The end of the month is nigh and I am getting those little bubbles of excitement, deep in my belly, about What’s Next in the world of ME.  This month, my Medicine Wheel theme has been JOY and I feel that it’s been about connecting at a deeper level of JOY.

During the first week, I broke relationships ~ challenged friendships and my marriage.  The second week continued in that vein, with glimpses of light through lots of stormy skies.  Week 3 was about uncovering the new parts of me, those which had been hidden away by the baggage of the last 40-odd years.  And, the last week or so has been about connecting in a new way to the Things I Love.

Today, the energies are really flowing from JOY month into the new theme: BEGINNINGS.  I am So Excited!  Already, I am engaging in an ‘ending’ while NEW never-before-experienced opportunities are ‘arriving’.  Very, very cool.

My mantra or words to live by has been “How Many Lives Have I Touched? Have I Touched Yours?”  It was a fabulous question posed in an episode of Numbers that really caught my attention.  Now, as well as these two questions, I am adding 3 more words: “Give A Voice”.

For a couple of months, now, I have been aware of the number of people, past and present, who don’t have a voice.  They are the characters from our pasts, our childhood selves who were abused or shut down, our teenage selves who were never allowed to explore other ‘voices’, our ‘partner in a relationship’ selves who haven’t yet been able to find their true voices.  Then there are the past life selves like “Beatrice Margaret” who needs and wants someone to tell her story because she couldn’t speak her truth due to the physical limitations and the times in which she lived … she is not the only past life character who is wanting to Have A Voice.

I can only say that I feel immense inspiration and excitement about the forward path.  I am ready to start the next part of my life’s journey.  I am Touching Lives and Giving Voices to those who are unable to or unpractised in Speaking Up … and I am Grateful.

… exploring new ideas when card-making …

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… being a Great Mum and being appreciated …

A gift from a grateful daughter.   

… Sharing My Passion! 

Strategies for JOYful Living     (click)

… being creative with the opposite patterns!

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… being creative!

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Week 4 of the month and a new oracle card message … “Opening to Love”.

I had a crappy day, yesterday, feeling tired and really struggling to see the ‘half full cup’ ~ I think I had knocked my cup over and all the goodness was pouring out.    After conversations with 3 different people and some sage advice to a dear friend, this morning, I realised that it’s time for a kick up my own butt!

I’m doing Wonderful Wednesday as a “30 minute” day ~ that means I do my activities in 30 minute lots.  So, I have done some cardmaking for 30 minutes, run out of chores to do in 30 minutes, completed my emails in 30 minutes … in fact, I could easily sit down for the rest of the day and Do Nothing because all of this has been achieved before breakfast!

Realising that I needed to take my new ‘guidance’ card for the upcoming week, I was actually excited about what would come out.  Having now chosen this card …

… and read Denise Linn’s guide book, I realise that it’s time to focus on what it is that I LOVE and what makes me happy.  It’s JOY month and it’s been tough connecting with the root of that JOY, where it sits right down deep in my Soul.  It’s also been a month of ‘making sense’ of who I am, where I came from and where I’m headed … that seems to be adding layers and depth to my concept of JOY.  I’ve broken through limitations which have been with me forever, broken relationships which needed to be changed up, realised how much I do and what I do, really cleansed and cleared the years of illusion that have coloured my perspective on life, and now I can open my arms and my heart and connect to those things which really make me happy.

Fabulous!

This week, I am off to Sydney for I Can Do It! and The Writers Workshop.  I will have time out from all the responsibilities in my day-to-day world.  And, I will nuture and feed my Soul.  Yep, I’m Opening to Love!

Today, we start a 4 Day Writing Adventure.  There are a bunch of amazing people in our Motivational Magic Group who are inspired by writing and all related areas so I suggested, in honour of the Hay House, Australia, Writer’s Workshop (August 27) that we could form a sub-group for people who are interested in writing.

It’s been fun having such a focused area to engage in.  I am blessed with having access to people who weave magic with their words, especially some of the fabulous writers I connected with during NaNoWriMo, last year.  Between those people and the MM people, words have been shapeshifting in front of me!

This week, we are engaging in 4 days of writing/publishing/marketing – basically anything to do with communication.  As yet, I have no idea what the other people in our group are going to do but I am excited for the day and what it will bring.    I am participating in this Adventure because I need some motivation to get back to my writing and because I like the concept of the ‘challenge’ and having the support in place so I can share what I’ve been doing.

My commitment, today, is 30 minutes of writing … an early start for me as the day is filled with appointments and LOTS of talking and I know that days like today use up a lot of energy so writing later on may not be successful.  Also, the quiet of the early hours of the morning, before the birds have woken and while the sky is still dark, seems to be a fertile period in which to write, explore, consider, and write some more.

I have begun Part 3 of the book I started during NaNoWriMo 2010.  The first section of the book is in edit/rewrite mode; the second part is in ‘think it’s ok’ mode; and the third has been a ‘work in progress’ because it’s only now that I feel I have enough perspective, growth and distance to share this part of my journey.

Goal: 30 minutes writing.

Achievement:  30 minutes writing.

I am writing, again. 

There is a Smile on my face.

I am actually fulfilling the theme of this week: Renewing Your Life.

What a JOY!

I sometimes wonder at the synchronicity of the universe … how something I experience then becomes something I need to share or teach.  Usually, that ‘learning’ comes with a Neon Sign: WARNING!  THIS IS IMPORTANT!  PAY ATTENTION!  Sometimes it comes just as something I need to do or experience for myself … and then, sometime later, it becomes an experience I can draw on, to allow another to know that I am aware of what they are going through because I have ‘been there’, too.

“Beatrice Margaret” was one of those learning journeys.  She is like a new friend, dear and close, with a story which needs telling and a legacy which needs healing.  She drifted through my awareness just because I was intrigued by an image of a young girl, hands over her ears, feeling ‘nobody hears me’.  Beatrice turns up at coffee with friends, at a tourist destination, when I am surfing the internet.  She speaks through me when I tell people about her; when I share with David, over lunch, what I have learned about her ~ her voice becomes mine and I am the orator and narrator of her life.

Today, I have met a new soul who wishes to be given a voice.  She is bold and brave and broken.  She lives through a beautiful client, her past life self and her own ancestor.  The ancestral line is needing healing and these two strong women are combined in voice: a story needs to be told.

It seems that my desire to write, again, to tell my own story, has manifested with new themes, new threads of stories and colours.  The people and characters who cross my path just wish to be heard.  They want to be Given a Voice. 

So do I.

My experience.  My learning.  Their opportunity to be heard.

Beatrice and Charlotte.  Your time has passed; you have arrived.

Today’s learning …

It takes a LOT more energy to talk with and to people than I realise.

Today, I have been weepy.  I even went back to bed, this morning, for a couple of hours.  I had late breakfast, did some chores (with my timer on ’cause I am assessing what it is I do with my time each day, this week), did some projects, lamented about the broken modem and the challenge of accessing the internet through my phone, did some more chores, had lunch.

Hours and hours of ‘stuff’ that seems pretty pointless to me, at the moment.

And, I have learned that spending a day ‘mentoring’ and ‘counselling’ and listening, as I did yesterday, takes probably twice the amount of energy than I realise. 

The homework task I’m doing, this week, of noting all my achievements in a day has brought to light just how guilty I feel when I am not doing something I consider ‘practical’ or ‘purposeful’ or even ‘meaningful’ … and I am really tired.

Note to self: Be Mindful of Just How Much I Do.

Being an at home mum (check out my video on JOYful Warriors!) and working from home as a ‘Gentle Warrior’ and a ‘JOYful Warrior’ means that my ‘work’ time and my ‘free’ time overlap.  It’s time to Do Things Smarter and be aware of how I use my energy as a Motivator, allowing some (guilt-free) renewal time and a little bit of ‘free’ time!

I really love what I am learning but I am finding it a real challenge! 

After “Breaking Barriers” and “Revealing Radiance” my card for this week (week 3 of JOY month) is “Renewing Your Life“.  Sigh.  I think the hard path may be over.  And, I think I may just be connecting with a Deeper Sense and Awareness of JOY.

Awesome!