Grace | Gratitude | Grit

Happy November!

I hope this finds you well as we begin a new month and officially move into the last couple of months of 2023. This year has been a bumpy one for so many people and as we prepare to start this new month, I wanted to share the messages and themes that I’ve received for November. You may be receiving these messages too because as a highly sensitive soul, you’re aware of the subtle energies and shifts happening around and within you.

In the states, we celebrate Thanksgiving in November and there’s a large focus on the theme of gratitude at this time of year. You don’t need to live in the states to embrace or focus on gratitude in your life, this month or any month. However, this practice can help to shift our focus to a place of reflection on what it is that we’re grateful for and research shows that this practice can reduce stress and increase happiness. These are only a couple of aspects or outcomes that people report when participating in active gratitude activities. I often find that it also increases love and opens the heart chakra for clients. I’ve often found that it can help to clear and open up stagnant or slow energy as well and help to get energy, inspiration, and even creativity moving for people. There are lots of ways to participate in a gratitude practice and there are videos, blog posts, and entire books devoted to the topic. However, what I know for sure is that there are no right ways to do this; there are the ways that work best for you,  your schedule, and personal style. If you feel guided to participate in a gratitude activity throughout the month of November, this is a wonderful day or week to start. You may want to document how you’re feeling on day 1 of your process including stress levels, health, and overall well being so you can reflect back on that at the end of the month to see all the takeaways that you personally receive from the process.

You may be thinking that gratitude seems like a very prescient theme for this time of year and may wonder how it stands out as a specific message for the month. The big themes that have shown up for this month include a deep focus on taking care of the nervous system, immune system, and our inner personal strength or constitution. When we look at these themes, one of the biggest aspects that ties all of them together is stress or stressors. I know, not a very flowery or fun topic. However, this has been the strongest theme for us as we move into this month.

The nervous system is the first line of defense for us as we go about our daily lives and when we are overly stressed we can experience an overwhelm or even an overload on our system. This can create a lot of different experiences for people including but not limited to exhaustion, fatigue, lethargy, and feeling as if you have limited bandwidth for stress. This experience can have an impact on your immune system as well and can lead to feeling off or unwell or even experiencing a lot of the cycles of sniffles and yuck. Both of these can impact your personal strength or constitution by making you feel like you don’t have enough get up and go to get things done. This can lead to feelings of self doubt, worry, or even passing on positive experiences or opportunities.

The good news here is that each of these aspects work together, hand in hand as a team. As we pour into and take care of one of these aspects, we automatically help to support the other aspects at the same time. As we invest in these areas this month, even in seemingly small ways, we’re more easily able to move through the energy, news, and day to day experiences that are happening within and around us. When we look at the overall message, we can see that it’s about taking good care of ourselves.

Another word for Grace is Kindness.
Another word for Gratitude is Appreciation.
Another word for Grit is Determination

• When you see and feel the impact of these words, and think about how to apply them to yourself, what kinds of images, thoughts, or feelings show up for you?

• When you think about ways that you could support and honor your own systems and personal well being, what things show up for you right away? Why?

• Which of these three words do you feel you’re being guided to focus on the most right now? Grace, Gratitude, or Grit? Why?

• Which of the three words feels the most challenging for you to honor or pour into for yourself?

• How can you find ways to increase this aspect in your life even in seemingly small ways?

Hopefully by answering these questions, you’ll be able to better understand the areas or themes that are especially prescient for you right now. Like most things, you may find that you share common interests with people in your circle about how to honor these aspects of your life. However, you may have a different style than some of the people in your circle too. This is about finding the ways that work for you because these will be things that resonate with you and your lifestyle and allow you to continue to practice them in your daily life.
I’ve included some items below that can help to support these themes of Grace, Gratitude, and Grit while we work to honor our systems this month. Please remember this is not a be all end all list in any way. This is just a small list to help inspire you to create a practice or system that is right for you.

Grace | Kindness

• Using positive words to describe yourself to others and to yourself

• Making space for rest and relaxation even if for only 15-20 minutes each day

• Treating yourself the way you treat others

• Watching a favorite movie or show that you love, just because.

• Reading for pleasure

• Listening to or playing music

• Enjoying a creative project

• Taking a nap or going to sleep early if you feel tired

• Using the fancy dishes, table linens, or candles that you always save for someone special. (You’re someone special)

• Make a meal or a special dessert that you really love just for the fun of it.

• Ask for help when you need it and allow someone to help you when it’s offered.

• Drink more water

• Eat nutrient dense foods

• Add broths, ferments, and other nourishing foods to your meal plan

• Take vitamins and minerals

• Learn a new skill or hobby that you’ve been wanting to try

• Laugh out loud, for real, watch or listen to things that make you laugh

• Play and have fun

Gratitude | Appreciation

• Participate in a gratitude practice (in any way that resonates for you)

• Get outside into nature to see and take in the beauty and changes that are happening all around you.

• Walk or participate in gentle movement or exercise. Taking care of the body is a deep appreciation practice.

• Practice something that you love and is intrinsically part
  of who you are

• Tell someone in your life what they mean to you

• Read through old letters or look through old pictures of people and places that have deeply impacted your life.

• Ask someone you trust (or as many people as you feel guided to include) to share 3 aspects about you or 3 words to describe you to help you better understand and appreciate your impact on the people in your world.

• Focus on increasing the aspects of your life that bring you joy, happiness, glee, and overall peace. (Only you know what these are and any increase in them in any amount counts as an increase.)

Grit | Determination

• Focusing on one step at a time

• Having a clear focus on what you’re working toward and continuing to make concerted effort toward that goal.

• Reaching out for support from people in the area of your focus

• Saying no to demands on your time and energy if it’s draining you or creating extra strain and stress.

• Saying yes to positive opportunities and experiences.

• Celebrating small and big wins

• Saying yes to support and love from people in your inner circle and even from your outer circle

• Knowing when to take a break and when to begin again.

• Resting when you’re guided so you have the energy to cultivate momentum again when you’re ready.

• Taking inventory of how far you’ve come as a reminder that everything you’ve been through in the past is proof that you’ve gotten to where you are today from determination and taking things one step at a time.

I hope this will inspire and support you as we move through this month, together. Remember, it’s not about how many things you’re doing, it’s about finding the ways that are right for you to honor and support you through this process. It may be 2 or 3 things that you know you’re being guided to do that make you feel great and add value and joy to your life right now. As you pour into any of these aspects, you will automatically support the other aspects as well, cultivating a positive experience for yourself and supporting you as you move through these themes, this month.

As always, I’m sending you love and support from my teeny tiny corner of the world straight to you!

If you’re celebrating Thanksgiving this month, I’m wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving.

With love and gratitude,
Kristy~xoxo

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Gratitude Gift

Making Space for Grace

Happy November!

I hope this finds you well as we move into a new month and deeper into this season. For many people this month begins a kick off to holiday gatherings, festivities focused on food, traditions, a change in weather, and a time change on November 6th. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the days become shorter, the nights become longer, and the weather keeps us reaching for warm blankets, slippers, and maybe a cup of hot tea. During this time, we’re being given an opportunity to spend more time inside, to turn inward, to take care of ourselves, and to slow down.

So many people have been experiencing feelings of being burned out, exhausted, and in a lot of ways overwhelmed. Maybe you’ve been experiencing some of these things too. With so much going on around the world, it can be really challenging as a highly sensitive person to manage your personal calling to help where you can while also honoring yourself and taking care of your own energy. Sometimes it can feel like our personal contributions aren’t enough which can weigh on us; however, every action, no matter how seemingly small does impact others and does make a difference. It’s important to take good care of yourself as well as supporting or offering help where you’re guided. Sometimes I find that highly sensitive people (like yourself) can struggle with healer or helper burnout because they don’t realize the signs that their body is giving them to help them rest or recover from all of the activities they’ve said yes to without taking a break in between. Becoming comfortable with slowing down and making space for your own needs is very important and will allow you to have more energy and more bandwidth so you can help in the areas that are calling to you, without taking a tole on you or your health.

This month is bringing in a deep calling to slow down and to take more time for genuine rest. This is a beautiful time to move with the natural shift that’s happening so you can take good care of yourself and your loved ones while also making space for grace. You may find that you want to focus on a few core things throughout your day and that things that were on your to do list a few months ago seem less prescient for you. This isn’t something to fret over, it’s part of this energy helping us to clear the decks and get back to the basics or fundamentals of taking good care of ourselves. It doesn’t mean that those other things aren’t important to you, it just means that they’re taking a back seat to what is important for you right now.

You may want to take a few minutes to think about or feel out what aspects of grace you’re being asked to gift yourself this month. Maybe you need more down time, maybe you need more rest or better quality sleep, maybe you need more gentle foods, maybe you need more joy, maybe you need gentle energy to help sooth your nervous system, maybe you need_________________. There are no right or wrong answers, only the answers that are right for you. As you allow yourself to hear, feel, see, or know the answers that are showing up for you, you’ll more easily be able to align with your personal recipe for support, self care, and grace this month. Slowing down is a gift that we give to ourselves and to the people in our lives that we love. This will allow you to feel more like yourself and to have more energy, excitement, and enthusiasm when you’re guided to say yes to an activity or invitation. Most importantly, this time allows for a deep nurturing and a time to truly slow down and honor what is right for you.

I’m wishing you a very gentle and restorative month filled with gentle people and experiences. I’m also wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving if you’re celebrating this month.

I’m sending you so much love and support from my teeny tiny corner of the world, right to you!

With love and gratitude,
Kristy~xoxo

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Gratitude Gift

Home + Healing + Holidays

This month brings with it so many feelings as we officially greet the last 8 weeks of 2018. Maybe you’re feelings some of the feels too; some of the ones that really stand out to me are things like…

• How is it already, November?

• What things did I get off my list this year and which things are still sitting on the back burner and why?

• How will I spend the holiday season and with whom?

• How will I make time for the things that are important to me and graciously say no to the things that don’t make the list this year?

• Why am I feeling a tinge (or tidal wave) of sadness show up for loved ones that have passed even though it’s been many years since they went home?

Are any of these things showing up for you right now?
If so, know that you’re not alone.

A pre-wrap up for the year plus home stuff, healing, and holidays all begin to swim around at this time. Because so many big themes seem to come to the surface at this time, it’s natural to feel lots of deep feelings.

I find that the combination of the days getting darker and shorter (here in the Northern Hemisphere) and all the themes showing up at this time force us to pull inward and dig deep on how we’re feeling and focus on how we want to wrap up the year.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy, celebrate, and create joy during this season. Celebration is part of the holiday season but it’s also important to give yourself permission to tend to your emotional needs too.

Finding a balance between the joy and moving through your feelings is very important. Even though it may seem counter-intuitive, this balancing process allows you to move into the celebration experience more fully.

Giving yourself permission to be where you’re at allows you to move through the wave of emotions so you can move to the next space organically; rather than forcing festivities.

There’s no one way or right way to honor this season, there are only the ways that feel right for you at this time.
 

• You may feel guided to participate in a special tradition that allows you to connect to something special from your childhood.

• Maybe you want to make something that a departed loved one always made at this time of year.

• Maybe for you, creating a new tradition will support you in feeling more connected to this time of year and your own personal love of the season.

• You may also feel guided to take a little time this month to gently go over the goals or intentions you've created for yourself.

• You may want to update your vision board or pull out that list that you’ve been ticking away at during 2018.

Taking a little time to honor all that you’ve accomplished and experienced this year is equally important as focusing on what comes next for you.

This is a great time to do a little rewind on your year and really take it all in along with the accolades that you would give to someone else who accomplished what you’ve done this year.

Some of the things that can add additional support for you this month is focusing on themes that feel supportive.
Things like:

• Calm

• Quiet

• Gentle

• Cozy

• Rest

Getting into your favorite jammies or sweats a little bit earlier in the evening, enjoying a warm cup of tea or cider, and snuggling under your favorite blanket can make a huge difference in the way that you feel.

As this season can tend to increase the things that need to get done and the places that you may need to be, making a conscious effort to slow down in seemingly small ways can help you to find that balance that’s right for you.

• What is something that really makes you feel comforted and supported?  _________________

• What is something that you absolutely love to do that really feels like fall to you? __________________

• How can you add more of these things into your days this month? ________________________

When you say yes to your own personal boundaries and needs you more easily move into that place of personal balance. Finding your balance will allow you to experience the kind of season that fills you with joy, happiness, and peace.

You’re absolutely worth investing the time to honor the things that soothe and support you. You don’t have to invest a ton of time in doing this, but you’ll receive so much from this investment and it will be well worth your time.

I’m wishing you a wonderful and gentle month filled with things and people that rise up to greet you! For those of you celebrating Thanksgiving, I’m wishing you a wonderful holiday!

With love and support,

Kristy~xoxo

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