Tis the season. The sparkling snow, warm cookies, belly laughs, crackling fires, giggling children, family stories, mistletoe kisses...and perfectly wrapped presents. Love everywhere (and *hopefully* mountains of snow)!
I can't remember the last time I was so excited to go home for the holidays. I find myself deeply needing the gifts of the season this year, noticing that some recent days have been harder than others in allowing myself to experience life's gifts fully. Is living itself not the greatest gift we've been given?! Oh the joy of being human! These minds of ours can run us ragged in mysterious ways, and I've had enough of mine small-talking me.
The beautiful thing is: we can rewrite this script. Stress? Relatives? Money? Travels? We are driving the sleigh - we choose how to react, to perceive, to appreciate the gifts of these teachers.
Each day as I awake into a morning haze, I pause and remind myself that I've never experienced today before. That others will not receive the same day that I am gifted to receive. That I'm in charge of choosing love, joy, and life in the moments to come and fully embracing what arrives.
The effect of this small edit in my day has been building. It brings positive energy each time: the ability to pull myself out of a funk one day, a greater voice to express my love the next, and more.
What can you allow yourself to receive this holiday season? In what way? No need to overthink it - mini movements are powerful (plus, I hear the best gifts come in small packages!).
Happy Holidays to you and yours - sending love, gratitude, and joy for your 2017!
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
The Final Puzzle Piece
Eyes closed, body swaying, melody flowing ear to ear...it all clicked.
In that moment I realized the very thing that had been missing. Just as I had done so many times before, I opened my eyes at the concert. This time, with a glimmering new awareness.
I don't think the artist even made a difference. Nor the breathtakingly beautiful venue. It wouldn't have mattered much what kind of day I had earlier. The catalyst was the pure reconnection to one of my primal needs that had been laying dormant, dissatisfied, and overgrown for far too long.
Music has been a large part of my life from a young age.
I can still recall the anticipation of playing fur elise on the piano from memory, hands dancing on the keys and heart hanging onto the hope that I wouldn't mistouch a key and ruin the chords.
When I see a ring box, I'm taken back to my 16th birthday. Opening the box so slowly, just knowing it held a secret. The rush of excitement when I saw the guitar picks hiding within, and a feeling of relief when I held my Ibanez for the first time. The sorrow I felt when I realized that, despite my determination, I was not cut out to play. That was indeed my first real breakup, and it was painful.
High school years filled with tours, basement concerts, and my best friends serenading each other into the endless hours of the night.
That simple feeling of enjoying the present moment when you close your eyes at a show and know that this is the only time the concert will ever occur on that day, at that venue, with that crowd - each one unrepeatable in its essence.
Or the comfortable ability to spend time with someone, no words necessary, just an album humming in the background,
Just as I had done so many times before, I opened my eyes at the concert. I felt a rush of simultaneous sadness and relief. Sadness that I had lost touch with myself in such an elementary way, but relief to have realized it.
Ahh, life. It endlessly overcomplicates itself if we allow it to. In reality it's so easy to go back to basics and find the simple joy of living - if we allow ourselves. Cheers to music for being a constant in my life, even in the years that I've failed to recognize it.
If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to basics - you can find me in my Chucks dancing around my living room to something that moves me <3
In that moment I realized the very thing that had been missing. Just as I had done so many times before, I opened my eyes at the concert. This time, with a glimmering new awareness.
I don't think the artist even made a difference. Nor the breathtakingly beautiful venue. It wouldn't have mattered much what kind of day I had earlier. The catalyst was the pure reconnection to one of my primal needs that had been laying dormant, dissatisfied, and overgrown for far too long.
Music has been a large part of my life from a young age.
I can still recall the anticipation of playing fur elise on the piano from memory, hands dancing on the keys and heart hanging onto the hope that I wouldn't mistouch a key and ruin the chords.
When I see a ring box, I'm taken back to my 16th birthday. Opening the box so slowly, just knowing it held a secret. The rush of excitement when I saw the guitar picks hiding within, and a feeling of relief when I held my Ibanez for the first time. The sorrow I felt when I realized that, despite my determination, I was not cut out to play. That was indeed my first real breakup, and it was painful.
High school years filled with tours, basement concerts, and my best friends serenading each other into the endless hours of the night.
That simple feeling of enjoying the present moment when you close your eyes at a show and know that this is the only time the concert will ever occur on that day, at that venue, with that crowd - each one unrepeatable in its essence.
Or the comfortable ability to spend time with someone, no words necessary, just an album humming in the background,
Just as I had done so many times before, I opened my eyes at the concert. I felt a rush of simultaneous sadness and relief. Sadness that I had lost touch with myself in such an elementary way, but relief to have realized it.
Ahh, life. It endlessly overcomplicates itself if we allow it to. In reality it's so easy to go back to basics and find the simple joy of living - if we allow ourselves. Cheers to music for being a constant in my life, even in the years that I've failed to recognize it.
If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to basics - you can find me in my Chucks dancing around my living room to something that moves me <3
Monday, July 4, 2016
On Saying Goodbye
For me, this is never easy. I cling to every last second of a goodbye as if the finality will crush me. Perhaps that's a flaw, the eternal lover's demise. Whether it's a person, a place, or a perspective, I am just plain terrible at goodbye.
As we leave Denver tonight, I can't help but wonder what is behind my emotion. Leaving this city and its wondrous mountains pains me more each time, but is it more concerning that I haven't missed My New York in weeks? Perhaps further so that I've found myself in this middle state of what-was and what-will-be?
I sigh out anticipation, preparing for my transition out of this sacred place. In the distance, a firework bursts and glimmers to fade out slowly enough that I crack a smile and think fondly back on my weekend.
Goodbyes are never easy, but at least I find comfort in knowing where my heart lies. I gaze out the window knowing that, if it's meant to be, it will be. I know nothing to be truer than this.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)