Hello, Hola and Kalimera
If you have somehow found yourself reading this post then I have a challenge for you! Please, could you stop right now, and just breathe a little slower – yes, right now – and tap into your heart space, and quietly, slowly, mindfully do that for three breaths – right now. Before you read further….THREE LONG, SLOW, DEEP, HEARTFELT BREATHS!
Does that feel a little different now? A little more expansive perhaps – more possibility, extra length? So many things when we just STOP and listen huh?
Were you able to notice where there was tension sitting in your body, holding you hostage? Perhaps stopping you from inhaling full life force at this moment? If you are honest for a second, how many times a day do you find yourself riddled with some version of tension, anxiety or guilt? The kind that tickles your solar plexus and knots up your entire throat – maybe constricts your breathing or leaves you feeling huddled over and constricted in yoru creativity?
I personally find that, just like you, I have to constantly manage my energy, my attention, my stress and my emotions. I often feel a bit like a rollercoaster let loose on life, drinking in the wonderful highs and falling headlong into the lows that can bite hard. I just got off the phone with a friend / client who has been summoned to the deathbed of another dear friend- and again it hits me hard in the chest – tomorrow is not promised to any of us, is it? So are YOU listening to the yearnings in your heart?
I am currently here on one of my favourite islands in the Aegean, Lesvos, in my happy place…. and yet STILL I can go to the place of inner stress, what if’s, is IT enough, what about my next book, will I manage to sell off a piece of my business etc etc. I can drop into and go deep into the hole of stress and anxiety a few times an hour if I am not being vigilant and mindful. 100% awake all the time. Do you recognize that in your own life perhaps? When a knot engages in your tummy and if you are resting you feel you ‘should’ be working, if you are working you feel you ‘should’ be doing yoga or the kid’s homework. If doing housework thinking you ‘should’ be making sales calls or buying sexy underwear to please you know who and so on and so on …yes I do that often too! AAAAARGH it’s never-ending. Then I sometimes also manage to get to the place of beautiful quiet inner calm, energy and deep peace that can erupt into belly laughter at any minute – you know what I mean right? Oh that it lasts just a moment longer please, please, please.
POP! Another thought takes over and it’s so annoying as it’s the opposite of what I teach dammit! Does that happen to you? Mostly I get these up and downs when I feel like I am not listening to an inner yearning …. you know that one when your lower belly wakes you up at 3 am under the pretence of “I have no idea what this anxiety is” feeling – but honestly knowing all too well what you are really yearning for? What your soul aches for, desires and spiritually “lusts” after?
My question for you today is a simple one – what are YOU yearning for in your life? Right there- yup, that answer that already fizzled up in your throat before the nanosecond you pushed it away in shame, or non-deserving or ‘isn’t the right time” kicked into gear as your analytical response. It might be a quiet inner nudge you can ignore for now or it could be a disruptive loud nag that is getting more and more insistent recently. If you were to STOP and try to listen to it, what does it BEG you to do? What path does it beckon you along? What direction does it point to next?
We know what we yearn for as it flows through our very veins, but we just cannot believe it, or dare to listen to its’ call – well not this month, or this year for heaven’s sake Kate! Perhaps your honest yearning is to shift into a new job, to get married, to gift yourself financial freedom or to visit that far off foreign country you dream about? To start a business, attend a mastermind, have a child or run a special race you have your eye on? What are you honestly yearning for right now? I dare you to answer. I am yearning for a newer, fresher, lighter version of me and what I offer, more time off alongside even deeper work. Retreats that are all about honesty and vulnerability, sharing and showing up. Masterminds that change lives. Our lives! VIP one on ones in exotic locations for conversations that matter and set us on the right path. I yearn for less “clutter”, less busy-ness, less playing small. Bigger stakes, less stress.
Is it perhaps your time to also STOP being so darn busy or to start being more deliberate each day?
Is it something, a somewhere, a someone or a combination of all?
My request to you is that you find the time to give yourself over to what really matters to you. Whether it’s gardening, pottery, knitting or swimming – then you need to find a way to carve out time as soon as possible to IMMERSE in this calling.
Tomorrow is not promised to any of us…what is inside your soul that yearns to be released this year?
Is it painting something colourful and wild to express your feelings or, to flip houses or play bitcoin, decorate a home or like me and the way my life unfolded, do you perhaps yearn to write a book? Ah, a book! What potentially simultaneous bliss and torture. The joy of penning ideas and feelings, stories and conversations into black and white, then the topsy-turvy pursuit of a publisher or the decision to go it alone….the ups and down at every turn. But then, one day, a single reader may tell you how much your book changed their life forever, and you may smile deep within at the acknowledgement.
Writing a book changed my life first and foremost and I know subsequently it has changed thousands upon thousands of reader’s lives – and THAT gives me a real deep sense of fullfilment. To know that something I wrote had life beyond the confines of my body and brain. I breathed life into a simple idea that changed my life irrevocably. So many of the writers that join us on our retreats are wanting to immerse in their love of writing or even to explore if they do love it – perhaps to record a slice of their life, or tell a tale for the legacy of their family, to make sense of a period of time they experienced, to share some learnings, to expand their brand or to give life to some characters that talk to them in dead of night, desperate to become a novel in the making.
But it all starts with a little yearning, then a gentle nudge, then a harder tug that simply won’t let go.
I wrote my first book because I felt it was something important for me to do for my business, my legacy and my brand. A way to put down all my passionate ideas about clearing your life of all forms of clutter, and a way to reach more people. It was also a way to validate my work by getting published by Metz Press. I didn’t know it even mattered until the moment I knew it and acknowledged the yearning; but once I acknowledged it,then it became non-negotiable. I had been writing since I was 13 after all, but only finally published my first book when I was 45 years old.
Is your book on your radar as your yearning?
Now having just turned 50, I have published three books, with a 4th almost complete and a 5th that’s been brewing deep inside for the past 2 years. But what about you – if YOU are being called to simply write your story to make sense of something, or to share a passion, or to see if you have got what it takes to be published – then you have to discern if now is the time? And do you want help to accomplish that feat?
It is said that 87% of people want to write a book, and yet only 1% actually do. Whether those figures are 100% accurate or not, you know in your heart if you have been putting off this calling.
We have international writers coming to join us for a special book retreat on Lesvos – and we have just 3 spaces left. Does one have your name on it? Why not gift yourself 8 glorious nights to IMMERSE in your book?
If you want to follow your dream and fulfill the yearning to write YOUR book, be it memoir, non-fiction or novel, then we have three places left for the retreat on Lesvos, 24th june – 2nd July, which is PLENTY of time to get your life sorted, organise a visa if required and hop on over to paradise – I should have calmed myself down to a super slow mellow pace by then, ready to give you the very best of me, all of me, the highs and the lows, the honest and the vulnerable. And my partner, Sarah Bullen will be right alongside you to share her insights, tools and techniques to write your very best book. We make quite a unique team- listen to what others have to say on the link below! This village, this deep blue sea, this fresh healthy food, the quality of life and the souls of this community demand you to show up and be real, and to answer the yearning deep within. We will help you write your book this summer…
With a love for all things deep within you wanting to come out to play – follow the tug of your heart wherever it may take you!
Kate
#LIVELIGHTLIVELARGE
