I had an energy shift yesterday. The situation didn’t change, and there was no specific thing that happened, or that anybody said or did. I can’t pinpoint the cause, or the exact moment the shift happened. It was an internal change—a change in my thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. It was a sudden awareness that I wasn’t just focused on the all the reasons the hysterectomy I’m having next week is going to be beneficial, or my plan to rebound as quickly as possible, or even how much humor I can find in the situation. It was a feeling of genuine excitement about the opportunities this surgery is presenting not only for my physical wellbeing—but for me. I am actually looking forward to the new situation, new sensations, new environment, and new people I am going to encounter—regardless of how pleasant or not I might judge them. My view of the surgery and hospital stay has shifted to an adventure rather than something I know I can endure for 24 hours. And there is an eagerness to see how determined I can be, how focused, and how well I can use the skills I’ve learned to aid my recovery. It almost feels like a game, or an experiment where I get to see what works best in the moment. What was interesting was the limiting belief this new feeling made me aware of—that you’re not “supposed” to be excited about experiencing something as “bad” as surgery. It made me reluctant to want to share this new perspective. It brought up my fearful Gremlin, who pointed out that things can happen in even minor surgeries that can result in death, or that the benign fibroid tumors being […]
Thank You!
Today and every day, I give thanks for you. Thank your for your time, energy, and support. These are gifts that I do not take for granted. May you and yours have a joy-filled day. Much love and appreciation, Hanna
A New Appreciation of Gratitude
Thanksgiving. Today is the final day of my 21-day Gratitude Challenge and the assignment is to reflect on what the process of giving thanks has meant to me. This concentrated and shared focus on appreciation has meant expanding my awareness of the things I take for granted every day. It has meant opening my heart more broadly to others—and to myself. It has meant pushing past the fears generated by my gremlin to allow myself to show up as the broader version of me. It has meant seeing the things right in front of me from a new perspective, and seeing the world as a more vibrant, abundant, loving, and wondrous place. I am ending this challenge with an expanded mind and heart, and an even deeper connection to Source (God, the Universe, Nature, Higher Coach—whatever works for you.) We each may have our own beliefs about what is behind the abundance of air that we breathe in and out, or the continual beat of our hearts, or the perfect rotation of the planets, or the predictable rise of the sun. We may have a different way of explaining the exquisite site of a flock of birds moving as one to their seasonal home, or the ever-changing beauty of the landscape, or the growth of a giant oak from a tiny acorn. But we can all share in the appreciation of those magnificent sights and experiences. We can share in the gratitude we feel because we are alive. We can give thanks because we are here with one another doing our best to love and grow and become the people we know we are meant to be. Consistently focusing on gratitude expands our awareness and […]
Thank Yourself
Today is day 20 of my 21-day Gratitude Challenge. The assignment is to write a thank you note to myself for taking the time to stop and focus on all the little things for which I feel grateful. My Dearest Hanna, Thank you so much for making the commitment to focus on all the things you appreciate—not just for the past 20 days, but every day. Thank you for opening your heart to the gifts that are in this moment. I am so grateful that you allowed this exercise to deepen your gratitude and awareness. To truly get that each moment is new—even though it appears through your limited senses exactly the same as the moment before. The clouds have shifted in the sky, never to have the same formation again. Each face on the planet has made a subtle shift reflecting who they are, where they have come from, and the thoughts they are thinking. Water is flowing, leaves are falling, birds, bugs, animals, and people are moving about. Each second is brand new. I am so grateful for all the abundance that you see in the world. There is so much love, so many opportunities, so much joy, so much beauty, and so much gratitude that can be seen when you stop to look for it. Shifting your perspective from all the problems to all the gifts is truly a blessing for everyone. Thank you for appreciating this abundant planet. I am so grateful for the shift you experienced in seeing others, your relationships, and yourself when you looked at them with eyes filled with love and appreciation. Each person is so incredibly unique and offers so much value to the world—even if […]
It’s Your Decision
Do you have confidence in all the choices you’re making? When you make a decision, do you follow through with it? Do you honor the promises you make to yourself? Each time you question your ability to make a good decision, you are really questioning your belief in yourself. I used to unintentionally erode my self-confidence by being so afraid to make decisions that I often wouldn’t make any decision at all—which ironically was still making a decision and disempowering myself all at the same time. While I’ve always been careful of the promises I made to others because honoring them was so important to me, I wouldn’t think twice about making and breaking promises to myself. This presented a continual message that I wasn’t trustworthy. This lack of faith in myself fed my fear of making the wrong decision, which just perpetuated the cycle. To get off this crazy train, it’s helpful to recognize that each decision you make just leads to another decision. Unless you’re making a decision that will result in life or death, if you don’t like the way you’re going, you can always make a new decision and shift direction. While our decisions may result in consequences we don’t like, often the fear of the consequences is much worse than actually going through them. Typically, going through those experiences gives us the information we need to figure out what we do want, which enables us to make that new choice. When you can let go of feeling like every decision is monumental, you can then begin strengthening your beliefs in the choices that you are making. It’s important to let go of an “all or nothing” perspective and look for progress […]
It’s OK to Love Yourself
It used to be that I was so busy feeling unlovable that I couldn’t have named anything about myself that was special—much less have appreciated those characteristics. What a painful place I existed in most of the time. In my heart I knew that I was supposed to be happy, but I kept thinking the world had to change and everything had to align perfectly before I could find happiness. I am so grateful that I discovered that I held the key to happiness all along. That key was choosing to be happy now regardless of the circumstances. To let go of the expectation that anyone or anything had to change to make me happy. To begin appreciating my life as it was—and to begin looking at those things about myself that I could appreciate. The more clearly I could visualize me at my best—the me I wanted to become—the more I was actually able to show up as that person. And the more I could stop beating myself up when I wasn’t the best version of me, the quicker I was able to return to that happier place. The assignment for day 18 of my Gratitude Challenge is to write about all the things that make me lovable, and to appreciate my personal style, talents, and charm. Interestingly, while I can do this pretty easily in the privacy of my own journal, sharing this publically is bringing out that old gremlin that feels like there’s something wrong with self-love—meaning that you fabulous readers might judge me for having a “big head” or being egotistical. I love that I know that old fear is false and that this exercise is helping me expand and evolve as a […]
Appreciate Life
Do you ever just give thanks for being alive? On day 17 of my Gratitude Challenge the assignment is to write about something I feel grateful for in my life. As I contemplated all the wonderful things I could focus on, I realized that I would have none of it without the Divine spark called life that animates my physical body and creates my being. So today, I give thanks for life. That Source Energy that beats my heart in perfect rhythm, ensures that I breathe in and out, and enables me to enjoy this moment and all that I have experienced—and will ever experience—regardless of how I judge it good or bad. I give thanks for the thoughts, emotion, awareness, and focus that I have in this moment that results from my being alive. I give thanks for the physical sensations that I am experiencing—the sip of simultaneously sweet and bitter smelling and tasting coffee, the sound and feel of the computer keys as I type, the gray light on the mountains that I see outside my office window that shifts in a second as the sun breaks through the clouds. For this deep feeling of appreciation I give thanks. For this moment in time I give thanks. For connecting with you and everyone in my life, I give thanks. For being alive and experiencing everything that entails, I give thanks. What are you feeling grateful for in your life today? Take a moment to focus on that and truly appreciate it. Take note of how much better you feel. Together we can do it!
You Are Worthy!
Can you look at yourself in the mirror and say, “I love you” and really mean it? It was only about seven years ago that I literally could not look myself in the eye and say anything positive. All I could see were my flaws. When I tried saying positive affirmations about myself or my body they would literally stick in my throat because they were such lies. Wow I’ve come a long way. And I now know that to truly open up my heart to others and strive to be the best version of me, I had to learn to love myself first. Far from being the selfish act I thought it was, self-love gives you the energy and empowerment to be more self-less. Today’s assignment in my 21-day Gratitude Challenge is to stand in front of the mirror for five minutes and focus on at least five things that I love about myself. I did this just a moment ago after finishing an upper body workout in our home gym, so I was feeling a lot of anabolic energy. Even though my hair was hastily pulled back and parts of it were sticking up in funny angles, I had no makeup on, and I was slightly sweaty, when I looked in the mirror what I saw was beautiful. With a timer set for five minutes, I focused on the reflection of me. Here is what I wrote in my journal. I love my eyes. I love my expressive face that pretty much always registers what I am thinking. I love my crooked smile. I love my messy, curly, dark hair. I love that one ear is a little higher than the other. I […]
Celebrate Yourself!
How often do you give yourself a mental high-five? Do you catalog your positive attributes or focus more on your shortcomings? Can you name your gifts as quickly as your faults? If you are like most people, you spend way more time looking at where you fall short of the mark rather than celebrating your unique perspective and personality. There is no one else on this planet that has had the exact same experiences or developed the same view of the world as you. You are truly one-of-a-kind. The assignment on day 15 of my Gratitude Challenge is to focus on me, and to appreciate and give thanks for my unique personality, skills, and talents. While I’m much, much better at this than I used to be, contemplating sharing this assignment with you fabulous readers awoke my gremlin. One of the reasons my gremlin kicked in to high gear is because just last night I received news from an old friend that generated an instant and immediate fear-based reaction. So my gremlin had some fresh fodder for reminding me of my imperfection. One of the reasons I truly love and appreciate myself is that I didn’t just sit there massaging that big wad of catabolic emotion. Instead, I fairly quickly did a centering exercise and shifted my focus to a better feeling subject. From that more anabolic place, I was able to revisit the unsettling topic and reframe my thoughts from it being a problem to an opportunity for my ultimate growth and expansion. Whew, that felt better. And while I suspect that I will have to repeatedly visit that subject and refocus it to a better feeling thought, I know I can do it and the reward […]
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