I don’t like the word hard. It implies struggle. I like the word interesting. It involves curiosity. And ohhhhhhh love is very interesting!!

Love takes time. It takes time to understand our own issues within love. Never mind the other person's issues. It’s what we all want, but it can be uncomfortable for sure.

I don’t remember where I heard this, but I love it. “I may not understand you but I’ll always come back.”

To have a deep, connective and intimate love, we have to at some point peel off our masks and unveil our truth. Because under it all, our hearts are beautiful. What’s not beautiful is blaming, defensiveness, perfectionism, stonewalling (ignoring).

If my needs of unconditional love were never met as a child, I’m in fear that they never will be (by someone else) and I think what I’ve learned is that they may not be.

I was listening to a Hay House seminar with Gregg Braden, as he explained the power of connecting to our heart. The heart is a bunch of times stronger than the head (I can’t remember the exact number).

If you ever experience stress, this is a quick 3 minute break that will ground you and help provide some QUICK relief. 

Big question - Who are you really? 

This is a question I ask myself often. We come from a culture, society and upbringing of being told who we should be. And generally the message is, we aren’t good enough and then we are marketed to ‘buy’ this or that and then we’ll fit in and feel better. 

Life can get messy. Life can also be exhilarating. And hopefully a hell of a lot more of the latter! 

There are no guarantees and everything changes. Amid the chaos of change, we question ourselves. It can be a great time to reevaluate. Why did this happen? What do I want? How can I feel good anyway when I didn't choose this? 

Regardless of the circumstance, I’ve come to accept and understand these challenges as a way that life provides an opportunity to go deeper. 

I’ve written to you about affirmations before (back in May), but since this is a daily practice I thought it would be OK for a friendly reminder. And of course I write what I’m learning, and I’ve been guided to reflect on my affirmations again for the start of this year. 

In a world where there is so much information on being ‘happy and positive’ - we also need to honor where we’re at. When I want something a LOT and it hasn’t shown up yet… I can get irritated. I’m sure you’ve felt this way before.

But alas - there are ways to make this easier! 💃

I say ‘know what you want’ because it’s important and where I find many people struggle. It’s important so you know what direction you want to head in. It also creates excitement in life when you are wanting.

If you are reading this on Jan 1 and you aren’t hungover - I celebrate you!! Haha

Not sure about you, but I don’t like rules. And resolutions feel like rules to me.

Here’s my vision on how to do 2022:

On this day, may you be filled with an abundance of food, love, joy and comfort in your heart. 

Like other ‘special’ days throughout the year, it’s really just another day isn’t it?

And like all days - we have no guaranteed next day.

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” ~ Maya Angelou.

Here’s a friendly reminder for you - especially with the holidays approaching!

The consistency in which you do something is much more important than the intensity at which you do it.

Better to walk 5 days a week for 20 mins, than to walk once/week for 2 hours.

Better to meditate every day for 10 minutes than once/week for an hour.

I couldn’t find the source to where this acronym came from, but it’s a great reminder to all of us. My sister had it hung on her fridge a few years back and I loved it. I also loved that this is what she was teaching her young kids. My dad used to say to me years ago - Kristi, think before you talk! Haha, well Dad, I finally got the message. (We all finally ‘get’ it at some point, so don’t be hard on yourself). 😊

I’ll never forget the first time I did this meditation. I had heard that you can be moved to tears through the process of a spiritual practice like meditation or yoga, but it had never happened to me - until it did! 

At the end of this meditation I had tears streaming down my face. But it was of comfort and joy, not sadness. I had so much compassion for myself. 

Here’s a question for you.

What emotion haven’t you experienced?

Here’s one of the funny things about life. You’ve experienced many of the same feelings. And you may react differently over time.

The evolution of your soul then, is to see if you’ve grown when reacting to all these many emotions from your experiences. So the experiences will change, but there are only so many emotions.

This idea has been helping me tremendously with anything that shows up in my life. I’m hoping it can help you too. 

You know that feeling when you ‘give away your power?’ Something happens and you don’t feel as good. You get a feeling at the pit of your stomach and you know you are off. It can happen when the people we love aren’t as connected to us as we want them to be. 

I know you have many responsibilities. And of course you are responsible. But this is about learning and growing. Not so much your daily to do’s.

From this standpoint, being responsible means taking charge of your life and handling what you need to handle without pushing it down and secretly hoping it just goes away. This begins with becoming aware of what is going on within you.

“I may not be the way you want me to be, but I am the way I want to be.”

I listened to a talk from Sadhguru. And I resonated with what he said:

Life is precious. Your life is your responsibility. ‘Not knowing’ is a great possibility. Now you become a seeker to know.

I think by now you know how passionate I am about you being in charge of YOU. The fact is, other people affect us, and you affect others. You walk into a room of 100 people and get 100 different perceptions of who they think you are (without much information). 

Since we are all wired for connection and belonging we naturally want people to like us. We also know, not everyone will. Just like you will connect with some, but not others. 

Here’s a twist on some of what I normally say.

“Instead of not caring what other people think about you, ask yourself - what will someone think of when they think of you.”

I heard Marianne Williamson define success as, “you go to bed at night knowing that somebody else’s life is better because you were in it that day.”

This means we all have the power to be successful.

Do you do what you say you’re going to do? How do you feel when you disappoint someone?

Have you ever had someone tell you that they would show up, and never did? How did that feel?

This is integrity. And how you treat others is what you can expect back.

I know for me, this is a super important value, so I am not only sensitive when people don’t live up to my standard, but I also have to allow others to be what they are without judgement.

I think all you can do is have the conversation.

I rise up to allow myself to be all that I was meant for and to follow the inner voice directing my callings. Then I can put my arms around those who want the same thing. So we can feel connected - to ourselves and to each other. That’s a world in which heaven is here on earth. 

The world of ‘I’ and competition is an old paradigm. We need to evolve to a world that is moving forward no matter what. The question is, will it destroy us or will we grow with and for it?