Gratitude Illuminates a Path

I cannot pretend I am without fear.
But my predominant feeling is one of gratitude.

— OLIVER SACKS

An Invitation to Restore

I have moved through the roller coaster ride of 2020 ­­– a disturbing year for all of us and a devastating year for so many – by leaning into the innate wisdom and dependable rhythms of the natural world for guidance and relief. Paying attention to the self-perpetuating cycles and rhythms of giving and receiving to sustain life has yielded many insights and an abundance of gratitude. In my final steps of 2020, I resonate deeply with Oliver Sacks’ words “I cannot pretend I am without fear. But my predominant feeling is one of gratitude.” I couldn’t articulate this time any better. My own life experiences offer a perspective and privilege to repress the urgency to leave behind the darkness. Each of my challenges has been an opportunity to harvest inner strength and resilience, gifts I carry forth with pride, rich with the lessons only they could have germinated.

In times when that perspective got lost, I reached for Rumi’s poem “The Guest House” as a light switch to illuminate a loving and promising relationship between fear and hope. 

Replenish Mind Body Spirit and An Invitation to Restore has always been a search and rescue mission for well-being; my way to find and distill practices to recover from life’s inevitable storms. The invitation holds with clarity that we are all part of a system, a collective that requires mutual care and constant repair. This awareness guides actions to tend to the needs that replenish and restore our ability to tend to the needs of the whole. Rooted in a soil that longs to grow more compassion in the world.  

This year has uncovered a great diversity of needs reminding us how much we rely on each other to be well. Teaching us so many lessons that only these circumstances could share. The slower cadence offered us a gift of time to discover treasures, increasing value to the network of complex mutual connections, symbiosis and interdependent relationships necessary to survive and live-in harmony in a time of crisis.  

So today I stand on the front doormat of 2021 with an abundance of gratitude in one hand, my hopes and dreams for the future in the other, together they make the confetti I will toss at midnight to scatter seeds of intention for next year. They carry these questions…

“How will I exercise reciprocity for this gift of life in the way I care for myself and others.” and “How can I bring love forward as a power to infuse more light into the dark spaces in the world.”

I know the answers lie within the rhythms…

If you feel called to walk with me on this journey….please Accept this Invitation to join our community and together we can sow seeds of clarity connection and compassion with a renewed desire to live mindfully in honor of all the gifts we are given.

Mindfulness, Music and Nature unravel layers of intelligence that hold rhythms of synchronicity, adaptability and sustainability to meet the demands of any environment. They will continue to be our guides, a living encyclopedia on the search for regeneration and restoration –sure to innately reveal pathways to repair and renew, celebrate and sustain this precious life. 

The pearl is in the oyster and the oyster is at the bottom of the sea.
Dive Deep.

KABIR

Let us walk into 2021 quietly with open minds and generous hearts, humbly carrying our collective brokenness as worthy companions on this journey to well-being. The forecast is rich with opportunities to use love and kindness to restore heath and promote healing. I look forward to sharing practices and stories of regeneration and hope through our Replenish Yourself and Replenish at Work programs this year.

May each accepted invitation to restore be an offering of self-love and reciprocity as Robin Wall Kimmerer describes it ­­––a way of keeping our gifts alive, honoring these gifts with our choices constantly renewing our ability to sustain care for ourselves and each other. 

A guided practice coming soon…. Until then

Be gentle with your heart and with the hearts of those you love… 

With immense gratitude for your presence,
Pam