Dear Wild One,
I am so glad you're here.
You are right on time and I believe you are here and we are meeting at this moment on purpose.
It's not an accident that at this moment we are connecting.
Take a deep breath.
Take the deepest breath you've taken all day and notice what it feels like in your body to take my words in.
Do these words bring ease or light into the space around you or inside of you?
I hope so.
This is my aim.
This is my intention.
What's your intention for this time?
Maybe it's to reconnect with yourself or be fully present here.
Maybe it's a single word like breathe or love or peace or calm.
Take a few deeper breaths and settle into your intention.
Today I want to tell you a story as I guide you through a visual visualization.
So before I ring our bell,
Make sure you're seated comfortably in a quiet space where you won't be interrupted for a few minutes.
Here's the bell.
Let's begin by tuning into our bodies.
Are there places that are tighter or more painful than others?
Are there places in your body that are demanding more attention than others?
The base of your neck,
The small of your back,
Your hips,
Your pelvis,
Your belly,
Your shoulders,
Your jaw.
Let's just breathe into those louder spaces with more kindness,
More gentleness,
More ease.
Let's use the power of our breath to blow away any judgment or fear or negativity or tension.
Just breathe it out and watch it disappear into the atmosphere.
Do you notice a shift?
Let's support ourselves with kindness.
I know I promised you a story and I'm telling this because I realize I'm not the only person who gets stuck in thought loops and patterns that are negative and unhelpful.
So it was probably about a year ago,
Around my birthday,
I found myself kind of taking stock of my life,
Goals,
Dreams,
And kind of feeling stuck or overwhelmed.
And maybe you can relate.
But I also got this phrase stuck in my head,
That what we tend to grows.
I use this phrase a lot in counseling,
I use it in Reiki,
I use it in yoga,
What we tend to grows.
As I was wandering out around the plant nursery at Home Depot,
I was looking at all the plants to try and feel a bit more inspired.
And I saw this little house plant with big heart-shaped leaves and had pink veins running through it.
It was colorful and happy and I put it in my cart and I took it home with me.
And as I did,
That phrase came up again,
What we tend to grows.
If I tend to this plant,
It will probably grow.
And if I tend to this stuckness in me,
This will also grow.
If I tend to my goals and dreams that feel so far away and huge,
These will also grow.
And then an idea came to me as I stood at my garage trying to find the right size planter for this new little plant.
I think it's a philodendron,
I should probably give it a name,
It's been sitting on my desk for a year.
If what we tend to grows,
I wanted that largest indoor planter pot I had because I want this plant to have as much space as possible for growth.
I should also probably mention this is not my first house plant since COVID,
The inside of my house looks like I'm slowly losing a game of Jumanji and I like it this way.
So as I looked at this happy little plant in one hand and this rather large flower pot in the other hand,
I got another idea and I took out a big blank sheet of paper and my favorite markers and I made a list of all those huge dreams and goals I had for myself.
I let myself get quiet so I could hear my intuition,
I wrote down only things I felt a strong inner yes to and it was a long list.
Goals,
Career,
Finances,
Relationships,
Family,
Gardening,
I gave myself permission to take up all the space I needed.
A lot of these things felt so big I found myself nervous to put them down in ink,
But I did it anyway.
When I finished my frenzied list making,
I began to rip up the paper into tiny confetti pieces as if to celebrate all the big huge things I'm letting myself really tend to.
I placed my pile of confetti in the bottom of my overly large flower pot and I added this potting soil and finally I added that little plant because I know that what I tend to grows.
It's been a year,
Like I said,
And this plant has sat in the window on my desk all year long and every time I tend to it,
Every time I look at it,
I am reminded that when I tend to my growth,
I grow and when I tend to my stuckness or overwhelm,
That's all that happens.
More stuck,
More overwhelmed.
I noticed there are two things I've learned over this year of tending to my own growth.
First,
The growth,
Goals,
And dreams,
If those are not in alignment with who I really am,
Then I am only tending to my own busyness.
I'll never be satisfied or fulfilled by things that are not in alignment with who I am.
I will only be drained and overwhelmed by my own busyness.
And second,
Tending to our growth takes space and time and energy.
Sometimes pruning or trimming back is actually what's best for our expansion and growth.
Tending to our growth means we need to be present for our growth rather than our fear.
In this shift,
It takes practice.
This takes time,
It takes energy,
And it is made so much easier when we are able to be kind to ourselves in the process.
I hope you're still breathing with me,
Holding your body with kindness,
Tending to it.
Let's take a moment to scan our bodies one more time.
Is it easier now than it was a few minutes ago?
I truly hope so.
So as I ring the bell to bring us back,
I want you to follow the sound of the bell for as long as you can hear it.
Here we go.
So gently flutter your eyelids,
Wiggle your fingers,
Maybe tap your toes,
And slowly gently reenter your space.
Take a few deep breaths to come back.
Take your time.
I hope you're feeling at ease with yourself and more able to let go of tending to things that no longer serve you.
Feel free to try this planting exercise that I described.
If you do,
I'd love to hear how it goes.
Send me a DM.
I love hearing from you.
And if this was helpful,
Share it with your friends and leave me a review because that's helpful to me.
But dear wild one,
Please keep tending to all the things that help you grow.
