Hello friends.
As we are winding down 2025 and preparing to move into 2026,
Something has been on my mind daily recently,
And it's the serenity prayer.
The serenity prayer is oh so familiar to anyone in recovery,
And it has ramifications for all of us.
Wherever we are in life,
Whatever stage of life we are in,
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things that I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
There's so much wisdom in those four lines.
What I want to do today is share a meditation with you.
It's going to help you recognize where are you trying to control things?
Where can you let go?
Where is the energy flowing to support you in creating something new or better or different?
So I invite you to simply close your eyes,
And I invite you to think about the landscape of your life as it is right now.
Where in your life do you feel yourself in resistance or stubbornness or fight or control?
It could be something career-related.
It could be something relationship-related.
And when you think about anywhere you have fight,
Resistance,
Control issues,
Etc.
,
Think about how that feels in your body.
With your eyes still closed,
I'd love to share a breathing exercise with you that can help in letting go.
Letting go of control where we're not meant to have control.
It's really simple.
We're going to breathe together,
Inhaling for a count of three,
Holding the breath briefly at the top,
And then slowly exhaling for six.
And the longer exhale puts the emphasis on the releasing,
The letting go.
And in doing so,
We can create space for something new and better,
For the flow of energy to happen.
So I just invite you to empty all the air from your lungs.
We're going to breathe in to anywhere we have fight,
Resistance,
Control in the body for a count of three.
One,
Two,
Three.
Hold the breath there just briefly wherever you feel it in the body.
And now we're going to sigh out the mouth for a count of six.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Breathe in to wherever that fight or resistance is for three.
One,
Two,
Three.
Hold.
Hold it there where it's at.
We're going to sigh it out for six.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Take a big breath in to fight resistance,
Stubbornness.
Two,
Three.
Hold at the top.
Hold it right there where it's at in the body.
And then let it go for six.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Beautiful.
And let your breath return to normal.
I want you to just observe how much energy it takes to try to control something,
Or to cling to something,
Or to be stubborn about something you're not meant to control.
Just like when you get into a hot bath and you have tense muscles and they finally relax in the hot water,
I want you to imagine that sensation mentally and emotionally.
Whatever you've been clinging to,
Trying to control,
Or stubborn about.
Just imagine the tension loosens.
Let's go releases.
Maybe it's not all gone yet,
But as maybe a little bit of it has released,
Now I invite you to once again feel the entire landscape of your life as it is right now.
Can you sense anywhere in your life where more energy can flow now?
Where a door is ready to open?
Where something new or better might be ready to appear.
Better than you were planning or thinking initially.
Feel where energy is ready to flow,
Wants to flow in your life.
If you can connect with that little glimmer of where energy is ready to flow,
Imagine what it's like to get into a flowing river and just let the current carry you,
Versus trying to swim upstream against the current.
Very different experiences.
Sometimes we do need to swim against currents,
Swim against the tide.
Sometimes.
And then there's other times where we can let go and allow this beautiful natural divine flow to carry us to something and somewhere far better than we would have created in our human ways of doing things.
Feel that flow.
Allow that flow.
And just briefly in your heart feel where that flow wants to take you or what that flow wants to bring to you.
Just for a moment.
When you are ready,
I invite you to open your eyes.
This is something that I get to learn so often through travel.
I don't know why,
But I love traveling.
I love taking trips.
I love planning them out.
And like many of you,
I probably want to control things.
I've had so many times traveling where a flight got canceled or delayed or things just didn't go according to the plan.
And sometimes when that happens,
I'll throw a fit and get huffy and mean.
And that never goes well.
And other times I've chosen to go,
Okay,
I'm going to be fine.
Everything's going to work out.
This is an adventure.
Let's see what happens.
Every time I've taken that approach,
Amazing things have happened.
Amazing new people come into my life.
I find the most obscure amazing food I never would have found otherwise or little nature places,
Adventures,
All kinds of amazing things happen when I say,
Okay,
This is something better.
Something new is ready to open.
If I can release control or gripping onto what should have been,
Oh my gosh,
Where is the flow carrying me?
Where is the adventure?
And one of the things that I have been thinking about lately is how much better life is if I can apply that in everyday life,
Not just when traveling,
But in everyday life.
This or something better.
Yes,
I create and try to manifest good things in my life,
But I also don't cling so tightly to control of outcomes that I miss out on the flow.
There is an element of this beautiful natural flow and rhythm to things.
And if we can align our mind-body-spirit with that,
Wow,
I think good things will happen.
Even in a chaotic world,
Even in a world where things are imperfect,
We can just grasp that.
And you have the most beautiful,
Amazing adventure unfold in 2026 and beyond in your life.
I look forward to connecting with you more in this new year.
