Adapting to Change

Adapting to Change

Adapting to Change

I don’t know if you felt any different energy during the full harvest moon on Monday, but I know I sure did. There was a lot of energy around me, and there was a lot of wind all day. I also cried almost all day. I can only explain it as a great release that has been needed for some time now. I was emotional all day, yet I didn’t attach anything extra to it, and I just sat with and felt my emotions. I let them just be feelings this time, and I woke up Tuesday morning (with puffy eyes and all) feeling differently. Previously, I would have attached a lot of weight to feeling sad and heavy. I would’ve wondered why I was crying and created stories around it. But I’ve learned that they can just be feelings and bodily reactions of processing and releasing, and for that I am grateful.

Change is in the air once again. As we continue to navigate these tumultuous times, it may be time to bring some intentionality forth and put attention toward where you are heading, where you want to go, and determining if the two are in alignment. This pandemic created change for so many of us, and as we anticipated going “back to normal” things changed. Our lives changed; we changed in some way. We always do. Notice how things have changed, and how you have adapted to that change.

Reflect back five years ago. 

What was different? 

What is the same? 

What do you appreciate about the last five years?

This may be a good time to reset and renew intentions for the future, reassessing what’s most important to you and ensuring your actions are in alignment.

Consider:

What do you need to let go of?

What is no longer serving you? 

What do you want to renew?

What do you want to continue?

Something that has been showing up in many ways to me is the challenge of integrating or reintegrating desired behaviors. If you’ve let go of some routines over the last year and a half, remember that they likely will feel at least a little differently now, and that’s okay.

Focus on creating small yet consistent actions to reintroduce or introduce yourself to new actions and behaviors. Remember, it’s okay to start small. They may not feel like they did before, and be aware of your expectations and if you’re allowing outdated thought patterns and perspectives to put weight on the activity.

Start small and flex the muscle while you work back into it. Be open and integrate from a place of curiosity and self-kindness. Look for the possibility rather than the struggle and focus on consistency over perfection and the amount of time your spending on the behavior. Make it manageable for you.

New beginnings are here. Love and care for yourself and reassess what matters most to you right now, and focus on moving toward that.

Rachelle Niemann

Rachelle Niemann

Guide, Author, XChange Facilitator

Creative Type: Artist

compassionate. holder of space. heart-connected. calm.

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“I deeply understand how the support of a heart-centered and giving community can elevate us as individuals. When we are elevated, a ripple effect is created, and we all benefit. Creating these environments is my truest work.” – Rachelle

Creative, thoughtful, technically savvy, guide, holder of space, all about instilling inner peace and helping us all know self-love.

Focused on cultivating environments to support well-being, Rachelle is a guide, author of Breaking Free from the Hustle for Worthiness and XChange facilitator. Her facilitation, writing, and workshops are created to help lean into and proactively choose well-being as a way of being.

Learn More about Rachelle in the Village

Design a Life with White S.P.A.C.E.

Design a Life with White S.P.A.C.E.

“white space” – the empty space between and around the essential elements of a design

A good designer knows that “white space” is critical to an elegant design.

And a good composer knows when to add silence to emphasize the beauty of their composition.

Designing a life is no different.

When you live with the right amount of white space, your life will feel like a great symphony.  With harmony, rhythm and flow in all the right places.

By adding SPACE you will find the sweet spot where ABUNDANCE + CREATIVITY + PRODUCTIVITY intersect.

What works for me is to pay attention to the essential elements in my life and to make sure that they have enough space around them. Then to truly honor those elements.

That’s it.  Just leave space around your essential bits, you’ll find your essential, authentic self will have room to emerge!  Clearing SPACE in your life for what’s essential.

The 5 basic ingredients that I’ve found are essential for a life with “white space” are:

STILLNESS | PLAY | ACTION | CONNECTION | ENERGY

STILLNESS.

Find time to be still every day. Traditional meditation, a walk in nature, whatever works for you. Whether it’s for 4 minutes or an hour. Schedule it.

The constancy of stillness… only from that place can you create your best work and your best life. — Oprah Winfrey

PLAY.

Play is not just joyful and energizing — it’s deeply connected to our development and intelligence. And a strong correlation between success and playful activity has been shown. So make time to play! To laugh. Even a forced smile can improve your mood. Smile muscles activate endorphins + immune boosting T-cells.

To thrive in our wild new world you would be well advised to play until you can’t think. — Martha Beck

ALIGNMENT.

When do you feel “in the groove?” What makes you lose track of time?

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman

CONNECTION.

Zoom, call, email, or write someone a note!  Connect.

Connection is “… the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.”  ― Brené Brown

ENERGY.

Learn your own circadian rhythm.  Honor it.

During the day stretch. Stand up. Move around. DANCE. Do something to get your blood moving! (check out our Playlist!)

It’s not the number of hours we work that determines the value we create, but rather the energy we bring to whatever hours we work. Science tells us we’re at our best when we move rhythmically between spending and renewing energy. ― The Energy Project

When you honor the spaces in-and-around the essential elements in your life, you will see your authentic, essential self emerge.

What are your essential elements? It’s up to you to decide your exact ingredients and the perfect measurements for each.

 

Click to download your Living With Intention Manifesto

LivingWithIntentionManifesto.pdf

 

Red Winged Blackbird

Red Winged Blackbird

A message from A Red Winged Blackbird

He reminded me to Pay Attention

A story:

 

Once upon a time there was a very sad woman sitting alone and reading.

 

It was a very bleak time in her life.

 

A red-winged blackbird had a message for her. He went to great lengths to get her attention.

 

He flew from the cattails in the river up the bank, under a tree, around a corner and swooped beneath a gabled doorway to hover and stare directly at her though the window.

 

He hovered there until, finally sensing something, the woman looked up from her book.

 

What she saw was a rather insistent looking bird hovering and staring straight at her cocking his head left, then right.

 

Startled, she sat up and asked the bird “Can I help you?” 

The bird simply continued to stare, and cocking his head from side to side. Then he blinked and swooped off.

Of course, that woman was me in 2005 – Crazy, I know!

It was a time in my life when I felt a wee bit crazy.  I was doing some emotional healing at a beautiful little hermitage in Central Minnesota called Dwelling in the Woods.  I felt the bird had been sent as a messenger.  The message, although I didn’t know it at the time, was my calling.

Flash forward a couple of years, and many red-winged blackbird encounters later (they’re always swooping my little volkswagen beetle).

Through a long and arduous journey, I eventually made the decision to become a Certified Martha Beck Life Wayfinder Coach and, to specialize in creative entrepreneurs.

It was only then that I thought to look up red-winged black birds in a book on animal totems. Here’s what it said:

Those who possess blackbird medicine sing a song that awakens people to their hidden potential and help them to find their true purpose in life.  They bring the touch of poetry, music and inspiration to all that they do.

This all happened 3 years before even a thought about coaching ever crossed my mind – I guess that red-winged black bird knew something I didn’t!

PAY ATTENTION

This story supports what I’ve always instinctively known – but somehow need to be reminded of now and then – to pay attention – to the synchronicities and serendipitous events of our lives.

That in a creative recovery” as Julia Cameron, author of the ARTIST’S WAY says ” (we need to) take seriously the possibility that the universe just might be cooperating with our new and expanded plans.”

So, now, when I pass the many red-winged black birds we have here in Minnesota, or hear their song or see a picture of any black bird, I say a silent thank you.  And I’m reminded again to PAY ATTENTION to the reminders and the ways the universe is supporting us all in our creative and expanded plans!

 

Community and connection are what we need – Find the style that works best for you

Community and connection are what we need – Find the style that works best for you

Community and connection are what we need – Find the style that works best for you
I’ve always been a connector.
 At no time has this been more valuable than over the last year and a half.  Stated simply, since 2020, connecting with others has saved my sanity. Being able to connect face-to-face – even online – has kept me from, well, going to that place… you know the one, it’s dark there, lonely and feels like there’s no way out.
In fact, having several face-to-face connections each week, with new and old colleagues, family and friends has given me a sense of renewed purpose.  It’s also confirmed that I’m on my “right path.” That path being creating space for people to find community, make connections and to support one another in their ventures.
My mentor and teacher, Martha Beck says that it’s likely we’ve all…
“… embarked on a cycle of change (because transformation is happening to all of us at once). The bad news is that nothing feels stable anymore. The good news is that none of us are alone. Community and connection, paradoxically, are what we most need to follow our unique paths through the wild new world.”

Community and connection.
I’ve also realized how critical it is to honor every person’s own connecting style. I was able to connect with my 85 year old mom over Zoom.  We even completed her memoir that way.  But My best friend wasn’t having any of it.  She would only talk on the phone.
Not everyone has embraced the Zoom-iverse like I did.  I found having one-on-one conversations or group events on Zoom very enjoyable and energizing.  Others not-so-much.  They found it annoying and less than satisfying and in fact, quite exhausting.
Many are now craving in-person connections where they can hug and shake hands. I love a fun coffee-shop meeting, that is, with my friends.  But after a year or more of online networking, I’ve decided that I really prefer networking online. It gives me more freedom to take notes, to followup and saves a lot of time.
The bottom line is, figure out how YOU prefer to connect, and seek out ways to do more of that.

What’s your connection style??  What gives you energy? What makes your life easier?  What feeds your soul?

—————

bio
Kelly Pratt, founder of ATHENA VILLAGE.com & So Do It! Salons. She mentors and coaches creative entrepreneurs to find their best flow – their “creative rhythm” – as they turn their ideas and passions into products, artistic creations, books or fabulous new business ventures.
Certified as a wayfinder coach by Dr. Martha Beck calls her ” a wildly creative soul who can coach you into confidence and fuel your passion.”  She’s used her extensive experience and intentional career reboots to identify her sweet spot – creating community – both in the world and in the cloud. She dives deep with her clients & members as they turn their passions and ideas into action, tangible products, artistic creations, books or fabulous new business ventures.

Kelly Pratt, founder/co-creator AthenaVillage.com

🎶 This week’s song: Yes We Can Can by the Pointer Sisters
Join us in Athena Village, or satisfy your Curiosity with a no-strings Conversation
“We are all on a journey. We don’t want perfection, we just want to hear about your journey and what you’ve learned.  Let’s share our experiences and learn from one another.”

Playful Retreat Into Your Imagination!

Playful Retreat Into Your Imagination!

What are your favorite summer memories?

Star-watching. Swimming. Exploring the woods.

Root beer floats. Outdoor music. Fireworks.

Bare feet in the grass. Sun-kissed skin. wind-whipped hair.

Will you bring a bit of that childhood summer magic back with a quest into your imagination?

Can you retreat for a time beyond the mundane, the everyday.

Remember, imagination is only limited by the pockets of time we let it out to roam free, to play.

Play for adults is critical in our stressful go-go-go lives. Play has been shown to release endorphins, improve brain functionality, and stimulate creativity. And it can even help to keep us young and feeling energetic. Studies show that play improves memory and stimulates the growth of the cerebral cortex. ~Wanderlust.com

Your invitation:

Create a door—a portal to the faerie realm. Rectangular or round, hobbit style made from paper, wood, or cardboard with a window and door knob. Play with paint, colored pencils or cut from a magazine or our template below! Tape it to your journal cover, or a page inside. Then make another, for your bathroom mirror or dresser drawer. Be easy and just start. Remember, creativity is magnetic. Follow your impulse. If you can, we highly recommend you paint a door in the knot of a tree in your yard. Add a doorknob and sign, perhaps a ladder or stone pathway. The visual thrill and vibrational lift of a portal sighting will transport you to happier realities.

These are two way portals—a reminder to stay open to possibilities and the muses, to visit you! A declaration that you are open to inspiration!

One of the things that may often stop us from playing is that we, as adults, get very set on who we are and the types of activities that we do and do not like. But play is healthy and fun, so it benefits us to figuratively—or literally—roll the dice and allow play back into our lives.

~Wanderlust.com

Perhaps your adult rational mind is ready to dismiss this whole article as silly. Are the enemies to your creativity demanding that you stay in your comfort zone, avoid risks, and convince you that you just aren’t creative anyway? The very first way that creativity can be accessed is through PLAY!

An excerpt from Pam Gout’s Art & Soul Re-loaded addresses our barriers to creative practice:

Enemy #1—Procrastination. When you first commit to working on your art, you will hear a tiny voice. Or at least you’ll think you did. Or you did until the appointed hour arrives. And then it’s, What was I thinking? I want to be an artist, but not today. Probably tomorrow. And then you go on living the same life you’ve been living before, the same life from which you want to escape.

Enemy #2—Resistance. Change is uncomfortable. Especially something this risky. Every artist is on the tightwire. No longer cowering. No longer hiding.

Enemy #3—Self-doubt. You’ll hate everything you produce. You’ll look at whatever it is and think, “This is pure drivel. I’d be wise to stop.”

Perhaps it isn’t too risky to those enemies to simply color some pictures and allow yourself a little creative retreat?

Click to download a PDF of the PixiePortals

Will you start now? Will you take just 5 minutes and any supplies within sight to make your first portal? 

Stephanie Foley

curious.  imaginative. creative. magical.

“What looks like play from the surface is really a much deeper journey into nature and ourselves.”