Back again. Three years later. And in a year that appeared to stop, change lanes and be in an ever-revolving traffic circle. The only constant being that ever-present, sometimes nagging, strongly encouraged, lifelong lesson of patience, surrender, trust, repeat. And GRATITUDE!!! Which leads me to here... in no particular order... a few of my favorite moments, blessings and lessons of 2020!!
1. One of the most incredible moments of 2020 was the realization that I had been training for 2020 for the past two years, haha! Truly learning what it means to not only speak patience, surrender and trust but to LIVE it. Embody it. Imperfectly.
2. The launch of something completely unforeseen and unplanned but directly called to (by the forces that be)... a podcast. Connected aired its first episode Jan. 1, 2020 and I'm so excited to say that it's 20 episodes in and going strong.
3. "Taking a chance on an unknown kid." (If you know, you know.) This year, more so than in any other, I found myself fully aware of the fact that every risk, every step, every action I was taking was either one of love or fear. I'm not sure how this super-duper awareness came about but I'm thankful it did, in a time when it was extremely important to make the distinction. It's powerful to be able to be present enough to see clearly and choose consciously.
4. The highly unexpected opportunity of being hired to create a 4-foot by 6-foot painting for someone I didn't even know and how this resulted in the birth of Nefelibata Living, a collection of watercolors and acrylic paintings.
5. Scream therapy. As I said before, this year required a LOT of patience and surrender, and lockdown is just not in an Aries' sun/Sagittarius' moon vocabulary. I was feeling stuck, overwhelmed, and frustrated and so I called up a friend one morning, shared my feelings and said, "Do you want to go scream with me?" A couple hours later, we drove down to Fort Fisher, hiked to the end of the Basin Trail and took turns screaming our heads off! It was one of the MOST incredibly healing things I think I've ever done for myself. It was so relieving, empowering and rejuvenating!! It was such a powerful energy shift and I loved every minute of it and will definitely be doing it again. (As a courtesy, we informed other hikers that we'd be screaming so as to not to disturb or worry them. Also, don't be surprised or critical of yourself if you find yourself laughing, crying or having any other emotional response in your attempts to scream it out. It's just energy that needs to move and it's best to just allow it to show up however it presents itself.)
6. Learning the importance of becoming my own authority. (Discussed in this episode of Connected.)
7. Committing to fun. Some time around May, I came to the edge of my discomfort around control, stagnancy and restriction and said "F*ck it. I'm committing to fun and that's it. The rest of the world can do what it will." Fun became my only goal. Every day. If it wasn't fun, I didn't do it. It was that simple and honestly, it changed everything! Before I knew it, not only was I generating fun but fun was generating me. I found myself being invited to social events, surfing nearly every damn day and being hired for super fun projects in a time when social gatherings, fun and success were "off limits". Committing to fun at that particular moment in time and space COMPLETELY changed my perspective of life so profoundly that I still am ONLY committed to having fun!
8. Moving to my piece of peace on earth. My uncle Jeff (who passed away three years ago and is one of my greatest heavenly supporters) hooked me up. It has a screened-in porch, water views and a beach and by God, I am NOT disappointed.
9. Two words. Holotropic breathing. Look it up and do it. It will change your life! And if it doesn't, you're doing it wrong.
10. I met a man. He approached me in Sundays. We became surf buddies, then he was my Dr. Lawyer Stock Broker and now he's my snorkel buddy, which many say is quite the commitment so I guess we're in a romantic partnership. It's lovely.
11. Taking a 24-hour vow of silence. Another topic I will be covering in an episode of Connected but in short, it was highly informative. I realized how much we are just waiting to respond, if even only to ourselves, how we create problems out of silence, how effective non-verbal communication can be, and other discoveries.
12. Texts like these.
13. Surfing in freakishly painful pouring rain.
14. Cruising down the Intracoastal at sunset with a bunch of my favorite people and manifesting lightning during our return.
15. Weirdest Week Ever, which actually turned into the Weirdest Month Ever. The month of August came with so many surprises and blessings. From starting and ending a job before it even started, to participating in my first Holotropic Breathing Workshop on 8/8 (Lion's Gate) to packing up to move some items into storage only to stumble upon my little piece of peace on earth, wrapping up a two-year transition rather unexpectedly and efficiently to meeting Dr. Lawyer Stock Broker. Needless to say, it was eventful.
16. The birth of...
17. Carving 12 pumpkins in less than nine hours with my niece and nephew.
18. Putting the final nail in the coffin of my social media usage. As many of you know, I started to disengage little by little in November 2019 (listen here) but with the onset of Rona and Instagram's most recent terms, I decided to drop all of my social media management clients and depart indefinitely. I will air an episode discussing this in more detail, addressing dopamine addiction, detox struggles/symptoms, and how I've re-allocated my energy. (Update 3/21: You can now find that episode, called disConnected: Walking Away from Social Media, here.)
19. Burger and Molly Swim Meets.
20. Bombing my first hill. I decided to take up skateboarding to keep "surfing" in the off season. (Update 02/21: I bought a wetsuit and will be in the water momentarily.)
21. Creating an Hermes ad.
22. Making poke for the first time and NAILING IT!
23. And last but not least, the beauty of allll of the heart-happy, soul-centric magical moments I experienced during a solo sacred pilgrimage to Grandfather Mountain.
Okay, so a few was an understatement. Haha! What about you? What are your favorite experiences/blessings/lessons from 2020? I'd love to hear them so feel free to leave a comment below! In addition, I hope you all have a very, very happy New Year, filled with lots of love, magic and dreams realized! See you in 2021!!!
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