saying "yes" to this moment

Come along and join me for 10 days of saying YES to this moment. Let yourself root into self-care and mindfulness as you begin 2016.

This FREE online adventure begins Tuesday, January 19. Each day you'll receive an email from me in your inbox that will be a note from my heart to you. My intention is to invite you to open yourself up to the beauty that surrounds you each day while also letting yourself be aware of the grit too, so you can begin to say, "Yes, even this" amidst all that life can hand you in a given day, week, month.

Note that after our 10 days ends, you'll continue to receive stories about saying "Yes to this moment" through my (almost) weekly newsletter. You can opt out at any time. And if you're already on my newsletter list, you'll receive Yes, This automatically this time around as a way to reboot your practice as we begin 2016.

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A little more about Yes, This 

Each morning, when I sit with my cup of coffee and toast and begin to curate the messages, inspiration, true stories, and good things I'll be sharing over on Pinterest and on my blog that day, I think about you over in your corner beginning your day and I wonder what stories you might need to read to remind you that you're not alone.

Of course, the reality is that some of my mornings look more like me sitting in the middle of my bed with my daughter playing an ABC game on the iPad and toast crumbs everywhere and our dog resting her head against the bed hoping for a snack. The laundry is in a large pile in the hallway waiting and my to-do list seems to grow by the minute. 

And even in the midst of the messy reality of the everyday, I try to find that space to take a deep breath and see the beauty of this moment. The beauty of just being right here with the rain tapping on the roof and the smell of Earl Grey tea and the look in my daughter's eyes when she says, "I think it's cuddle time." 

But it's taken me a lot of practice to create space to see the beauty of this moment.

So I'm inviting you to come along for a deep dive into noticing that beauty as I share some of my favorite "being present" practices that help me say YES to this moment.

A Community of Yes

More than 5000 people have taken Yes, This, and each time I offer it, we really do form a community of Yes!

During Yes, This, each day you'll be invited to share your response to that day's prompt through Instagram using the hashtag #yestothismoment so we can find one another. 

Join In

This is your invitation to come along and begin to trust that you're not alone as you experience the beauty and the hard stuff and the joy that is part of each day. There will be a community of like-minded spirits practicing alongside you. It is going to be so good!

the choice to keep your heart open (yet again)

This is one of those I need to read again and again and again. Because honey, sometimes that crazy starts to get to you. But then you realize, "Oh, yes, even this can be my teacher." And you shift and set boundaries and choose love and open your heart and sometimes even walk away.

Maybe you need that reminder too...

Pema Chodron would be a beautiful teacher to invite into your world in 2016. This is one of my favorite books by her that's all about loving kindness (for ourselves and others).

september 28.

 

I couldn't let this day pass without acknowledging that I've been blogging in this space for 10 years.

Wow.

I have more to say about this and a fun way to celebrate it that I'll be sharing later in the week. For now I just want to say, Thank you.

Yes.

Thank you.

blue moon dreaming

  

Last week, we had a blue moon, which means we had an extra full moon during this season. And as Pixie explained in her newsletter, it's rare. The next one won't be until 2018. Pixie went on to talk about creating a ceremony where you honor nature's magical cycles and the wisdom inside you and create an intention for yourself that you sing to the moon (literally or in a metaphorical way). 

So I read her words and thought about the kind of ceremony I wanted to create. I love her imagery of the full moon bringing things into the light. But then I didn't set aside the alone time to do it. Summer evenings have a way of getting away from me, and I simply didn't plan well enough to make it happen.

However, I found myself awake in the middle of the night with that moon shining in on me. And I started thinking.

I started thinking about this place where I'm standing these days with a desire to step onto a larger stage. A desire to expand and create the gatherings and teachings and other good things that support women as they create space for quiet, for stillness, and for joy, as they navigate what it means to really live in the space between the beauty and the mess one move at a time. A desire to dive deep and trust that you will come along.

And I started thinking about the longings I have for my own little family, for my day-to-day life. 

Words like courage and "do it anyway" and listen and softness and "tell it" and "focus in" and "what can you set down?" began to float up around me as the moon was shining in.

As I laid there, my head on the pillow, the fan whirring while Jon slept beside me, I tried to just stay in it, breathing, noticing, letting the words and hopes swirl together in a dance and then settle around me. Inhale. Exhale. Trusting the holiness of the moment.

Later in the day, I went out to my studio and gathered up visual reminders that represented that dance and put them on my pinboard so I could see them every day, so I could stand tall in this intention and desire.

No, it wasn't the ceremony I envisioned at first, but instead it became a powerful declaration of who I am right now and where I want to go all while surrounded by the powerful wisdom and strength of so many of my kindreds.

This inspiration board includes postcards and artwork from the following beautiful souls (clockwise from the top left): 

• Pixie Lighthorse's bear postcard from her animal deck
• Andrea Jenkin's photo of hands covered in paint
• Quote from Ali Makes Mail
• Lori Portka's deer postcard from her Gratitude Kit
• Elise Blaha Cripe's ampersand postcard
• My own peony photo, love note, alchemy card from one of Mindy Tsonas' classes, and the photo Jenna took of my hands holding peony petals at the last retreat.
• Kelly Barton's feather painting
• Another quote from Ali Makes Mail
• A card from my One Move mini inspiration deck
• A little original painting from Christine Mason Miller
• A little card of brilliance that came with my Get to Work Book
• An Amy Poehler quote from Ali Makes Mail
• An original painting from Danielle Daniel
• And the Hello Beautiful Soul postcard from my shop

These colors, these women, these hopes, this belief that I can embody the life I want, this is a peek at my heart these days.

And I'm putting a note in my Get to Work Book to change this up monthly so I can keep that energy, that inspiration and connection, flowing. Yes yes yes.

the time had come

In many ways these words are at the core of the work I'm putting into the world each day. This moment when you decide, "Yes, I have a choice." This is where the magic of realizing you truly can hold the grit in one hand and the beauty in the other and live the heck out of your life no matter what. 

*****

If you'd like encouraging stories about the moments when I'm holding these choices in my hands and deciding to say, "Yes, even this" along with self-care prompts in your inbox, please sign up for my (almost) weekly newsletter right here. I'd love to connect with you. (Yes, you.)