Lift Yourself Up

"Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage.
The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict".  

~William Ellery Channing

As we set sail into the holiday week ahead, with the restrictions increasing in so many communities (including ours here in Boulder), we have the opportunity to take some time to remember what’s important in our lives.

So many are alone, with children on their own, separate from their families and friends, and are being asked to navigate this time of year in a very different way.

I have been feeling how crucial it is to be focusing on what’s really important, how can we surrender even more into this dance we are in, and how we can truly embrace this time with the whole of our beings. While I have touched in on these subjects in previous newsletters, the themes remain strong and, I feel, are deepening.

While this holiday season is absolutely not going to be like any other, there are so many things that we can do to lift ourselves up and actually enjoy this time with an open and joyful heart.

The conversations that I have been having with colleagues, friends, clients, and the guests on my podcast have been profoundly moving and inspiring. There is, indeed, an uprising happening in midst of this extreme contraction and darkness that we are witnessing.

There are so many stepping out in ways that they have not been able to before, many whom are using this time to dig in and do some needed personal work, and many who are bonding with loved ones in profound ways.

While sifting through what’s truly important in our lives, in our relationships, in our consumption and material needs, in our interactions, many are landing into a space of alignment and integrity with the authentic truth of who they are. These are shifts that are soul-stirring, heart-opening, life-changing.

I am moved to my core with the rising of so many beautiful beings, doing their work to better themselves, to improve their relationships and partnerships, to offer their gifts to the world unabashedly in this time of vulnerability and uncertainty.

The call is to continuously meet ourselves in every crevice, every pivot, detour, collapse, and expansion with a commitment to living awake.

A determination to show up to the best of our ability every day with our whole selves on board.

Not easy work, yet so crucial.

I wanted to offer you some insight and inspiration for you to bring with you into your life during this holiday time and beyond. This time is changing and morphing us in profound and lasting ways, without a doubt.

• Focus on what you can do this holiday season: While many of us are not able to do our usual holiday gatherings and traditions, there are so many things that we can do given the circumstances. Working with our minds and shifting our perspective is a tremendously enhancing way of approaching these times. By focusing on what we can do over the holiday time rather than what can cannot opens up the possibility and space to really enjoy whatever it is we are doing and with whom.

• Embrace this time: As I have said many times before, what we resist does not just go away. If anything it becomes louder, relentless, and can carry you into a downward spiral of despair. Yes, no one wants this to be happening, yet it is, and we have a choice as to how we are going to meet it. Either we surrender and embrace it or we can suffer and be miserable. It is our choice and important to remember that we can, at any moment, tap into that well of inner peace and joy from inside of ourselves, no matter what the outer state looks like.

• Get creative: While we cannot do many of the “normal” activities and rituals that we may be accustomed to doing over the holidays, there are certainly some creative outlets that can be explored during this time. Perhaps rather than the usual over-eating, over-drinking, you consider diving into a family (or solo) art project. I have been obsessed with collaging over the past few months and have almost finished an entire book (the image at the top is from there). I am excited to have this as symbolic of my journey through this wild time. Anything that takes you out of your head, shifts your neuropathways, and drops you into your body’s subconscious. Even taking a walk someplace you haven't been before, cooking some new foods, listening to different music, etc. all can shift one into a space of creative flow and greatly enliven this time of year.

• Make your home environment festive: Even if it is just you, or you and a child or another adult, take the time to create some beauty and festivity in your home. Buy some new candles and light your house up with candlelight, use an essential oil diffuser and pump some relaxing scents into your house, try some new music that enlivens your soul and supports you in feeling happy and festive. Bring the joy of the holiday season right into your home!

• Gratitude: When we find gratitude and appreciation for all of the blessings, connections, abundance, and love in our lives it truly shifts everything. Take some time everyday to be in gratitude. No matter what is going on around you, take some moments and really take in all that you appreciate in your life, no matter how seemingly small. An attitude of gratitude is one of the greatest gifts that we can offer ourselves and those in our lives.

As Julia Cameron offers in her famous book, The Artists Way, we must treat ourselves as “precious objects” so as to strengthen our capacity to meet life's unfolding in immeasurable ways.

The work truly begins within.

May we remember that truth as we move through these dark and challenging times, holding love in our hearts and allowing it to radiate through our entire being.

Stay connected.

We are all in this together.