Dialing in to the gratitude station
December 29, 2024
We made it to the last few days of the year, where time warps and wanes. I love being suspended in this liminal space of introspection, optimism, planning, and leftover pastries and peppermints.
This has been a year of profound transitions for me personally. As a result I’ve been doing more looking inwards, forwards, and backwards than at any other time of my life. Like pressing on old bruises to test whether they still hurt, it has often been achey and uncomfortable and sometimes deeply painful. A peace-seeking even-keeled rosy-eyed optimist by nature, finding myself sinking into an emotional spiral more than once has been new and unsettling.
Luckily I have discovered and rediscovered (and rediscovered) a practice that surprisingly but reliably lifts me out of those spirals. While it is hard to talk about without sounding trite, it’s been so valuable and profound to experience its potency that it has become my sole New Year’s intention, mainly to hammer it into my head so perhaps I won’t keep repeating the same cycle.
The practice is gratitude. I know you’ve heard it before, and I’ve said it before, and yet it bears repeating.
Gratitude is an energetic state, a frequency, like a radio station you can set your dial to at any time. It is uplifting and expansive and fulfilling and you don’t need to do any thinking or bargaining or promising to get there, you just need to remember to tune into it. And once you are tuned in to that station, it is not possible to feel anxious, regretful, judgmental, vengeful, distrustful, fearful, or any of those other low, heavy states — they shift and transform and lose their potency, and the sources of pain or discomfort become easier to see and understand. Everything becomes easier to see and understand with compassion and clarity.
While cultivating gratitude alone won’t solve all of your problems, it puts them in perspective and generates a sense of resourcefulness and capability. Numerous times in recent weeks I’ve caught myself plodding around like a crankety crankenheimer, sour-faced and pouty, looking at the world through a grumbly haze — sometimes for good reason! — and I’ve been able to make a quick turnaround. Nothing in my circumstances changes and yet I can instantly have a completely different perspective — present, compassionate, appreciative. The more I practice the shift the easier it becomes to recreate. Plus it’s contagious for everyone around me. The key is to notice when the dial has slipped out of tune and then make adjustments until it clicks back into place.
There are many different methods for cultivating gratitude that have proven effective for different people, and I strongly recommend experimenting until you find one that works for you. Here I share the practice that has always served me and a few others. Also below, some FAQ about my upcoming Chakra Toolkit series, a great opportunity for transformative, uplifting inner work in a supportive group. Registration is open until January 3rd.
May the new year bring you depth and beauty, clarity and light, ease and expansion, and even more to be grateful for. Thank you for being a part of my year.
The Chakra Toolkit
for generating power, purpose + vitality
Six Week Online Series
Weekly on Mondays
January 6 - February 10
7:30-9pm EST
$360
The Chakra Toolkit FAQ
If you find yourself in a time of transition and expansion and are looking for some new tools and practices to reconnect with your purpose and potential, we will be delving into these matters in my Chakra Toolkit workshop series that kicks off January 6. Come explore practices to foster clarity, balance, and vitality, align with your higher self, seek your own guidance, and put your wise, inner knowing into practice.
Below I address some of the basic details and logistics of the series, and if you have any questions, please feel free to reply to this email.
What are the main goals of the series?
+ Access inner wisdom, insights, self-awareness, and inspiration
+ Connect to intuition and align with purpose
+ Release blockages, recover flow
+ Benefit from support, guidance, and community
What is this series comprised of?
+ 6 live weekly 90 minute online sessions (will be recorded)
+ Meditations, teachings, exercises, and self-inquiry
+ Take-home practices and readings (optional!)
+ A loving guide and teacher (me!) and a supportive group
Is this a class about the chakras?
We won’t be directly studying the chakras, we’ll be using them as a framework for healing and self-understanding. The chakras provide a kind of nuanced map of our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual history and experiences, and I find working with them to be a practical and impactful way to make deep and positive shifts.
Will these sessions be live or pre-recorded? What if I can’t make it?
They will be weekly live zoom sessions, and I will record the sessions and share them with everyone registered. While attending live has its benefits, such as being able to ask questions and experience the communal group energy, if you have to miss a session you can always catch up by watching the recording. If you would like to participate but can’t make any of the sessions live, please reach out and we can discuss!
How will this be different from the monthly group chakra balancing sessions?
These sessions will be focused on one chakra at a time and will be more personal, active, and participatory, with nuanced exercises and discussion. Also, as the same people will be attending each session, we’ll have the chance to build on the previous weeks’ work and get to a deeper level of experience and understanding.
What if I’ve never done anything like this before?
Participants will have a range of backgrounds and experiences, and no particular understanding of energy or chakras is required or expected. Just bring an open mind and heart.
When do I need to decide?
Registration is open until Friday, January 3rd.
I am interested and have more questions…
Please reach out! I’m happy to discuss.
