Words for the Journey
Welcome to the IWC blog—a space to nourish your journey of inner work and connection. Here, you’ll find Words for the Journey to inspire reflection, Words for the Journey is our series of monthly original essays sharing personal reflections on living a life of meaning, creativity, spirituality, and mindfulness. Inspiring, insightful, and informative, each essay is accompanied by thoughtfully selected images and quotes or poems. Writers include facilitators, special friends, and keynote speakers at The Innerwork Center.
No Longer Alone: A Thank you Letter to The Innerwork Center
For the majority of my life, I’ve felt alone. I was cared for and all my needs were met, yet I still felt alone. This loneliness came from feeling unseen and unknown – not feeling like who I am and what I liked matters. This loneliness came from not being able to connect to myself—not knowing or acknowledging my feelings, doing things because it impressed others instead of doing what I wanted.
"The Unfolding" - Musings
As I journey in the second half of life, I both ponder and become clearer. I have questions and I have some answers. What I know is, however, that it matters deeply how I show up in this world, in this universe.
Embracing the Transformative Potential of Mindfulness, Compassion, and Wisdom
Slowing down in order to be more present and form high-quality connections with others may seem at odds with the fast-paced, competitive work environments that have come to dominate our organizations. Yet, mindfulness has quickly become a familiar word increasingly across work and home domains.
Unexpected Lessons in Mindfulness
One of the first things we did in Iceland was to participate in a walking tour where we learned Iceland’s unofficial national motto, “þetta reddast” pronounced “thet-ta re-dust.” It’s a phrase that exemplifies the mindset of the Icelandic people and it means “everything is going to be just fine.”
Healing Through Ayurveda
About a year ago I began learning about a way to live and approach my health differently that included adjusting just about everything in my life. It’s called the Ayurvedic Lifestyle, an ancient Indian healthcare system that dates back more than 5000 years to the early Vedic scholars and sages.
Mindfully Flow into 2023
As the new year ushers in, I welcome you to download or take a screenshot of this mindful check-in exercise to reflect on the past year and mindfully create a few intentions for the year ahead. It often helps to take inventory of the past while forging ahead with expectancy.
Frame it with Gratitude
Practice:
Each time you find yourself worrying or complaining, try adding on that little phrase. Even if it seems false at first, let yourself play with it and see what happens. You might find it helpful to enroll an ally to keep you on track-- your partner, child, or Joy Buddy.
The Oneness Of All Being
We are all connected, each to another, and no one person or no one thing is ultimately greater than another.
An Ode to Rebirth
Grounding
Reintroduction – I am familiar yet entirely different. Transformed.
I step in and my light shines bright.
What I am, feels right—inherent as opposed to influenced
I am an experience. I am 1 of 1.
UNIQUE
Trusting Nature
These moments make me feel alive and assured that being in nature is my mindfulness practice. Nature requires you to be present and the consequences are obvious and immediate at times if you aren’t paying attention. When I’m fully immersed in nature the chatter quiets in my mind, the beauty of nature fills my senses, and I am present.
An Interconnected Forest
We can learn much from trees in our present climate. Namely, the importance of community. Evidence exists that trees share nutrients between themselves, thus making sure they and their posterity can survive.
Reframing My Soul
My mindfulness journey started in January 2017 when I realized the Innerwork Center (then Chrysalis) wasn’t a private organization. I was thrilled to learn that anyone—even me—could join.
Just Say No
Take a moment to imagine a yard, perhaps your own. What is your yard filled with? Flowers, playsets, beautiful green grass, pets roaming freely, perhaps even an entryway to your home? Now imagine a fence surrounding the yard.
This Field is my Body Too
So as I took my walk in the woods, I thought about Wilber’s words, and what it means to be “not-two.” My dog and I passed a corn field, now cut down, with dry spent cobs littered about. What popped into my mind was: “This field is my body too.”
Transforming Trauma: The Path to Hope and Healing
Trauma comes to all of us, and its consequences can be terrible. That’s the truth and the bad news. The good news is that all of us can use tools of self-awareness and self-care to heal our trauma and, indeed, to become healthier and more whole than we’ve ever been.
Embracing Our Common Humanity…A Path Towards Hope, Love and Healing
“Oneness is not just a spiritual platitude. It is a belief, a core principle and life-defining orientation that we are all interconnected. This ‘we’ is not restricted to just humanity. The ‘we’ includes all living things.” Understand that we are all each other’s consequences. Each of us, individually, impacts the whole. Choose kindness.
A Higher Love… A Journey
In February, the month most associated with love, now more than ever with Covid numbers rising daily, I invite you to lean into radical, live out loud love. Not the “significant other” love, I trust you to your own devices and/or preferences there. I speak specifically of love of self, welcoming compassion, and a do no harm approach to yourself.
Finding Joy in the Remnants
Can you take a moment to recall the memorable remnants that live on in your heart from the precious time spent with your loved ones who are no longer with you - your ancestors? How can you honor and keep those remnants alive today?
What's in Your Pile?
The political climate, pandemic, and endless assaults against people of color made it imperative that I learn more about health equity, social justice, and anti-racism. But what good is reading if it doesn’t encourage action?
How To Use RAIN As a Mindfulness Tool
RAIN is a mindfulness tool that creates space between situations, either fantasy or real, allowing relief from obsessive thinking and attachment to outcomes.