and shifts…more pivots and adjustments. However, it feels like the big stuff is behind us and now we can fine tune depending on where we live and the degrees and decrees of varying lock down orders.

I think two of the most important take-aways from this experience includes remembering to reach out for support when we need it; (yes, that means asking for help.) and letting the people in our lives know that we love them and are here for them even if we don’t live in the same home, community, state, or country.

Save some of that love and support for yourself too. You deserve it and you’re doing a great job!

Happy One Year Anniversary!

With so much love and gratitude, from my teeny corner of the world to you,

Kristy~xoxo

Would you like to become a Member of My Community?
You'll receive a Free Meditation MP3 plus a Special Price on a session.
Click Here to become a Member, now.