Sublime U

I am hard at work on my new website and vision, Sublime U.

I have always loved the word "sublime."  It means "Of such excellence, grandeur, or beauty as to inspire great admiration or awe."

Transcend the mundane.  Be sublime.

Bigger Game Boston: Join us on November 11th and 12th

All about the Bigger Game

Rick Tamlyn, my mentor, incredible leader, and wildly inspiring human, is co-leading the Bigger Game 2 Day Experience with me in Boston on November 11 and 12.  Don't miss it.   I guarantee your life will change for the better because of this simple yet profound model and the two days of learning, fun, and connection you will experience.

Sign up here:

http://www.ricktamlyn.com/register-boston-nov2011.html

We'll see you there!

Air Dragon R5

I was so pleased with how designing and leading the Air Dragon's Retreat 5 went for me and for all of us.  Here's a review from one of the attendees!

Air Dragon R5

September, bursting at the seams

I am in awe of how full things both awesome and scary my September has become.

I am leading numerous trainings, including a coaching training for social workers!  Yes!

I am designing and leading a two-day reunion retreat for 11 members of the CTI Leadership Air Dragon tribe!  Wheeee! 

At 8am the day following that experience, I will fly to Asheville, NC for a week to begin 10 months (4 week-long retreats) of assisting CTI Leadership, led by MY former leaders, the incredible Rick Tamlyn and L.A. Reding.  I am overwhelmed with gratitude that I get to have this profoundly life-shifting experience again, this time from 'behind the scenes' and behind a camera.

My life changed forever when I went through the Leadership process in 2009 with my beloved Bee tribe, led by Rick and L.A.  I did things that I never dreamed possible and realized who I really am and who I am becoming.  I know that everything will change again after being immersed in the training and learning of this new group.

For the first few months of my 2011, the fear about the uncertainty of all areas of my life left me a bit paralyzed.  It has been a long time since I let fear rule me so totally as I did in this dark spring.  For the last couple of months, I have realized that, like Ravi Singh says, "Fear is just excitement without the breath!"

I am breathing again, and excited for the adventure that is my life.  Ravi S also says, "We cling to the known, when it is the unknown we should go towards.  That is where growth lies, that is where our true happiness lies."

September is full of growth and unknown.  Bring it on!

I Love Summer

Lounging in the backyard
listening to birds chattering
bare feet curled in the grass
honeysuckle smell
surrounded by lush green leaves blowing
occasional mosquitos
loving the stillness
loving the light lingering
into the evening of this the longest day of the year
children whooping four houses down
trellis of vines gently swaying in fragrant breezes
heart gently thrumming
I am alive.

Just stop

I attended a retreat a couple of weeks ago called "Come Home to Your Heart."

The greatest takeaway for me was a simple method for calming the mind when it is engaged in its inevitable mind chatter, ruminating about the past and worrying about the future.

This comes from Gangaji:  STOP.  Tell the Truth. Be Still.  This comes from me: lather, rinse, repeat and repeat and repeat.

It sounds so simple, and it is, and it isn't.  Give it a shot.  My mind has been running wild lately with worries about money and the future and the unknown and the past and the "woulda coulda shoulda."  Enough to make anyone feel blunted, blue, anxious, edgy.


I started STOP (sometimes "yelling" it at myself in my head).  Deep breath, Tell the Truth (usually looks like:  "I'm scared." "I'm sad" "I'm tired" "I'm lonely").  Be Still: breathe, be with the truth.  Be you, now.

It's helping.

Moving into moving

One of the most challenging parts of my divorce is leaving my home.

I love the South End.  I love my condo perched on the edge of the neighborhood.  Despite being on Mass Ave, with its cacophony of sirens and car horns and drunk people yelling after midnight, its tumbleweeds of litter and spirals of exhaust, our condo was a source of peace and joy: spacious for the city, with a large deck and an abundance of windows and light.  I never got over the thrill of living in the South End, land of brownstones, bakeries, and all-around urban beauty.

I moved last Friday to live with a friend for a time in Medford, near the campus of Tufts.  It couldn't be more different: suburban, silent, a lovely freestanding home with a basement and a backyard.  I put my "stuff" in storage and moved in with only my clothes,  and without one thing that most people who live in Medford consider a necessity: a car.  Spoiled by the easy walk-ability and the constancy of my neighborhood's trains and buses, I will now be cultivating patience and impeccability with regards to time, with buses that run only thrice hourly during rush hour, less frequently otherwise.  I bought a backpack; I am considering taking Bicycling for Dummies lessons.

Signs of spring are beginning to appear and the backyard will soon be awash in color, fresh leaves, and birds.  This quiet and gentle place, this new beginning, will help me get clear on what I will create in the next phase of my life.

My Evolution, Your Evolution, You Revolution

My life is evolving.  A few things that have happened since I last posted:

I am getting divorced.  I just sold my house.  I am evolving my business to better reflect who I am and where I am going and what I am called to do in the world.  I am growing and loving and dipping and twisting and dancing with my life.   I am knee-deep in the mystery of "What's Next?"  Luckily, so are many of my clients!   So are we all.  As much as we try to avoid change, it is ever-present.  We are always evolving, like it or not; the question is "Are we evolving consciously or unconsciously?"

Take my hand.  Hold your nose if you have to, but dive into the mystery with me.

Beauty

A dear friend told me to read the book Eternal Echoes by John O' Donohue about a year ago.  The gift he gave me was immeasurable.  Reading John O' Donohue's work feels like a sacred ritual-each paragraph to be savored, fully presenced, pondered, re-read and re-experienced.  I immediately purchased Anam Cara and experienced the same stillness, peace, and wonder.

I burst into tears when I googled to find out more about this gentle Irishman and found out that he died suddenly in 2007.  It felt unbearable that there would be no more books, no more words from him, and that he no longer walked the Earth.  I held off buying and reading his book Beauty: The Invisible Embrace for as long as I could, wanting to pick it up when my heart was yearning for the tender voice I knew I would encounter between its covers.

I have spent the last two days reading the first two pages, sighing with delight. 

I love you, John O' Donohue, soul friend.

"May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder"--John O' Donohue.

Helllloooooo?

Yes, it's been awhile!  Life has been seriously juicy-delicious-busy.  I will update little by little--so much has happened!