What can you give preference to?

When things don’t go according to plan…

You are exactly where you are

By merging conservation with restoration, I'm creating the conditions for sustainable growth, movement, transition, and evolution.

I see as it gets caught on the reality that life is short, precious, and unpredictable. I choose to keep the curtain lifted. To see how I can be present and appreciate each moment as it passes.

I get into that “doing-mode” trying to fix, solve, or correct. When the answer, oftentimes, is to simply be.

What are some simple activities you can integrate throughout your day to unwind from stress as you see it arise?

Rather than getting swept up in the frenzy of return, what if we could allow ourselves to emerge?

Those piles have long since melted and have been replaced with blooming daffodils and crocuses. And those hardened places within have melted as well.

And now with this changing season, it feels like time to leap. To trust that there is a mama otter there to catch us, to pick us up when we need, and to offer us a moment of tenderness.

By taking this step back, by pulling away from the swirl of it all, I was able to connect to what I needed at this moment. I connected to a community of support. I connected to the present more acutely and consciously than I have in months if not years.

And I found myself grateful. Realizing that each morning is a gift. A precious opportunity to offer more.

We are not in a sprint right now, this is a marathon. And I believe it to be vital to take care of ourselves not as a means to "check out" from what's happening, but to charge our batteries, to nourish ourselves so that we can show up externally from a grounded, clear, compassionate and thoughtful place.

I shared this challenge with my therapist this week and she invited me to explore a different perspective. What if the project wasn't about the outcome, what if the project was the process itself?

I start to peel away the layers, slide past the news stories, untether from the short term and the long term fears. When I look deep down at what I'm feeling. When I distill it down to its core essence, I find feelings I have encountered before.

Fill your awareness with the sense of all life. Feel the abundance, the expansion and the interconnectedness of it all.

With that space, I find that I can respond, rather than react. I get less tangled, less caught up in the thoughts, feelings, emotions. I find that I can make choices and actions from a more peaceful and grounded place.

And by sitting and observing, it helps ease some of that ickiness. I find there is less resistance and more space.

So often we jam in too many things because of the shoulds. Because we believe that if we are capable of doing something then we should do it. Rather than asking ourselves, do we have the space, the resources, the support to do it?

Sometimes letting go feels good. It's energizing and inspiring. At other times, it can feel heavy, sad, difficult even.