Take a pause. Let yourself be quiet and still. Listen to the you that lives below the pings, dings and drone of daily life. What did you learn this year? Drop down from your head to write from your body. Lay it all out, especially the edgy bits that you don’t want people to see.
This time last year I was reflecting on the freaky hall of mirrors that was 2020. I was writing a piece for a collaborative book called 2020Vision, published by The Unbound Press, which explored the experiences and lived lessons of many women during the first year of the you know what; starts with P and ends in emic.
When I write I intend to let me soul speak. Now that I’ve said that out loud maybe that sounds grandiose. Nah, it’s more likely that my concerns about sounding like I am being too much, echo from remnants of patriarchy-heavy conditioning, which seeps in when women show up to speak their truth. Let’s keep showing up anyway. When I was tapping at my laptop typing out my piece called Spitting Out the Gag of Patriarchy, something stirred which I could not have predicted. It was my soul voice again. I was spitting on to the page everything that I had seen, felt and got pissed off about in 2020,but 1500 words later there was SO much more to come. Spitting became the catalyst for my next book: Enough! Maybe you will start a book journey too with your 2021 reflections?
Writing has a habit of bringing shit to the surface which has long been buried. I’m wondering what will be sparked by the scrappy bullet points (I’m changing that to heart points!) from my notes I made on my 2021 learnings. Anyhow, here’s a glimpse inside the workings of my mind, bod and soul as I mulled over 2021. If you don’t feel like reading, you could kick back and listen to this episode of Unbound Womxn from The Unbound Press where we chat about our myriad lessons of 2021.
In no particular order:
Nothing needs to be perfect.
Wow. Such a relief.
To roll with the punches.
Not literal punches. If you’re getting punched, defend yourself.
‘No.’ is a complete sentence.
I have nothing to compensate for, nothing to prove. Time to stop trying to prove I am recovered from past wounds.
Teaching Reiki is one of my top 5 activities.
Getting dumped age 11 by my high school crush profoundly traumatised me.
And damaged my ability to relate with men, well into my 20s.
Make time to slack off.
Slacking is the new way of working!
When teaching Yoga, less is more.
My cues do not need to take up space.
It truly does not matter that I currently struggle to do a headstand and handstand.
This does not make me a bad yoga teacher. Small steps are fine.
I will trust my gut every damn time.
Boundaries, boundaries and more boundaries.
Don’t forget to review and alter one’s boundaries when you feel to.
It is OK to end non-nourishing friendships.
Misogyny is alive and well.
And so is Feminine Power!!!
Swearing in my writing is allowed.
Some people will love it and some will not, and that’s totally fucking fine.
Building a business is about playing the long game.
Governmental power only wants more power.
Governments no longer wish to work for the people. They self-serve with smoke and mirrors. I do not trust any political party.
Find new ways to live in community and self govern.
Not sure how yet. The System has nothing for those outside of the 1%.
Functional breathing heals anxiety.
Breathe through the nose, not the mouth with soft, silent easy-going breath. Soften your belly so the diaphragm can move properly.
Fight for the right to informed consent.
Practice gratitude.
Yep, I really leaned into that one this year.
If you feel to, leave a comment with your own lesson or email me if you want to share.
Wishing you peace and rest over the festive time (and always). Sign your own permission slip to slack off. xx
