What Is: Welcome To Now
2013.
The air is buzzing with it.
This electricity of change keeps zapping each one of us. And on days like today, where all of the world is focusing on one form of change - that time-honored tradition of celebrating a new year - the shocks are so strong it is hard to focus on anything else.
Many choose to honor it by choosing a word for the new year, an intention. Many choose New Years Resolutions, and many make gratitude lists. Some will bring in the new year (or already have) through a wild party, some through a quiet, sacred ceremony, and some will just sleep right through the tick from 11:59 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.
(In case you are curious, I have no word, no resolutions, and will be spending the new year at home with my hubby and two kids..."quiet" being an optional part of the evening.)
This is what is outside. Makes staying in even easier.
I'll admit - it is hard for me to write this. I've been noticeably absent from this site and from most things "LifeUnity". I want to share with you what I've been doing, to apologize, to explain. It is consuming my thoughts and making it hard to write. But the clock ticks on. Any minute I spend explaining what was takes away from what is.
And there, silently existing amidst all of this 2013-buzzing and what-was-guilt and excitement over change, lies that awareness.
It is awareness on which I've been focused, on which LifeUnity will focus, and on which I will be asking you to focus:
LIFE AS IT IS.
Not life as we want it to be. Life as it is. Finally allowing ourselves to breathe, release all of the "shoulds", and drop into the magical and challenging beauty of THIS experience.
The space below and above and within all of our desires for change and something different and confusion and suffering .... it is what is.
And there is no better time to get playfully serious about focusing on what is than right now (whether your computer date reads 2012 or 2013).
Flying unicorn. Why not?!
A PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN
In the upcoming months, I'll be offering practices to helps us all do just that. Here's what's on the books:
- Those in the Wild Elephant Project have already been given a heads-up, but when that project ends, I will be starting a new, FREE online mindfulness practice. It'll be a very simple, in-your-inbox reminder .... that follows a rather unique format. I'll be sharing more about this soon, but if your curiosity is already piqued you can sign up HERE.
- I will be sharing with you another FREE resource - an e-book I've created outlining the practice of Awareness Arts. This book will introduce you to the reasons behind Awareness Arts, the definitions, and ways to start practicing it on your own. Watch this site for the download link!
- I will be offering a self-paced, online class for those interested in taking their practice further. If you resonate with this site, and if you find value in the free e-book, I KNOW you will love this class. I'm SUPER excited about the format. (I've designed it based off my own stumbles with online classes - how, for example, I rarely finish classes because something else in life comes up. This class is meant to be INTEGRATED with your life, AS IT IS. Notice a theme here?!) Be watching for more information on the class and how you can sign up in late January, 2013.
- I'm wrapping up the final Encaustic Experience class, but fear not, creative adventurers! There are plans in works for you too! While I won't be focusing solely on encaustic, I will be offering creative tutorials and support ...stay tuned!
Amidst all of that, I will fervently and gently continue my own practice and share my trips and stumbles and successes here on the blog.
I've made it a priority to maintain the SPACE in my own life to remain free of tight schedules, to allow for the flexibility to follow my inner knowing instead of the clock, and to figure out how-the-hell this is supposed to work in a world that is set in doing exactly the opposite. I know it is possible, though, to live in a way that is continuously flowing instead of forced. And if you believe this too, I know we'll find it together.
WELCOME HOME
And LifeUnity? It's going through its own changes. (I'm even considering a name change....shhhhh.) For now, I've determined that LifeUnity is SPACE. This "business" that I'm running? It's my home.
Our home.
Yep. Just call me mama.
And mama is letting anyone and everyone in to this space that I'm constantly redesigning and tidying up and re-cluttering.
Like a mother, I'm 100% supportive of whatever it is you want to do - and enthusiastic about whoever you are, AS YOU ARE. I play 20 million roles that all flow together. So I'm just as likely to kiss your boo-boo and offer you advice on your boy (or mindfulness) troubles as I am to reprimand you for not cleaning your room and taking responsibility for the hurt you caused someone else. But I love you all the same.
Like any home, there are some rules. In this space, we are kind. We take responsibility for our own actions. We support others. We are honest. We create our own lives. We recognize that every thought and action (and every inaction) has a consequence. We celebrate that we are all connected, even if we don't understand it. And, it deserves repeating, we take responsibility - for our thoughts, beliefs, and actions.
And, like any parent, my goal is to send you out into the world, with tears in my eyes and confidence in my heart that you are already successful and wise.
So no matter what this space looks like when you enter - if the furniture is rearranged or absent, if the home page is blue or pink, if the sign on the door says "LifeUnity" or something else - know that the space remains the same. You are welcome here. Always.
RIGHT NOW
It is what it is. And can you see the beauty in that? This moment, these thoughts, this air that surrounds us, this sun and moon that we can both see, ...THIS. And so much more, too ... the wondrous, magical things that are in existence right now - things that live beyond logic.
There is so much to explore and to experience and to create in this moment. Why would we look anywhere else?
So here's to the buzzing, the noise, the change, and the silence. Here's to 2012 and 2013 and each moment that we are here to experience.
I look forward to practicing in all of it with you.
Happy 2013
and
Namaste.
~Lisa Renee