It is a sunny bright relatively mild day as we near the end of January and as I look forward into February when we celebrate one of my favorite high holy days in the Goddess tradition, Imbolc, celebrating the dawning of the Light as our days continue to get longer. I am so grateful for this mild sunny day as Mother Nature prepares to get much colder again this coming week. This ebb and flow is just one of the ways we experience the coming and going of Balance. I can't help but compare this process to the damage that being emotionally frozen causes in so many ways. Just because it's cold outside doesn't mean that's how we need to live our lives in relationship to anything or anyone. That kind of coldness is destructive and certainly serves no Good until we wake up and realize the damage we're doing to ourselves and others. That can be a very long and painful Awakening process and yet it is also a very transformative process when we allow it to be. A piece of this process is our government shutdown that just ended as the longest ever in our entire story of our country. This shutdown has hurt so many millions and yet I hope it moves so many millions to help in profound ways. Our helpfulness will be an immeasurable blessing to us and to so many others!!! Our midterm elections brought forth so many young diverse transformative brilliant passionate new leaders who I'm sincerely hoping will be leaders for years to come.

We are all leaders in our own ways. We are here for a Purpose and as we awaken to that Purpose we fire our lives with Brilliance, Passion, Understanding and Commitment to the great Good for all. As I've said so very many times it takes such great Courage to live from this level of Awakeness and Aliveness and yet it brings such Joy to so many. People see us and they are transformed by what they see and they are encouraged to take risks as never before and to contribute to their own Awakeness and Aliveness. I love seeing and hearing this process in action. It's happening all over the place at this very moment and I'm so very grateful. It's inspiring to see people wake up to their talents and abilities and to share their gifts with others in so many ways. I'm so very grateful for these changes!!!

One journey that I continue to be on is to keep expanding my connections with others. It's a very vulnerable process in ways and yet it is so very transformative and uplifting. It's not without its challenges. Rejection is always a possibility and yet that process is simply a lesson I cherish in terms of reminding myself not to take it personally. Rejection is a statement about them not me! Remembering that is also a lesson in Compassion, one of the greatest gifts we can give to ourselves and others. Without Compassion embitteredness runs wild and that is by no means a comfortable way to live. Embitteredness leads to all kinds of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual ills that I certainly do not wish on anyone. There's no Joy in that feeling. We are meant for Joy. Joy is truly our real Nature. Joy means we are solidly grounded and centered in the Love and Light that is our very Nature as Spirit Expressing in the world. That's the journey we have come here to be and to express!!! That reminds me of the Dalai Lama. His sweet Spirit is such an inspiration. Years ago when someone was asking him how he deals with all the hardships he's experienced he said "They've taken my land shall I give them my mind too?" That's a brief paraphrase of his answer and yet what a powerful Understanding of how to stay grounded and not take the pain personally and to move forward centered in Joy, Compassion and Understanding. I love his answer!!!! His answer is how we all stay centered in the Power we are!!!! It's a huge lesson!!!! Another person I so greatly admire is Nelson Mandela who was imprisoned for 27 years in South Africa and then became president of that very nation. I can't help but wonder what the people feel who lived through those changes. It has to be mind-boggling!!!!

As we all move forward in this unfolding year I know there will be many blessings, changes and challenges. Every day and every moment brings the new and unexpected. I am certainly looking forward to warmer weather and to new and exciting ways to be of service in a world I love so very much. I'm not always comfortable with the unexpected surprises that happen. These unexpected surprises are an opportunity to ground myself once again in the Spirit I AM and to look within for the answers that are always there. I am never disappointed when I give myself the Gift of this Awakening and Re-centering process. It reminds me of who I AM. I am not separated from the answer to any situation. I am the Answer in process. We all are!!!! That is our Gift to the world every time we allow space for that Awakening to happen. As you move forward into your 2019 experience I hope you feel the Joy and Peace and Wisdom and Compassion that you are. I know with all my heart as we move forward centered in these invaluable Gifts of Spirit we will all be the change we wish to see in the world. Those words are another paraphrase of Gandhi, a spiritual leader I so greatly love and admire. We all have so much within us to give and to share and to experience if we will just be open to the process that is always unfolding within us and all around us. As I bring this sharing to a close I am watching a gorgeous sunset land on the horizon and I am reminded of the Power of Gratitude to carry us all through each moment on the highs and lows of our lives and how everything and everyone is transformed by Gratitude. I can't think of a better way to move forward into February and the coming Spring as it unfolds within us and all around us. I have shared many times my Awareness that Gratitude is the great multiplier. As we give thanks for the blessings we already have and even the challenges we may be experiencing we can be sure that we will be uplifted, strengthened and blessed in every needed way. Gratitude changes everything into an even greater blessing than whatever we may be experiencing. Gratitude is an Expression of Faith in the Spirit that we are!!! Gratitude adds a great Love, Peace and Lightness to our world. I never get tired of that feeling of Faith and Peace. As we breathe it all in we embody a Strength that is our very Nature!!! That is our sacred Gift to our world!!!! I wish you the very best as we all go forward on our journey into 2019. Blessings to you now and always!!!!!