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Inspired News from Isabelle – Winter 2007 Issue
In this issue:
Welcome,
Greetings from Bali
Across the distance, my Balinese friend Sang Tu (standing behind the children) wants to thank again all who have contributed to his educational trip to Canada this summer. On behalf of his students, the Bali Children’s Project and Inspired Momentum, we wish you a most joyful Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Beyond New Year’s Resolutions
Just around the corner, we’ll have the enjoyment of launching ourselves into a whole New Year. Rather than making resolutions and seeing them fade in a few weeks, I suggest the following:
- Take time to reflect on what this year has meant to you.
- Write in your journal about the highlights of 2007and what you have learned that you want to better put into practice next year.
- For New Year, create a ritual in which you, a few special friends and/ or selected family members write down (on strips of paper) any limiting beliefs you want to discard from your mind. After sharing what it is, you declare it being released as you watch it burn in the fireplace (or over a candle set in a larger container of water).
- In the first week of 2008, make a list of your 5 most heartfelt values (i.e. wellness, harmony in relationships, excellence, prosperity, passionate work, etc) then decide and write what attitudes, new behaviors and habits you intend to develop to live purposefully through those values in 2008. Re-read this weekly. The more we live in congruence with what matters most to us, the more vitality and energy is being freed up into our body, mind and spirit. Then we can achieve our hearts’ desires with more ease, flowing with the Grand Will as the wind in our sails, rather than only through our own individual will power.
A New Teacher on my Path
 In November, I took part in sacred ceremonies and personal growth workshop with Peruvian shaman Juan Ruiz Naupari who came to Vancouver for a short time. Juan Ruiz spoke, among other things, about the timeliness and importance of participating in shifting our culture and helping to bring about the more loving world we need. Juan leads extraordinary retreats around the world; you may look at his website for information: www.inkarri.org
Through my time with Juan, I gained a deeper experiential knowing that even though my will power can generate huge determination, it must be placed in the service of my authentic self for my life to be truly fulfilling. This way of being is about heeding our deeper calling and aspirations while taping the strong undercurrents flowing in our life. Most of us have learned instead to drive ourselves towards our goals, solely with our willfulness, which is why most New Year resolutions fail after a while. It’s like operating on disposable batteries rather than being plugged into the Source, a constantly available energy. In my coaching practice, I help clients to cultivate this way of being which is sure to improve the quality of their life and help them avoid burnout as they turn their dreams into reality.
Honoring Beauty in our Lives
During the evening in sacred ceremony, I had a profound experience of beauty as I set my sights on dusty rose orchids bathing in candlelight. I was so moved that I later wrote a poem about that image. Here’s an excerpt:
There, you stand together, as one, in poised elegance
Each one suspended ever so delicately in perfect stillness
The light of shimmering flames beneath rising up to enfold you
 My eyes are drenched in ecstasy at your sight!
And I see that you are tenderness impersonated as blossoms,
Your dusty rose heart revealing its invitation through the open wings of your petals
Replete with gratitude, I turn away to gaze at humanity before me,
The orchids’ loveliness settles into my being and a sacred desire arises in my soul…
To see, as if for the first time, intimations of beauty in the faces of each and every one.
In 2008, I hope you will enrich your life by further opening the eyes or your heart and see the beauty in nature, in yourself and in the faces of others around you.
Preview of 2008 for Inspired Momentum
Next year is getting filled with exciting programs, another anthology project, powerful new coaching programs, etc. My book Living Forward, Giving Back will be published in the spring. And, in collaboration with Kyosei Consulting International, I will be leading more midlife and re-engagement (aka retirement) seminars in Canada and the US, as well as sessions of personal and professional development. Stay tuned for details on my next newsletter.
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