Dear Beauties,
So, one of my most precious friends reminded me the other day that Beautiful You celebrated its 6th Birth Day on September 9th!
I’ve been so in my doing mode of completing my manuscripts and query letters and synopsis, and teaching, and living that I forgot to celebrate something that has transformed my life… writing to you.
Thank you for the opportunity you’ve blessed me with in joining me on this journey of cultivating good enough-ness. In sharing my willingness to see the world from a foundation of J-O-Y and living my life with as much grace and ease as possible, I have grown as a woman, a mom, as a partner in life, as a friend, a daughter, a sister…. I am more whole and feel more free to be me.
It is my hope, that by reading my blogs and emails, by attending my Beautiful You classes and workshops, you’ve become more free to be you too.
Know without you, I would never have discovered this side of my writing where my heart and soul get to sing about the things I see, experience, love and cherish, where I get to share my challenges and my hopes and dreams.
In light of celebrating all we’ve blossomed, I thought it might be fun to go back to the very beginning, to the then called The Beautiful You Project blog launch on September 15th, 2013.
***September 16, 2013
Happy Day:)
I just launched my very first blog post and all because of two words: ‘willingness’ and ‘believe.’
I wear a ring that has the word ‘believe’ inscribed in the silver. I bought my best friend one just like it. The original intention was to hold the space of believing/knowing that she will heal, and that still holds true for me today. But lately, the word ‘believe’ has become a kind of mantra for me — the belief that I can and will and AM fully able and fully capable of stepping into my own power and that I have in me the gumption to act on my dream of becoming a published author. Writing is my way of giving back to the world, of sharing my conviction that if one is only willing to believe, miracles happen.
For a long time, writing was my outlet, my way of barfing on the page so I wouldn’t get sick in real life. Then it transitioned into writing stories of love and hope and through forgiveness of self and others, finding a happy ending. Once I made it through my own Deep Dark Cave (more on that in a different post,) writing became something more, it became my direct line to the Universe/Life/Spirit/God/the I Am that I AM. Call it what you will, but writing is my meditation, my journey into self, my place of gratitude and wholeness and healing.
If it is your goal to Cultivate Good Enough-ness in your life, I invite you to begin by writing to yourself, for yourself. Though I have read numerous self-help, self-empowerment, self-improvement books and though each author impacted my life HUGELY with just what I needed to learn at that specific point in time, there has been no greater tool to my healing, to my cultivating the bountiful garden of good enough-ness in my life that I live right now, than my writing to and for myself.
All of us are so busy, so inundated with our To-Do lists, with the needs of our loved ones, our friends, our bosses, etc. that we have a really hard time listening to our inner voice and hearing what we need. Often, we are the very last to know. Some of us have even stopped listening altogether. And we wonder why we feel such abandonment, such alone-ness, such lack? It is within this lack that dis-ease thrives.
This is where ‘believe’ can heal. Hope is a brilliant light that casts every shadow out, but you must first find the willingness to believe. Believe that it not only can, but will get better. Believe that this too shall pass. Believe that you can manifest the most beautiful of lives if you just sit in willingness.
In order to Cultivate Good Enough-ness in our lives, we must first be willing to believe in not only the possibility that we are good enough, but in the truth of it. One of the most important tools of healing I have ever experienced – Morning Pages – I discovered in Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way ~ A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. I read her book in my late twenties and since then have been writing my Morning Pages — three pages of stream of consciousness writing (long hand) that you write without censoring yourself, and without stopping. I highly recommend this beautiful and profound book. My Morning Pages are a tool that time and time again have shown me the way home to my own good enough-ness.
Now it’s your turn. I chose to call this The Beautiful You Project because I wanted a format that allowed me to offer up tools to help you on your own journey. So, here’s your chance to begin. Grab a notebook, buy a special bound journal, use a legal pad… whatever, it doesn’t matter. Just find something to write on and to write with and begin your own Morning Pages. Write down your woes, your hopes, your dreams, and really give yourself the opportunity to LISTEN to what you have to say.
I promise you when you do this, little by little, things will get better. Why? Because by putting it out there (whatever ‘it’ may be) you are saying to the Universe that you are ‘willing’ to let it be so.
Happy Cultivating.
***My Beauties,
Please know your love and support, your encouragement, your willingness to journey through this LIFE together… means the world to me.
And so, as we launch into the season of thanks, I wish you all the best. And from the deepest, most precious, recesses of my being, Thank YOU.
And here’s to many more Thanksgivings together.
Blessings,
Shannon
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