I missed the mark...but now it's time to Align and Shine!

I missed my mark...

I skipped a cue and I was a little disconnected....

I'm sorry... but it will be worth it.

See, the thing is, that for the past few months I’ve known a New Years challenge was something I really wanted to do, but because I was swarming in work and...well... it wasn’t new years eve yet, I came up with the processes in kind of a half minded way. I did it via the steps I’m “supposed” to follow, the way coaches do it and the “Embrace Feeling Good” challenge was created. But it hasn’t been resonating or coming together at all. In fact, I was supposed to get my filming done before Christmas break, and it hasn’t flowed yet.

What I love about my work is the fact that as I offer tools to be authentic to yourself, that means I have to use the tools to be authentic to myself. I don’t offer anything I don’t do myself. Everything we work on together, has to come from an inner calling... otherwise, it’s not spiritually aware, right?

Isn’t that the best cycle!

So, over the last couple of days I’ve been asking Spirit to flood the concept and really show me what it should be. What is really going to set 2017 up with a solid foundation of love? What is going to Feel Good... (like the original challenge concept) and yet, be about clearing space, feeling authentically true and feeling good because we are aligned to the highest versions of ourselves? How can we show up this year, with a basement of love, of relief and of honesty... honesty in ourselves and where we are?

So, it starts here... Honesty in myself.

I am shifting the challenge to a little different... now it’s not just about feeling good...

It’s about Showing up.

Showing up as Ourselves for 2017.

http://www.subscribepage.com/alignandshine2017

The truth is, the world is going through a lot of changes. It’s not about feeling fearful as we cross the threshold of the new year, sure world events and social media might have us think that’s the only way to be, but I believe it’s an important time to radiate out as much love as possible.

And there is no purer light than for you to show up as You. It’s not about looking at the dark parts of the world or the negative stories and talking about how you don’t like them, (which we can all fall into) rather just shining as you.... focusing on the positive light, shining it bright, telling the feeling better story and well... feeling good,  the perfect antidote for an uncertain time.

When we are all resonating as our truest, deepest versions of ourselves, unapologetically, knowing that we are connected to our Spiritual guides/God/Source/inner being... then that is how we create a better home, a better world and a happier life for all our family. It’s also the tools our children need to resonate as themselves too. We all need to support each other to have the courage to shine as Who We Really Are.

So, this is the new sense of a “challenge”... but rather than a “challenge”, let’s go back to the term New Years Intention... this is the intention for 2017. AND YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE!

And we’re starting with a strong foundation... a basement of knowing who we are... who we aren’t... and freeing ourselves to be the best Self... the best parent/partner/friend/person we can radiate as.

Sounds an intense calling for a video “intention”?

Not at all.... We’ll be doing it aligned and easy. A few exercises, a few videos, and sharing with each other on  FB... we’ll be laying the foundations for a good year where we can radiate. It will feel liberating, relieving... and clear. You’ll feel lighter, and ready to creating an amazing 2017.

I hope you join me... because this is going to be awesome... It’s going to Feel Awesome and its going to flow.

Because... you know, it just feels right.

Oh yeah, one last thing...

It felt right to put on a Boxing day special for the Spiritual Kids Course... a little illogical when you consider I’ve been offline basically for a week and I haven’t been able to talk about it or build it up. But it’s on for $97 until January 6th (instead of $147). I figure that most of the exercises are what I’ve used to start the New Years for my children over the years. There is something about going through the processes of exploring who we are and what we appreciate, how we find our inner selves and how to set a good attraction point in January that seems to bring a consciousness to home, and I wanted to make sure you had a chance to have that opportunity as well.

Again... it's felt good.

So... let’s be aligned together, and hold space for each other. Finding that quiet space within, connecting to that divinity within, and radiating the light from our deepest selves.

And then we’ll feel really good.

5 Tips to Feel Better Around Family Over the Holidays

It’s twelve days before Christmas and already I can feel the tension building...

Hmmm... come to think of it my shopping list is way behind... oh well. I have some general ideas brewing. I’m sure they will unfold beautifully.

Yes. That’s my approach to everything lately:  I look forward to the unfolding.

But as someone who has her three kids, spouse and dog staying in a large home with my sister and her family, other people’s approaches, traditions and functioning is foremost on my mind.

It’s a holiday tradition in itself isn’t? The feeling of uncertainty regarding family, friends and the melting pot that often turns into a pressure pot over the holiday festivities. It could almost be funny if it wasn’t so painful sometimes, as we all get that sense of dread, wondering will it all be ok.

So, I’m compiling a quick list of how to survive a family holiday gathering... a Coles notes as it were... a cheat sheet on how to keep the love flowing and everything unfolding beautifully.

1)      Find your inner connection... and be able to do it quickly.

When do you feel the best? What thoughts make you settle into a space that rings out as YOU. Within us is a space, an inner room, that we let go of everything that bothers us, stresses us and makes us feel awkward, insecure or worried. Rather we sit back in the gentle space of Who We Really Are. But often these times are fleeting, and when we find them we appreciate them, but we don’t know how we got there. When do you feel most like yourself? What thought creates that space for you?

We can all find shortcuts that trigger a feeling space of Who We Really Are, it just takes a bit of focus and good habits. Often, if we have a crystal, a piece of jewelry, a symbol or trigger point, that reminds us that of Who We Really Are and how we want to be Spiritually Aware each moment. With that simple reminder, we can jump from the reactionary space amongst our family into a grounded space, an observatory perspective, which allows us to see the situation as the whole, not as the chaos. From this space, life flows, new solutions are found and things fall into place.

2)      Not my Circus, Not my Monkeys.

One of my new favorite sayings, it really is all about what’s your business and what’s not. As family we’re usually the first to jump to a sibling’s defense (even if we haven’t a clue what they’ve been up to all year) or the first to make some little joke or comment to fill the social silence gap. But Not my Circus means- my life My monkeys means- the components of that life.

If your uncle Dave is talking about how your Aunt Sue drives him crazy and spends too much... you don’t have to take sides. Change the topic. Stay in your own circus If its anything like mine, it’s enough to handle. When we let go of other people’s business we not only shift priority to our own lives (and usually our children) we also empower people to focus on their own monkeys. This can go as far as telling yourself not to even TALK about OTHER PEOPLE! No gossip and suddenly you open yourself up to a world of better feelings and wider conversations. And it can start with just you. Not my Circus, Not my Monkeys is about empowerment for everyone, and it can start with you.

3)      Find The Third Choice.

Sleeping arrangements being argued over... be Switzerland... and rather than getting attached to one side of the argument open yourself up to another solution, be the space finder. This is done only through taking a step away from the situation, remembering that time is illusionary and nothing needs to be rushed. Sometimes we all get so caught up to make a point it seems like whoever speaks the loudest and fastest wins. Breathe, take a step away, find some quiet, offer the problem up and ask for a solution. You might find that while everyone else was spinning around, life unfolded in your space and ideas flowed in. Everyone else will have wasted their breath and emotional focus, and you simply let it be and evolve.

4)      Each for Each.

Diversity is a gift. When we allow others to think differently, believe differently, live differently, we create a space where we get to do the same thing. Also, the law of attraction kicks in as well. We truly do get what we give. The Golden Rule, of Treating People The Way We WANT to be Treated, does literally work. When we acknowledge that another person’s way isn’t Our Way, but ok for them, we send out the feeling space of love, understanding, compassion and acceptance. By living in that space, we radiate that energy out, and create more of the same. We always get what we put out.

Therefore the old saying of Each for Each is What I Teach, isn’t just for children in a nursery rhyme, rather it’s a quick reminder that “seclusion isn’t inclusion it’s the stretching of the void.” Judgement and criticism can never create peace, especially within ourselves.

5)      The Magic is in The Moment

Our children are so good at knowing and living in the pursuit of feeling good. They know that if it feels Off, it’s Off. We spend the rest of their childhood trying to convince them they have it wrong... when really they’ve got it right. By following how something feels we live in awareness of each moment. It doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t do what we need to do, but we take a step aside to focus differently, place ourselves in our inner room, or wait a bit before jumping in.

 Our children do this by living in their moment and it is a child’s Moment that matters. It is the little cuddles Christmas Eve that feel the warmest, rather than the big dinner. It’s the icing cookies, or watching candles flicker that create the best memories.

Most of the stress we create perpetuates around the big deals we feel we need to create for our children and family, finding that perfect gift, creating that perfect memory, when by letting life unfold, and enjoying the little moments, we create bigger moments full of magic... naturally. Also, when we other family members, when we are taking care of the moment, focusing on the little joys with our children, we create a bubble around us and our  kids. We share looks, laughs and exchanges, we connect with them, rather than being distracted by the bigger picture. Life flows.

There they are. 5 quick tips to a Happy Family Holiday Experience. 

With them, I would like to extend this invitation: Create a New Experience This Year.

So often each holiday get together is exactly the same, even down to the trimmings. If we don’t get along with Grandma and she makes us feel the same now as she did when we were ten, there’s a bit of a reason. We always get the energy we expect, as, when we remember an experience, we create that space and emit it. Then we get it back again. Law of Attraction Strikes.(if you want more detail on how to alter your attraction point for the holidays, I cover it fully on my audio course.) Therefore, set a different stage. Invite a different experience in. Focus on the positive aspects, change the feeling and expectation, shake it up.. and see what happens.

Here’s to Happy thoughts, dreams, and focuses and may they create a beautiful New Year!

Check out Christina’s Audio Course- Taking the Stress out of the Holidays and take part in the 75% discount using the code holidayspirit to get it for $19 in time for the holiday rush.

Review- Exploring Nature with Children (a homeschooling curriculum)

Lynn Seddon’s Exploring Nature with children is more than a book nature study- rather it is a full year’s worth of nature curriculum from September to August, with a plethora of crafts, projects and poetry, interwoven with scientific facts and nature journaling as well as the weekly nature walk. It’s all so well planned out, focused and... incredible. The things that homeschooling moms dreams are made of.

Broken down in weeks, it covers everything from Harvest Moon to Summer Pond Studies as well as the Solistices, the Equinoxes and Christmas and Candlemas.

This is a beautiful course of study and suitable for any age (I personally can’t wait to sink my teeth into it.) With weekly themed poetry and art woven in seamlessly to the focus of the week along with age appropriate crafts and a selection of projects to chose from, the course is well thought out and easy to offer to your children.

Seddon suggests picking a special spot to visit each week to observe changes through the year and record them in a nature journal. She also suggests having a nature table back home to bring small findings and treasures. I had used a nature table with our daughters when they were younger and I am really looking forward to offering the experience to our son. We used to decorate and brainstorm around topics, creating pieces of art inspired by the nature table itself. I think with the addition of the classical poem and suggested work of art within the curriculum, the nature table could be an endless form of entertainment and education.

The Curriculum is written with the Charlotte Mason philosophy of homeschooling, which I have to claim a little bit of ignorance on, but I know it is classically minded with a focus on literature and art. This is sewn seamlessly through the curriculum and from what I can see the study of it will open many doors for children over years to come.

Homeschooling or not I feel it would provide a lovely and educated family experience. I am intending this to be a weekend form of study for us. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

Now, just as a warning the curriculum is in a PDF format as a book, so marking it and keeping your place takes some planning. (but everything else is planned out for the user, so that’s really nothing compared to other curriculum... she even has a list of supplies before each term. )But there’s always printing it out and putting it in a binder. I think I’ll probably just keep notes of my own on page numbers etc , you really can’t go wrong for a fantastic year long curriculum.

One note, Lynn is from the UK which has a slightly different climate than our Nova Scotia. I somehow doubt studying earthworms anytime before May and with our current climate change I don’t even know if winter will be fully here in December, but one never knows. It might take some shuffling projects about, but that’s alright. It all provides more learning curves and lessons in natural adaptation!

Grab the book here 

And I’d love to hear your experiences after you’ve tried it. I’ll be sharing mine!

THE ART KIT- a review

Sometimes things just line up.

My daughters have been wanting to improve their art techniques. I’ve been wanting to improve their art education. And then there’s boy-o. He suddenly LOVES art, so that needs encouraging and new supplies. Well, I didn’t even know that we were focusing in that direction, but when I heard about the Art Kit and was suddenly, seamlessly doing a review of one of the kits, it was obvious the Universe knows what its doing.

The shrieks of “THE ART KIT” coming from the children when it arrived was only topped by the “Ohs and Ahs” when they opened the box.

It suddenly made sense for a kit that is about ART to be beautiful. This taught me a lot about Art as an experience, just opening the box.

With Tissue paper and lots of shredded purple and white stripes of naturally dyed heavy stock paper, the children enthusiastically unwrapped each, paperbag wrapped item. And what beautifully chose items.

The Art Kit isn’t just about Making Art, this is about art appreciation and experience.

When you subscribe, each month your child receives a box like one of these, and each box has its own theme. Our box was themed with Georges Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jette painting.

In our box of wonders was a Puzzle, sticker books (with reusable stickers), natural paint sachets wit circle sponges to imitate Seurat’s circle techniques, circle stickers to do a circle (dotted) painting, a book about George Seurat and various Art Kit Pencils and heavy stock paper and  accessories.

As we have three children, we had the kit and two more sibling add-ons, basically providing each child with their own supplies for the crafts, but sharing the puzzle and the book. It worked perfectly.

The experience of this kit, and art itself, has been very well thought out. Each item helps you experience the painting a little deeper from different angles. As a homeschooler I found it balanced, as with three children, all different ages and learning types, I was surprised how all three were interested. I would possibly say the kit would work best for the 7-11 age range, as I watched my children work through it, but all three were well occupied and I can tell came out of it looking at art in a different light.

One thing I will point out. Although it’s called The ART KIT, this isn’t what we perceive as an art kit. It is a Kit ABOUT ART (I like how when I explained this to my family they all did a unison “OHHH” and agreed from that perspective it was a masterpiece in itself. Think of it as art education for children in a box, a box that has lots of ways for them to get into a technique, an artist and a piece with all their senses.

It reminds us all that art is an experience and from the moment The Art Kit arrives at the door, you and your children will be enjoying the ride.

Now... all I have to do to top the experience off is find a copy of Sunday in the Park with George by Sondheim  so the children can have some follow up to these wonderful projects!

Now here’s one of my daughters reviews;

I love the way that the art kit is packaged so carefully and beautifully. It’s really inspiring.

The Make-a- masterpiece sticker book helped me learn a lot about the painting. I love how this kit is so freely put together. The puzzle was a bit easy for me, but that is a good thing because it meant my brother was interested in doing it. I love the way the paints slide over the paper. I never would have thought that natural paints would be that bright.

My son... he gave it a zillion stars out of 5.

Check out www.theartkit.com for more information!

Opportunities in Disappointments

Her eyes filled with tears when she found out she didn’t get the role she wanted in the local theatre production and my first reaction was to go ask the director why she hadn’t and demand to give her what she wanted. I bite my tongue while she cried in my arms.

The extremes of parenting:  a few generations ago kids were told to toughen up, the world wasn’t run for them and they shouldn’t expect special treatment, now we run around them, trying to make everything perfect for them, telling them they can achieve anything, attract anything, do anything. We tell them the sky’s the limit and then run around killing ourselves trying to prove it and make it happen.

Extremes of anything aren’t healthy and its time we stopped kidding ourselves. We aren’t in charge of our children’s lives and maybe it’s time we had more faith in their capabilities.

It’s never a question of toughening up, but it’s time we remind ourselves that we are fueling the instant gratification fire of the 21^st century within our children. They are used to Ask and receive at the lightening speed of putting food in the microwave, seeing new movies online and having questions answered at their finger tips. They have a fast flow of in and out, interested to bored, want to can’t be bothered. On the other hand, we are the generation of parents who know it’s not healthy to let them cry it out when they were babies (it’s now scientifically backed up), but we carry that though into their teens. We don’t like to see them upset, we don’t want them to cry, and it hurts us to see them disappointed. So we’ll do anything in our power to make sure.... what? To make sure they are never unhappy?

But we are also the generation that knows we are instilling beliefs and values into our children by how we live. We can’t offer them the Suck it up, life’s hard line, it goes against a deeper truth we are aware of. Life is full of infinite possibilities, it is possible to live our dreams and dance like no one is watching. It’s our generational mantra. It’s also something carved out for ourselves...by ourselves. We can’t do it with our Mommy holding our hand, taking anyone down who gets in our way.

What we often forget is that the more we try to make everything fall into place for each of our children’s smallest wishes and desires, the more we try to push ahead for them, the more we create a message that says “you can’t do this without me.” The more we stop the tears of disappointment with promises to always make it alright, solidifies the idea that what the want is the only way it can go, without any openness to what could come as pleasant surprises.

We don’t have to be the principal of the school of hardknocks. We don’t have to administer the disappointment, but we don’t have to prevent it either. We can build up our children’s sense of self value and their life time tools by reminding them that, yes, things might not be going their way, they might not be getting what they want, but what they are getting might turn out better than they could ever imagine.

                My daughter took the role. She had rehearsals with people other than her friends and she seized her offered moment as a gift, rather than an insult. She rose to an opportunity, while I know I would have turned it down flat at her age. I would have been determined to have what I wanted and nothing but. Her opening night was last night and she came out of the theatre laughing and happy. She’s met new friends, had an amazing first performance and decided the role she thought she had wanted wouldn’t have really worked for her. She’s friends with the director and is looking forward to many more performances. Better yet, she’s grown in her perception of herself and how to be herself at the same time as letting life offer her chances rather than seeing them as disappointments.

Yes, there are truly times when our children become the teachers and we get to sit back and watch in awe. Our children, like ourselves,  know that life is for embracing not judging and disappointment is when we are telling the universe that it has no idea what it’s doing. But deep down we know, we may not like it, but we know: The Universe Always knows what its doing.