My daughter was talking to me this about a costume she was planning on making.
“The Universe is weird…” she started.
“I asked your pendulum about which costume I should make, and it picked this one. Then, when I was shopping for the pieces it felt stressful, so it seemed upstream and against the flow, so I stopped and waited for a solution. Someone just gifted me the tights I needed for it, so it’s led me to all these other choices which are so much easier.”
She then added that all week she’s felt like she was being told to just relax and let things flow in, even though the initial costume would take hours of work.
 By following her intuition and listening to flow she can relax because the costume is almost done without effort.
It makes me so happy to hear my children discuss flow and listening to the universe.
I love how they know things don’t need to be hard, but can flow effortlessly when you listen to inner guidance and that still small voice within.
It wasn’t always that way.
Often they have pushed against that flow and fought for what they thought they wanted… only to discover it didn’t really work out as they wanted. (But then haven't we all!)

2020…. Ahhh yes, 2020.
The year when even whispers of cancelled holidays and celebrations are becoming common to my ear.
Here in the UK they are jumping through hoops to keep “Christmas happening” while my family in Canada has resigned to a few decorations and all very low key.
I’ve talked to a lot of people who are experiencing this next blow of an overwhelming year.
So, I wanted to come in and create some perspective shift and holiday love.
Even when plans don’t go as they usually do, even if you find yourself alone or struggling, no matter what you believe, no matter where you live, there is always something magical and light about this time of year; if you let it in.
I’m pretty big on any excuse for a party.
My family and I have had many holiday seasons alone and even more times on barely any budget. When my daughters were young Christmas time meant staying up late, with blue fingers sewing doll clothes out of the clothes they’d grown out of.
My husband and I soon made the holiday motto we live by; Music, movies and food… all resonating with holiday cheer.
It doesn’t matter what’s happening outside. Rather everything can be felt within your four walls.

One Christmas, before I met my husband, I was an au pair here in the UK.
I spent the Christmas holidays backpacking alone and found myself in a B&B in Glastonbury at Christmas. I was faced with the question of what to do on a day usually spent with my large family. Armed with a box of After eights, a couple of gifts I’d bought myself, some books and a frozen Christmas dinner (which my hostess replaced with a plate from their family affair downstairs.) I had a morning walk, relished in the scenery, made a fortune worth of phone calls and settled down to be engulfed by holiday spirit. I let it find me rather than myself pushing for it. It was unconventional. I felt sick after polishing off all the chocolates in one sitting, but I look back at that year with fondness.
 
This time of year resonates as pure magic for me.
Living in the country in Canada for my children’s early years we focused on the magic of life under the earth. Surrounded by snow the world appears dead, paused in a state of inertia. And yet, the faith that it will bloom again, that leaves will return, that sun will shine, that life flows and continues on a cycle, that there is light in the darkness, oh it gives me chills to allow the true meaning of this season to fall over me.
I’ll be bold to say that this doesn’t have to be a time of religious belief, but it also doesn’t have to be a time of commercialism or even family traditions.
Rather, I want to encourage you to look for the state of pause within yourself.
This has been a sticky year. The energy that has filled the world has been often fearful and heavy… like fallen snow.
But within you, within everyone, is the light of hope and life force that transforms everything.

This isn’t a time to mourn loss dinners with loved ones, rather a time to love them fiercely, even when apart.
This isn’t a time to miss shopping with massive bags of gifts, more it’s time to pause and appreciate the life that surrounds you.
Mostly, it isn’t a time to push for what to do next or how things can work out or what spring will look like… rather it’s a time of faith and trust in the magic that is continually flowing.
For just like leaves on trees, or bulbs in the ground, spring will spring again. Life force will flow. Spirit is present and this too shall pass.
Give yourself permission to drop the pressure and the push. Take up the concept of the seasonal pause and let the life force of the universe flow through it all around you.
 
I send you all my love and light for this coming season.
May it be filled with moments of awe and surprise.
May it delight you as only the universe knows how to.
May your home ring with joy and light and may it remind you that, even in the darkest night, there is always light with the coming dawn.
Life force is always flowing.
Happy Holidays.
(If you are craving some deeper connection this holiday season and into the new year, don't forget to visit my holiday gift page AND check out my upcoming workshop, Creating An Intentional New Year, on Dec. 29th.)

Winter is fast approaching and with it I can feel myself craving some "cave-time".
A friend of mine mentioned the term to me a couple of weeks ago and since then I've been stewing with it, stiring it around in a pot of thoughts.
Cave-time. Hibernation. Rest. Be-ingness.
Coziness.
Same too when I discovered the Danish word Hygge which describes the glorious feeling of comfort and coziness. The sitting in a fleece blanket with a fire on and a cup of tea with a good book kind of day.
Did you know I have Danish blood? My maiden name is Jensen and when I heard this concept (that supposedly many, many people are talking about and I just didn't know), suddenly it was like a whisper from my ancestors....
Cave-time.
But let's face it, there's life to live.
Kids to feed and school, business to run, amazing clients to support and a holiday season to plan.
But to me, in this busy season, finding the inner frequency of Hygge or cave-time is the ultimate Self Care.
Self care isn't the big action steps or To-Dos.
Self care is the acknowledgement that you are your SELF, your inner being, magical Self...
and your heart and your mind need caring for.
Drop into a 5 minute moment of Cave-time and you have more self care than a 2 hour trip to Target in Holiday Season. (In fact, if you are headed to any shop in holiday season I recommend at least 10 minutes of inner cave time before hand to prepare yourself!)
So, what does that care time look like?

•  Sitting in your care and allowing deep breath to flow through you down to your toes.
• Putting away the phone, wrapping yourself up in a blanket and just staring at the moon.
•  Appreciating, consciously consuming and savoring, a cup of your favorite drink, creating a mindful and present experience.
•  Connecting to your Spirit, your guides, Your Source in whatever way flows best for you. Nothing gives me more of a feeling of wellbeing and comfort than allowing Spirit to flow through each corner of my life.

Spiritual Awareness flows as an inner warmth and flame that comforts your from within.
Taking the Cave-time as actual inner work means you can be standing in line somewhere and refocus to your inner cave, your inner cozy blanket and allow the universe to take over the clutter outside for a bit.

Please note that, starting Nov. 29th, 2021, I’ll be offering you access to a free video series event called
 Self Off the Shelf. 
Each week I’ll be emailing a video lesson, with simple refocusing tools and tips to show up whole even in this stressful time of year. You'll be held and guided through some processes you can do, even while in traffic or standing in line, all created to help you tune into your heart and feel present in yourself.
​You can sign up to have these delivered to your inbox here.

Last year, just before New Years 2019, I offered a workshop on setting Intention for the New Year. 
I was passionate about helping parents dive deep into their desires, tune into how they want to feel, and set that as a goal and anchor for their year.
And I still am. 
Some of the desired feelings and intentions participants set were: 
Calm.
Focused. Joy. Presence Healed 
Whole, Self Confidence
Fun.
Throughout the experience I then encouraged participants to imagine how that feeling felt, and what that looked like in December. 
From the position of January, that felt so light, easy and fun.... it was hopeful and intentional. 
And here we are headed into September.
While some parents are dancing with their intended feelings, others have come to me saying they lost the plot. That they lost sight of where they wanted to go and got stuck in running the hamster wheel of where they are. 
 No harm done, I always say.
You can always line up.
You've just been getting a clearer idea of what you want, based on what you don't want. 
You can always line up with intention. It's waiting for you.
It's September.
There's just enough time to put some things in practice, release some  resistance and open up to the person you want to be... before the holiday season.