Why You Should Adopt A Playful Approach To Life

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adopt-a-playful-approach-to-lifeI think most of us take life and ourselves far too seriously. We take on the mantle of roles and responsibilities at work and home, and believe that we are indispensable, that the world would collapse if we played hooky from work, or didn’t organize the linen cabinet, or dust the shelves before the guests came over.

“What would people think” seems to be the constant refrain running through our heads as we rush through life, doing, doing, doing. Which often leads to burn out, a growing sense of irritation, and a disconnect from our very essence.

One antidote to this is to adopt a sense of playfulness in our lives.

But, what does adopting a playful approach to life mean?

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Tracking the moon + a look into my new moon art journal

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tracking moon phases, cyclical time, moon baby

I’ve been tracking moon phases since a few years now – new moon to full moon to new again. Initially, it was simply a way to make sure I got at least one art journal spread completed every month, especially in the hot, often humid summer months. Then I started adding in moon lore – looking at the astrological sign where the moon is and what its energetics are.

Slowly, I started looking at the moon phases as cycles of time, which gave rise to a fascinating question:

What if time was not a linear progression, as we've been led to believe? What if it is cyclical, which means we can always circle back to something over and over again? Click To TweetContinue reading→

2017: Looking back at Illuminate

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Illuminate. That was my word for the year.

Seems so benign and uplifting, doesn’t it? To illuminate the darkness within, to speak my truth, to shine my light while being firmly rooted in my own personal power.

And yet, this is not an easy path to follow – Illuminate shook up my world, broke me open and put me back together again. Where 2016 was about outward growth and manifestation, 2017 was about inward illumination and expansion.Continue reading→

Magnify your intention with a word of the year

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Intention plus action equals magic! Decoding the year aheadOne of my absolute favorite things to do in December is to start planning for next year. Pen and paper, a hot cup of black coffee and some soft music set the scene, while I sit wrapped up in a quilt,  reflecting on the year gone by and planning for the coming year.

But it wasn’t always so

There have been years – more than I care to count – when the change of the year was met with a dreary ho-hum, couldn’t care less attitude. Years when I broke my resolutions within days if not months…years when nothing seemed to happen…nothing seemed to change.It all changed when I stumbled upon the concept of intentions and choosing a focus word of the year. To be sure, it wasn’t a dramatic, sudden change. It took some time for me to work out how having a word of the year works, and even longer to understand how intentions work. But work they do – sometimes in ways we didn’t even expect!Continue reading→

Journey of a Seeker: the difference between knowledge and wisdom

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Journey of a seeker the difference between knowledge and wisdom

My journey into spirituality started with books – and if memory serves me right, the one that started it all was Conversations with God by Neal Donald Walsh. While I have returned to those pages many times over the years, there have, of course, been numerous books along the way – ranging from Doreen Virtue’s angel books to Deepak Chopra’s Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Interspersed with these more spiritual, esoteric and woo-woo tomes have been books on philosophy and psychotherapy – ranging from Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Ursula K. Guin’s magnificent translation of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, and Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning.Continue reading→

The symbology of the cocoon and the butterfly

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Have you ever noticed a particular sign or symbol stalking you – just waiting for you to understand its message?

These two symbols – the cocoon and the butterfly – have been everywhere recently. They pop up when I meditate, come up in random image searches, even in other people’s branding! And while I think I know what they are telling me, I also know that they are a powerful symbol for the collective, because they tie in so well with the theme of October’s Tarot reading.Continue reading→

#TheMindfulBreak 2017: We start on Sunday!

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Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally. – Jon Kabat-Zinn

This quote sums up the very essence of what a mindfulness practice is all about – to be present, without judgement, completely focused on the current moment without any attachment to our thoughts, to the past or the future.

Often, our stress and overwhelm arises from an overactive mind – we juggle roles and responsibilities with an eye to the tasks that we have to accomplish during the day and berating ourselves for all that we let slip.

But if we can just remember to stop….breathe….focus on the present moment, on the current task without future projecting and past analyzing, our worries and stress can simply melt away. Continue reading→

The Mindful Break 2017

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The Mindful Break returns! As my stress levels rise, I find that I need to slow down…to remember that I need a bit of a daily break. A reminder to myself to just breathe.

This is how The Mindful Break was born last year – it was a fun ride, and I was joined by a lot of other lovely peeps who enjoyed it too. And so, it returns again this year.

the mindful breakContinue reading→