October Field Notes

With so much emotional heaviness in the news this past month, as war broke out in Israel and a hurricane detroyed Acapulco (with my client there!), I have felt unusually drained, often eager to unplug and tuck myself away to protect what energy I have left for myself at the end of the day.?

To add to that, my body has been unusually beat up these past weeks. I've over worked my shoulder playing too much pickleball, too much of many things. Then, in an almost comic turn of events (almost, but not quite), I dropped a 20-pound weight on my hand as a result of falling in a clutzy move while strength training at home, which broke my middle finger on my dominate hand. Writing, typing, and gripping were on pause for a couple weeks.

As my friend Kimberlee decried, “You're a mess!” It was true and an uncomfortable place to be.??

When I took a time out to evaluate how I created this situation in my body and in my life, I looked for where else I was feeling the strain, looking for the dissonance that signaled I was out of sorts. I noticed the subtle distinction of working too hard for too little of a return.?

?It happens when we diverge from our path, no longer aligned to our brilliance, strengths, passions, and purpose, we find ourselves out of alignment and no longer in flow.?

So, as I felt myself and the world around me unraveling in the midst of October, I took a writing class one Saturday, and the teacher said what I was feeling perfectly.?

“Life is life-ing right now."?

What she didn't say, but I heard was a kind of acceptance, that there's nothing to do about it, not exactly. Life goes off the rails sometimes. It happens. The question becomes, how do we get it and ourselves back on track?

We get grounded. We reflect on what we need to take care of ourselves as we undergo transition and change.?

Cultivating a sense of grounding is a salve to ease our transition in times of change. Feeling calm, rooted, and clear comes through a grounding practice that can protect us from feeling washed out energetically.?

By grounding, I mean developing a practice to pause, reflect, reconnect, and redirect your attention, energy, and effort. It makes for a solid foundation for decision-making that stems from an understanding of ourselves and the context in which we operate. Through a grounding practice we can begin to leverage the learning the moment offers to deepen our awareness of what is true for me right now.?

Having a clear process for checking in and re-grounding in times of turbulence and change is crucial realignment to your essential?self—to your values, your truth, and your joy.

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A grounding practice can happen anywhere and works best when you leave behind typical routines that cause your brain to go into autopilot. Shake things up to make space for fresh perspectives that make reconnecting with yourself more immediate.?

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Not sure where to begin? Try a few of these ways to sink into QT with yourself:

• Journal in a coffee shop
• Get your feet in the dirt
• Cook a meal you love
• Lay on the ground
• Walk in nature
• Pull a tarot or oracle card
• Soak in hot water with aromatic salts

Be a collector of sacred rituals of self-connection.?

Once you are in the right spot for reflection, get curious. Begin by asking yourself my set of go-to questions designed to surface the truth.?

• What am I longing for?
• What am I tolerating? (Make a list)
• How am I holding myself back? (We can be our worst enemy for expansion)
• What am I best at that I love doing??This is the sandbox you want to be playing in all the time. Spend time getting clear on your answer to this question. If you need help, call me and we can work on this together—it’s all about finding and working within your Zone of Genius.?
• What does it look like to honor myself by re-aligning to my joy, my values and my truth?

Here’s a few more tips before you slip your toes into the earth to reboot your system. Block whitespace on your calendar daily for reflection and grounding. Try different modalities for connecting with yourself. Land on what works best for you. Create a ritual that you look forward to returning to daily or weekly.?

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Share what’s working for you with others—friends, family, and this community through me. Reply to this email and tell me all about it! ?

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Pause, reflect, and write.

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This is what I know . . .

This is what I believe . . .

This is who I am . . .

This is who I am becoming . . .

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Set a 20-minute timer and write without editing.

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Describe a family meal or dish(es) that capture cherished memories of your family. Try to capture the family values that you and your family still honor today that have been passed down through generations.

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