Elena Brower’s PRACTICE YOU daily awakening deck
The season of fall is a wonderful time to pause and ask yourself, “What do you emphasize? What will you set free?”
I love picking up Elena Brower’s beautiful PRACTICE YOU daily awakening deck. It is a tool you can use to help guide your yoga and meditation intention for the day. Many times when I pick up a card, the words and pictures feel like they are speaking directly to me. When this happens, I thank my spirits and guides and trust it is the message I need to hear and pray. That is exactly what happened when I picked a card for this month’s blog post. What message could you and I benefit from today?
For the past five months I have been working with Christi Hegstad, a business coach focused on meaning and purpose. It has been a truly wonderful journey and I have learned a lot about my habits, behaviors and beliefs. I have spent time digging deep into the work I love to do and dreaming about what my Big Bold Goals will be in 2020. This work has not come easy for me. I have had to let go of old patterns and beliefs and step into new ways of thinking and planning for my future.
I have always been a meaning and purpose kind of gal. I say YES to opportunities usually because it feels good and aligns with who I am more than the money it puts into my bank account. I continue to learn from all of my choices and instead of blaming and shaming on myself, I try to pause, listen and learn from my actions and make more informed decisions with awareness to the why next time around.
Over the past five years since I have enter the entrepreneurial world and stepped away from my corporate career, there have been many risks taken. I have experimented a lot during these years trying to figure out what sticks and what I can let go of. It is fun and I am so grateful for all of the students and clients who have said yes to my offerings wiling to learn from me and with me.
During these next two months, I am spending time in prayer and quiet contemplation. I will be carving out time to pause and listen to what my heart is saying. I want to listen to my inner voice and hear what I need to let go of. I know I cannot do this chasing appointments and always living in constant motion. I also know writing this now in my blog doesn’t mean it is going to be easy.
I am currently listening to the book Atomic Habits and discussing it with my financial book club hosted by Triangle Financial Services. This book offers some extremely helpful tools that I put into practice immediately. I know it is a book I will refer back to over and over again when I want to make a change, especially when I want to shift how I think about myself and the woman I believe I can be.
What I am doing this fall to let go of thoughts and behaviors that do not serve me and invite or amplify thoughts and behaviors that do are:
- Waking up 30-minutes early to exercise. Moving my body is so important to my mental and physical health. It stimulates my creativity. I have accountability with a friend and we are texting each other each morning making sure our butts are up and we are actually moving.
- Meditating 10-minutes every day in silence listening to my inner voice without judgement or others’ influence.
- Scheduling time each week to connect with friends and family face-to-face having meaningful conversations about hopes and dreams, fears and wins.
- Reading a book with my financial book club and discussing topics that help me as a business owner and leader.
- Connecting with business partners and friends at NAWBO, FemCity, Aspire, Catch Des Moines and my local Chamber of Commerce.
- Creating an ideal time map (thanks to Christi) helping me review what is on my calendar every week and making sure my appointments and tasks align with my goals and values.
- Journaling ideas and capturing information when something new comes up I want to research and learn more about.
- Listening to podcasts of others who are willing to share their stories with the world inspiring people to live an abundant life with meaning and purpose.
You are welcome to send me a note anytime (info@mary-mccarthy.com) asking me how I am doing with these new habits. I will be honest with you and hope my journey will inspire you to pause, listen, amplify and let go during this season of autumn.
Your challenge is to invite sacred space into your day and declare what you want to amplify and what you want to release! We can do this with resilience & grace.