#REVERB10 is an online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next.
Welcome to Week 2.
From Dec 1 - 31, I will reflect on what’s happened and send out reverberations for the year ahead.
December 6 – Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it? (Author: Gretchen Rubin)
A Vision Board. I went nuts the Sunday after Thanksgiving tearing, cutting and pasting images from magazines onto card stock to create several vision boards. It’s a creative visioning process I have been going through for several years. It’s fun and I often don’t fully understand why I’m pulling the images or why I’m placing them, where, and on what board. When finished, what I often find is that the images and the purpose of each board reveals itself. I have noticed over the past 3 years that I create several boards in one afternoon or evening sitting. I have noticed a pattern and that is, the compilation of words and images of each board often provide insights, messages, and future direction from my subconscious on key relationships I am in. Relationship with myself, others, and what I consider divine and sacred. I often receive insight on immediate next steps and focus with regards to my relationship to my work and life purpose. This year a board specifically devoted to my yoga practice and teaching came up. The picture above captures what I think is in store for deepening my connection to my yoga practice and further development as a teacher. It’s so beautiful and so exciting! I love displaying these for a time in my home where I can visibly see them every day for awhile. Eventually, as the months in the new year pass they will come down. I pack them away. And then around late November, pull them out, reflect on the year past, and create another set for the year ahead.
December 7 – Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011? (Author: Cali Harris)
Community is one of my core values and reaches far back into my personal history. I’m from a small town where everybody knows everybody. My community then was my family, town, church, and friends through school and extra-curricular activities. My community now is still my family, city, yoga community, and friends through work and common causes and interests. This year I discovered ways to become more deeply rooted in those communities. I love that fact that after 14 years in the metro area (9 in DC) that I can go anywhere and run into a friend or familiar face. Yoga is my staple for healthy and full living and with this lifestyle comes the most amazing community both here in DC and globally. I’m celebrating the mid-year yoga challenge we organized over the summer, joining the teaching staff at The Yoga Fusion Studio, and continuing some amazing work with Dr. Marie Rodriguez and friends at Flow Yoga Center and lil omm in Washington, DC. My DC Tribe is my local family. They are the friends I go to for support, celebration, foundation, and truly make this city I live in home. Some other amazing groups, causes or interests (communities) I’m grateful for: Fabulous Women Business Owners DC, Georgetown University Leadership Coaching Alumni, One Common Unity, Citizen Effect, and Language ETC. After formally leaving a corporate community I was a part of for 12 years in 2009, 2010 was a wonderful grounding and stabilizing year on the community and connection front. Looking ahead to 2011, I’m excited and staying open to ways in which community and connections can grow.
December 8 – Beautifully Different. Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful. (Author: Karen Walrond)
This was a tough one, so I reached out to a sweet circle of friends. Here’s what my dear friend S.O. has to say. “You’re a young soul. You are playful. You are loving, and peaceful yet sassy and honest. You aren’t afraid to curse out the guy giving you your 5th parking ticket… then go to yoga. And I love that, because that’s what’s REAL. You laugh easily. and smile often. You drink too much coffee. You love pizza. You love traveling, and all things soulful and exotic. You are always on a mission. You aren’t afraid to tell people what’s on your mind. You’re friendly, and welcoming. You are the most thoughtful soul I know. You love giving gifts, and giving hugs. You’re always running late. You’re always looking to learn. You are always looking to learn about yourself, who you are, and the world around you. You talk with your hands. You’re a hippy at heart. You are a supportive, generous, loving friend.” I think my insatiable curiosity about exploring the great mystery makes me unique. I love all things that suggest we are a part of some mysteriously, creative, intelligent, chaotic and self-organizing universe. Sigh. I’m a romantic at heart and believer in people. This natural tendency has simultaneously broken my heart and cracked it wide open. Even though I might be easy to tag as “studious,” “organized,” “responsible/reliable,” “on the straight and narrow,” there is a wild side, a love of nature, deep thinking, and a pull toward anything different that surprises, delights and runs through the heart of me. I think this and what my friends have reflected back is what makes me “beautifully different.”
December 9 - Party. What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010? Describe the people, music, food, drink, clothes, shenanigans.
This past summer felt like one continual party. With my little brother and sister getting married within a month of each other, the summer was filled with celebrations - showers, bachelor/ette parties, rehearsal dinners, and wedding day banquets. The second oldest of six children and quite nostalgic and sentimental about family life, their growth and forward movement in their lives put me in a state of constant gratitude and celebration - both for their arrival and the privilege to be their big sister and witness all the ways in which these two have grown and have become fine adults. Too, it was a ton of fun being with my larger family of parents, siblings, grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends - dancing, loving, laughing, reminiscing, frolicking and feasting. I am truly fortunate on the family front. I have the best brothers, sisters and in laws in the world!
December 10 - Wisdom. What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out?
The wisest decision I made this year was to commit to simplifying my life. The heavy winter snowstorms were the force I needed to slow down, stay inside and reflect on what is and is not essential in my life. Acting on the ideas, I started with several clearings - on the calendar, commitments and things. Looking back over the year, I can’t believe how much has changed, how much I have changed, and how much energy has come back to me as a result of being in the discipline of simplifying. I have more time and energy to do and engage in who and what really matters to me.
December 11 - 11 Things. What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life?
Since 2010 was a year filled with the clearing away of things I no longer need, I am intending 2011 to be a year of clearing away thoughts (and energies) that do not fuel me forward. Eliminating 11 self-undermining thoughts and turning them into 11 positive, life affirming statements will I know change my life and free up even more energy to do good in this world. It is amazing how much energy I can consume at times worrying, living too far into the future, making choices out of fear not delight. I am committed to beginning this “mental detox” now and reinforcing that practice well into the new year.
That was a surprise. There you have it - Reflections Week Two.
(Photo: Vision Board displaying 2011 Professional Development Goals)
- Posted Monday December 06, 2010 at 10:10 PM 0 comments
- Categories: Reflections
Do you desire change, 
Dear Friends,
Join Citizen Effect and Monument to celebrate Citizen Effect’s 1-year anniversary with an evening of great music, good people and giving back. 
Come together with like-minded 
Love this Life…
Join Carolyn 10AM Saturday mornings at The Yoga Fusion Studio in Chevy Chase MD for a dynamic and evolutionary yoga flow class. 
The privilege of a lifetime is being