Intentional Gratitude

Did you participate in the social media Gratitude Challenge?  Whereas as friend tagged you and you were to post 3 things daily which you were grateful for?  I enjoyed reading the posts on my news feed and participated myself.  Then another friend tagged me and I decided to do things a little differently. 

Rather than posting a daily Gratitude Reflection, I decided to post a Pre-Gratitude Intention.

For the first couple days I wrote my Pre-Gratitude in the morning, and posted what I intended to be grateful for that day such as:

• Grateful for mindful drivers and safe travel to my destination.
• Grateful for the ease in accomplishing something.

Fun Fact:   

My success was immediate. Traffic can especially be a nemesis so I was elated that travelling with everyone else on the roads was easy. Plus since I began my day with setting those intentions they were in the forefront of my mind, so my actions followed my thinking.

On the third day I decided to change the format again.  

What if I put my Pre-Gratitude thoughts out there the night before rather than the morning of.  Would that impact or improve how I felt and what transpired?  

Think about this:  If you have ever gone to bed dreading a task or situation set for the next day?  Gone to bed thinking about it, mulling it over, worrying and anticipating the potential level of yuck its going to be?  Potentially having a fitful sleep only to wake up the next morning feeling exhausted and unsettled.  I certainly have.

Suffice to say, setting a Pre-Gratitude Intention before going to bed resulted in my feeling the Opposite of that!  My experience was that it was as effective in results; but I felt a greater connection to the intention.  In my opinion, setting the Gratitude Intention the night before allowed my subconscious mind work out the details.

What can you be Pre-Grateful for tomorrow?  How would it feel to set your intention to be and feel Grateful for something before it even happens?

Feel Free to share in the comments below or on my Facebook page

The Expatriate to Repatriate Journey: Are We Home Yet?

I'll have physically been back in my "home" country Canada for 4 months.  We did move to a new city, in a new province, to us, despite my having had a past experience with living here, I'm saying its new.  I had to approach this like I had the last two moves that this was a "new" country move as we had on the previous occassions.

The actual moving process began around February, the suggestion which unleashed the resistance vibe, the stress which complimented the resistance, which was the tossing around of the idea etc., leading up to the packing and follow through.  

I'd love to say that the "stress" part of the move was fluctuating and that the resistance to the move diminished as we moved forward.  Yet, when your heels are dug into the ground, as mentioned in the previous post,   the energy around the move had a resistance vibeage and so to answer my own question, "Are we home yet?", the answer is No.

One would think that moving to Europe, where we were foreign to the culture, language and pretty much everything would have been more difficult than coming home.

One may think that leaving a foreign culture and language and landing in an English speaking country would have been easier, well except for the whole driving on the wrong side of the road business (LOL)!

One could think that returning "home", would be the easiest of peasiest...No visas to worry about applying for, no translation issues, no health care dramas, no applications to buy a home process.  One may be inclined to think we would simply slot back in where we left off.

We arrived "unsettled". 
Partly because I believe there were expectations, both self-imposed and collective that were not aligned with the "new city/new province" actuality.  

In reflection I can see the strong contrast between:  everything is new and fresh versus picking up where we left off.  Those two vibes are in contradiction and we can not have it both ways; and trying to do so adds a great deal more pressure to an already dynamic situation.

Inhale.........Exhale..........Inhale........Exhale.........Inhale.....Exhale.......

My approach was simplistic:  Start.

Start by finding our way to the grocery store then back.
Start by finding our way to the shopping center and back.
Start by buying a coat.
Start by finding some comfort.
Start by reconnecting when and how we can.

Starting from where we were and working out from there.  Doing what we could with what we had and establishing our new "home base".

There is a re-calibration of your set point as you release what your normal was and create what your normal will be.  Its building a new foundation.

To answer the question "Are we home yet?" My answer would be, "We are closer to it everyday."

World Suicide Prevention Day Reblog: Illnesses that no one saw coming

Originally Posted in 2013

I believe in synchronicity.

I believe in and welcome the arrival of the most perfect people, teachers, words, inspiration, motivation, products etc coming into my world.

As the Universe would have it, I was compelled to click on a link that led me to the following post regarding the language used in, amongst, around and in association with Suicide.

Here is what’s troublesome about the term “suicide survivor.” With cancer, heart disease, liver failure and so on, the survivor is the person who is directly affected by the health problem, who lives it and sometimes dies from it.

By taking on the role of “suicide survivor,” the bereaved accept the role of “victim” as well, since they are inexorably connected. You cannot be a survivor without being a victim.

And to be a victim, there must be a perpetrator.

Would that perpetrator, then, be the very person for whom they grieve? 

This post has shaken my core, in as much as I have been precipitating the very stigma around Suicide that I "wished" did not exist, however never thought to turn the language around as I have in other areas of my life.  The author has given me a powerful tool to do just that.

When we replace “killed themselves” or “committed suicide” with “had a fatal depressive episode,” we start to see the horror of the mental illness that took our son, our daughter, our sister, our brother, our husband, our wife, cousin or friend.

And we can reduce the stigma, we can open a real dialogue, we can stop blaming our loved ones and ourselves and get to the tasks at hand – understanding, healing and prevention.

No matter if or how you have had an experience with suicide this post may very well be a catalyst of change.

Change in how we think about Suicide;

Change in how we don't talk about Suicide;

Change in how we feel about Suicide;

Change in how we heal;

Change in how we move forward.

I am grateful for Joel Kobren's, honesty, vulnerability and courage in this post 

"Illnesses that no one saw coming".

This post is infused with Peace and Love,

Sherry

http://sherrytrentini.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/the-emotional-oil-water.html

The Expatriate to Repatriate Journey: Turning Our World Upside Down...Again

In the last 4 years I've moved a couple times.

At a Glance:

• 2010 Canada to Germany, 
• 2012 Germany to Australia, 
• 2014 Australia to Canada.

That is a lot of moving, packing, purging, Kilometers, and change!

The decision process to move takes a great deal of endurance.  Whether its across town and especially to another continent.  

It is possible that from the outside looking in, it may appear that casually over coffee one morning we just decided to pick up and relocate... and poof there we landed on the other side of the Globe.  No muss no fuss.  

When the energy around making a continental move is well a Continental Shift!

When you are keen and eager to relocate, the physical move is a fairly straight forward. And may look similar to this...

When you are hesitant to relocate, the physical move is substantially more scribbly. Like this...

Either route gets you from A to B. 


As with any major decision there is a tremendous amount of 

• back and forth, 
• pros and cons, 
• ups and downs,
• tears of joy and sadness
• along with various and other sundry emotions.  

Think Roller Coaster, and that ride doesn't necessarily stop when you land.
When you arrive at B, you have to start to unpack and untangle what you brought with you, whether you knew you brought it along or not.  

Its a process, just like any move.

You have to decide where stuff will go and how it will fit; one box at a time.  Not just your furniture but yourself. 

Building my Bagua for 2014

Not much has inspired me in the last number of weeks.  My choosing to dedicate the month of November to Forgiveness put me into an internal, mental and emotional tailspin.  (More about that to come once I've sifted and worked through the wreckage).

While browsing online I read the blog post "What's your Power Word for 2014" coupled with having met the author, Nicole Cody, back in December, poof I'm energized to sit and write this post.  She has a way about her that does that in person and online.  So I'm grateful.

Her Power Word exercise inspired me to take the word I chose through the Bagua.

I jotted, scribbled, paused and pondered this list in my journal:

Flexibility

Momentum

Rhythm

Curvy

Fluid

Fluidity

Unstuck

I even included Grounded = Control; and Strong as Flexible.

Last year I would say my theme would have been Grounded, which morphed into Control; which contributed to my inflexibility and made me stuck.

Fire is a dominant element in my life, and I spent a lot of 2013 on fire, being fired up and breathing fire.  In order to control Fire, one needs to bring in water and that element was present, however it was not in a position to manage my flames.  

Earlier this week I spent time with my new deck of cards, called Inquiry Cards and have been sitting with the question I drew...

www.inquirycards.com

This question that I have let soak into me over the last couple days, and now being motivated to choose my power word I have chosen Fluidity and or simply Fluid.

Fluid is defined on Dictionary.com as:

I lacked bounce in 2013 and choosing fluidity as my center does not mean that I will be "wishy washy", rather I'd like to think of being in motion like seaweed.

Seaweed-like movements are a metaphor used to describe and teach the movements in Gyrotonics and while snorkeling in Sydney last week I was able to observe the copious amounts of seaweed doing their dance in the ebb and flow of their ocean environment.  Love the synchronicities!

When I took the word Fluid around the Bagua to see if it suited the supporting areas I kept these queries in my mind.

How would it feel to be more Fluid ...

• when Reflecting (blue) on my life?
• when Nurturing (green) myself and others?
• when Expressing or Receiving Gratitude (purple)?
• when Connecting with my Community (red)?
• in my relationship with Love (pink)?
• when expressing and feeling Joy (cream)?
• in the Spirit (grey) of helping others or asking for help myself?

I answered It would feel Good, to be more Fluid, in all areas of my life.  It would be the easier way. 

Going forward my decisions and experiences will have that query as well.  

"Does doing _______ support my being and feeling fluid?"

"Does _______ support my being and feeling fluid?" 

"What if I did/tried/stopped ________would that support my being and feeling fluid?"

I've also asked myself why choose the word Fluidity over Flexible?  

In my opinion, Fluidity feels different when spoken and its less common than the word flexible; it conjures up that seaweed moving to the waves vibeage while having a connection to being grounded, whereas flexible conjures up bending to the point of snapping.

One last note, I know what flexibility is and feels like, in my body and in life. I also think that I can contribute strides in moving forward in my life by not only being flexible but fluid.  Therefore I can Reflect on what that felt like and choose to invite that back into my life onward.

What word, quality or essence are you inviting into your bagua or life in 2014? Whatever it is, may your choices, experiences and motivations support and energize you in 2014 in all ways and always!

Emotional Richter Scale - Choosing Forgiveness

I’m curious if anyone had the image of me (or of yourself) grabbing your High School yearbook, a photo album, or address book and flipping through it as if you were looking at mug shots on a television cop show.  You know, turning page after page trying to pick out the perp who did the crime so they could do the time.  

Credit:  Reposted from Facebook from Project Forgive

That was not the case.  I didn’t have to look into the archives, browse facebook or any other place to find who I needed to forgive.  I only had to look in the mirror.

Yes, my list of who I needed to forgive included only one person, and that person is ME.

When I really sat and let the idea of choosing forgiveness sink in, I admit that a few people came to mind that I would benefit from letting go; however I kept coming back to the common denominator and I was it.

It became abundantly clear that if someone in my life and ecosystem had done or said something that was hurtful, fearful or angry that I reacted to, they were responsible for the words or actions; however I am wholly responsible for holding onto the feelings of those words or actions elicited in me.

I am the one who created a space in which to hold onto that moment, that comment, that whatever.  Therefore the person I most need to forgive is me.

As for my list of “what’s” and the feelings associated; now that list is the opposite of short.

That list includes beliefs, doubts, fears, shame, annoyances, and a number of “shoulds,” that others may have provided the seed for, assisted or supported me in creating, but again, I am the one responsible for allowing them to take root and take up space.

Day Two:  Emotional Richter Scale

I’ve decided to take my list and allocate on a scale of 10 where my feelings are vibrating at.

My intention is to get to Neutral which in this case is 0.

The scale of 1-10 is varying degrees of attachment to the emotion, and my personality draws me to starting to work with the double digits; however I’m choosing a more gentle approach.

I’m going to allow myself to sit with my list and associate my Richter Scale Values and create a foundation from which I will move forward from for the balance of the month.

Releasing the Clench and Sending myself (and all) Lovingkindness…

Inventory: Choosing Forgiveness

After writing the post Creating Space Within by Choosing Forgiveness, I've been noticing a definite shift in my vibeage.  

Credit:  Reposting image from Good Vibe University Facebook Page

In the spirit of “letting things go” I've been drawn to take care of some of those "niggling" things that have been in lying in wait for my attention and weighing on me.

Since writing

• I've cleaned out my purse (now substantially and literally lighter),
• I've cleaned out my fridge and just like the car analogy when I open it I love the tidy and shiny look,
• I've organized my pantry,
• I've created a stack of things to put in the Post.  Cards that I've been meaning to write, pictures I've been meaning to send, and little odds and ends that I've had on my mind but kept sloughing them off.
• I've sorted out the tangle of shoes at our entry and discarded ones that have been waiting to be released.
• I've got a tidy uncluttered desk.
• I've sorted through and found homes for papers that have been stuck on the bench top purgatory and now have a home.
• And a couple more items along the same theme.
• Interesting Note is that all of the things I took care of were out of sight but not out of mind.  

I ended the day feeling accomplished and the best part was that it had all been an organic process.  I've been known to whip myself into a cleaning frenzy and channel my inner whirlwind.  However it just started with one thing, then segued into the next, with a calm, cool, and productive and meditative rhythm.

Having addressed most of my items on my “should-do” list, and if you haven’t heard, One should never should on oneself. In addition to feeling accomplished I and my environment felt lighter.

  

Throughout the next 30 days I intend to create more of that good feeling.

Day One –  Inventory

It’s necessary to reflect on the past and acknowledge and identify who, what and specifically the feelings that are being held onto that  are full of negative stuff. 

This is my exercise in consciously choosing forgiveness, therefore I am requiring myself to consciously take stock of all that needs to be let go of.

Word of Caution:  This is not permission to don your judge’s robes, grab your gavel and start casting judgment.  Nor is this an exercise to envelop you and your past in a shroud of victimization.

I am not seeking retribution from others; I am choosing to release the attachment to and the belief of, that holding onto any past angers, hurts, embarrassments, etc is serving me.

The only service it is providing is to create restrictions in my life and hold me back.  Sustaining the clench takes away more energy than it would ever give and limits flexibility. 

Inhale Peace

Exhale Love

Inhale Now

Exhale Then

Inale Peace

Exhale Love...