Never the Wrong Time for New Beginnings ~ January 2024

January 1- what is upppp!? I hesitated on sending this email the first day of the year since it's technically a holiday- howeverrrr, what better day to be intentional, inspire and be inspired! There are a few new friends here that were a part of the 2024 ISC- welcome, lovely people! I send these newsletters just once a month and the hope is you find them helpful even if in the smallest way. You won't hurt my feelings if you unsubscribe- I promise (:

Welcome to 2024! This year, this day, this moment, has been waiting for you with arms wide open. Honestly, the first day of the year can be a bit intense and oftentimes be filled with some anxiety. There's a lot of pressure to start those goals and definitely NOT mess up on the first day of the year!!! Ughh that's too much pressure and can be super stressful. Additionally, the expectations (which we spent a LOT of time chatting about in November) can be so unrealistic. So you know what, let's just take this day like we would any other and remind ourselves that we don't need a new year to have a new beginning. Each and every day we can write and re-write the narrative. We can decide what kind of person we want to be and we can overcome the limitations or identities that have maybe been a part of us for so long. 

In the last few weeks of 2023 and leading up to the Intention Setting Ceremony, I shared a lot of my journal pages on social media. So many people reached out about my journaling practice and asked what I actually write about. Let me begin by sharing a bit about meditation and then explain how the two are connected. Meditation is a practice of stillness- allowing the body and mind to become still. It is a practice of becoming an observer rather than a judger. I like to think that one of the goals of meditation is to increase the space between each thought and have that "woah, I just had a moment where I wasn't thinking about anything!" Inevitably, your mind is going to wander and you're going to have thoughts and you might even go down that rabbit hole of thoughts. That is normal. Lemme say it again: that is normal! What's important is the loving practice of bringing yourself back. The loving practice of reminding yourself where you are, what you're doing and where you are anchored. Journaling is similar. In my opinion, what you actually write about is less important than the act of sitting with yourself and writing itself. 

Noticing patterns and habits, really exploring my emotions (what I'm feeling and why I may be feeling it), and getting my thoughts out of my head and down on paper allow me to be new each and every day. Journaling works for me but it's not about journaling- it's about finding something that allows you to get to know yourself better each and every day. We don't have to feel stuck, we don't have to feel confined to certain identities, we don't have to keep hanging out with "friends" who are really just pulling us down but we stay around because we feel like we must. New beginnings can happen any time of the year! That's the beauty of it- you're free to decide when you're ready to part with someone or something! 

This month I encourage you to not put such rigid expectations on yourself or even the intentions that you might have set for the year. Instead, keep pouring into the things that you know align with you. The things and people who make you light up, the dreams that scare the shit out of you but also give you butterflies in your belly, and those experiences that inspire you and allow you to trust that goodness exists when we choose to see it, but also remind us that that goodness lives within each and every one of us all. the. damn. time! What a feeling that is! So if it's today, January 1, 2024, or it's months from now, remember the growth and abundance that lives in new beginnings.