Halfway Point

 

August 3, 2024 Regenerate Your World  Build the future you want to live in. I know these times aren't the easiest for all of us, but I am an optimist - I see the glass as refillable instead of half-full or half-empty. To brighten up your days, I publish the Regenerate Your World newsletter coming to your inbox on a bi-weekly basis. Let's Get Empowered!

Halfway Point of Summer View of the Maze of Moss trail in Olympic National Park, Hoh Rain Forest. A very special part of my summer. Dear Empowered Reader, As we find ourselves halfway through the summer,( August 6 is the halfway point, no need to panic!) it's the perfect moment to pause, reflect, and recalibrate our intentions for the remaining weeks.  Summer often begins with big plans and high hopes, but as the days pass, it’s easy to feel a mix of excitement and panic about making the most of the season. I remember one summer a few years ago. I had planned numerous activities, set ambitious personal goals, and looked forward to long, relaxing days with friends and family. But as July turned into August, I realized I was rushing from one activity to another, barely taking a moment to breathe and enjoy the present. I was caught in a whirlwind of 'doing' rather than 'being.' This summer, let's choose a different path. After having a very busy Spring and Winter I decided this was going to be a season of rest and time with family, friends, and with you my dear reader!   Let's embrace a more harmonious approach instead of succumbing to the pressure of a perfect summer.  Here are a few tips to help you enjoy the rest of summer: 1. Reflect on Your Summer So Far Take a moment to journal or meditate on the following questions: What have been the highlights of your summer so far? Are there any activities or experiences you’ve truly enjoyed? Is there something you planned but haven't had the chance to do yet? 2. Prioritize What Matters Most It's easy to get lost in a sea of summer plans. Refocus on what brings you the most joy and fulfillment.  Ask yourself: What activities align with my values and well-being? How can I create meaningful moments with loved ones? 3. Create a Flexible Plan Instead of a rigid schedule, consider a flexible approach: Make a list of must-do activities and nice-to-do activities. And try not to judge yourself for what you do or don't do. Resting is necessary and is not a nice to have but a must-do! Please feel free to share what is on your must-do list if you feel this will help with accountability. Allow space for spontaneity and relaxation. 4. Practice Mindfulness Enjoy the simple pleasures of summer: Savor a sunrise or sunset. Take a mindful walk in nature. Spend time being present with family and friends without distractions. 5. Embrace Self-Compassion It’s okay if everything on your summer bucket list doesn't get checked off.  Show yourself grace and kindness: Remember that rest and relaxation are just as important as productivity. Celebrate the small moments of joy and accomplishment. As I start the second half of summer, I aim to focus on moving from 'hectic to harmonious.' Since the winter, spring, and early summer months were full of activity preparing to move to a new city I want to be intentional about how I spend the second half of summer. I've found more peace and satisfaction in everyday moments by intentionally slowing down. Whether it's a quiet morning with a cup of tea, taking time to wander through a farmer’s market, or my favorite, going on an after-dinner bike ride, these simple pleasures have made my summer truly special. As we continue through summer, let's aim for harmony and contentment rather than Instagram-perfect images.  Remember, summer is a time to recharge, reconnect, and rediscover what makes you feel alive and fulfilled.  Let's embrace the remaining days with a heart full of gratitude and an open mind for the unexpected. Take Care, Dear Reader, Julie My husband and I enjoyed a must-do on my list which is to listen to more live music this summer! Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Click here to get your own subscription. Scan the QR Code to sign up to be notified when the next Mountain 10 workshop is offered.  What is Mountain 10?                                                                                                                                                         During this three-hour workshop, we will focus on accessing your inner wisdom to bring about the changes you deeply desire in your life. We will use the Mountain 10 process, a proven, new technology for deep reflection on human change. It is based on the conviction that every person has the most important answers about direction, purpose, and calling within them. This directed reflection process leads you through four terrains of exploration, stopping at points on the journey to consider key questions about awareness, letting go, vision and realization. The terrains of your journey will take you into deeper observation of your feelings, thoughts, and images. You will explore what you need to let go of as you truly seek what you really want. We will open a space for a new vision and consider the practical steps to actualize that vision. We will deepen our insights in small circles of trust. Journaling and guided reflection will be used throughout the journey. Early Summer By: Ellwood Roberts Full of joy is early Summer,     Growth and warmth and golden light; Every day is crowned with beauty,     Full of loveliness the night. Dazzling sunshine brings the roses,     Fills the whole bright world with bloom; Day and night rejoice together,     Banished now are doubt and gloom. Skies serene and loving woo us     To the woods and fields to-day; Who would linger long when Nature     Calls him to her feast away? Earth a veritable Eden     In the glowing sunlight gleams, Life a grand and noble epic,     Viewed from such a standpoint seems. Gladness reigns the wide world over,     Early Summer's golden light Fills each bosom with thanksgiving     For the season's blessings bright. Happy harvest days are coming,     Full of joy, throughout the land; Where the fields of grain are waving,     Full-eared wheat in shocks shall stand. Perfect days that pass too quickly,     One by one they come and go, Each in turn reveals rare blessing,     Beauty passing all below. Balmy air and bright green landscape,     Glowing eve and dewy dawn; Sunlight's gold on field and forest—     We shall grieve when these are gone. Joyous time to him that loveth     Growth and warmth and golden light; Day is full of blessed beauty,     Full of peace the dewy night. Early Summer! time of roses,     All the earth is filled with bloom; Every heart in thee rejoices,     Banished now are doubt and gloom. Ellwood Roberts. "Early Summer." Family Friend Poems, https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/early-summer-by-ellwood-roberts

Kind Words from a Coaching Client A special thanks to one of my coaching clients for sharing a few kind words about her coaching experience. In The Media Where can you find EMPOWER Possible? Besides posting on my own social media I also collaborate with other entrepreneurs.  Thank you to Mod Co Podcast for hosting me I enjoyed our chat about holistic well being, how to incorporate it into our finances, home and business. We also chatted about daily routines. Check out the episode, HERE.

Upcoming Events Mountain 10 Workshops What is Mountain 10?                                                                                                                                                         During this three-hour workshop, we will focus on accessing your inner wisdom to bring about the changes you deeply desire in your life. We will use the Mountain 10 process, a proven, new technology for deep reflection on human change. It is based on the conviction that every person has the most important answers about direction, purpose, and calling within them. This directed reflection process leads you through four terrains of exploration, stopping at points on the journey to consider key questions about awareness, letting go, vision, and realization. The terrains of your journey will take you into deeper observation of your feelings, thoughts, and images. You will explore what you need to let go of as you truly seek what you really want. We will open a space for a new vision and consider the practical steps to actualize that vision. We will deepen our insights in small circles of trust. Journaling and guided reflection will be used throughout the journey. Click HERE to sign up to be on the waitlist for the next workshop. I will reach out once a workshop is scheduled that meets your availability. Please reach out if you have any questions, info@empowerpossible.com

Connect with me on social media! Copyright © EMPOWER Possible  Duluth, United States EMPOWER Possible is dedicated to empowering individuals, organizations, and communities to organize and act together to regenerate our world through Self, Social, and Systems transformation.  info@empowerpossible.com \ Website \ Mission

Ripple Effects

 

April 29, 2024 Regenerate Your World  Build the future you want to live in. I know these times aren't the easiest for all of us, but I am an optimist - I see the glass as refillable instead of half-full or half-empty. To brighten up your days, I publish the Regenerate Your World newsletter coming to your inbox on a bi-weekly basis. Let's Get Empowered!

Ripple Effects Greetings! Today I am happy to introduce you to one of my friends, Rachel Gilbertson! Rachel and I have had many conversations about well-being, personal and professional growth, the joys and challenges of life, and much more. I invited Rachel to be a guest writer for this edition of the newsletter so she can share a very exciting project she has been working on. Please enjoy! Words from Rachel Hello, dear readers! I’m grateful to be invited as a guest contributor for this month’s newsletter! My name is Rachel Gilbertson and I’m a long-time friend of Julie’s, a fellow wellbeing professional, owner of Art of Presence, and newly published author of “Aligned Enchantment: 100-Day Self-Reflection Journal.”  I’m delighted to share a little story with you about the ripple effects of how Julie literally Empowered Possible. But first, I must take you back to the beginning when Julie and I first met more than 16 years ago. We both worked in higher education, but at different local universities, supporting the wellbeing of faculty and staff on our respective campuses.  We would meet monthly for walk & talks to discuss current well-being initiatives, share resources, and brainstorm new ideas. Our professional lives took unique, but similar paths as we transitioned to different organizations and as we developed our own small businesses. Although we had changed roles, we stayed committed to connecting monthly. Now, to the ripple effects Last February, after one of our regular chats, Julie sent me an email connecting me with a local author and indie publisher, Heather Wilde. Heather was planning her book launch releasing “Tumbled” out into the world. I contacted Heather, and attended her book launch celebration, and we hit it off right from the start. Heather and I agreed to meet up again in a few weeks. When we did, she shared that she was planning to sign up for Sarah Seidelmann’s 100-day Creative Soul Retrieval group as it had been transformative the previous times she’d participated. The premise is simple yet impactful - do something creative for 15 minutes per day for 100 days, post it in the private Facebook group and see what happens. I was curious and decided to sign up. My project was to embark on an adventure of being open to enchantment and following inspiration by creating a mini watercolor painting each day for 100 days. I wanted to learn more about watercolor painting; I love words and their meanings, and I find the practice of reflection to be powerful. Therefore, I braided these elements together and called it “Aligned Enchantment.” Each day, an image would catch my eye, or a word would resonate, and it would become the day’s theme, which I then paired with reflective questions. Some days, my project flowed quickly and easily; other days, inspiration was more elusive, and it felt like a stretch to pull it all together. Sometimes, the word would come first. Other times, the image became crystal clear, or a question would surface for me to ponder. Even though I initially planned to complete my project in the morning, these clues would emerge over the course of the day. As much as I wanted to confine this project into a set time and space, inspiration wanted more freedom, and enchantment refused to be rushed. Along the way, I worried I had taken on more than I could handle as I struggled to fit it in and fell behind posting daily. About every ten days, I noticed the urge to switch gears and change the theme by dropping the word, black box outline, or reflection component. However, each time I sat with these thoughts long enough, a whisper of a word or inkling of an image would encourage me to stick with it. Curiosity invited me to wonder what the collective result would be as I continued to add to this over the summer. So I carried on.  Now the ripple effect comes full circle. Once I reached 100 days, I felt proud of the journey I took and glad I stuck with it. I also had a lingering sense that it wasn’t quite done. On the 100th day I wrote: “I’m not sure what it is yet, but it feels like there’s a few more steps to fully complete this project.” However, I actually didn’t do anything with it for two months until early November when I met with Julie and another friend, Lora. We had a mini retreat day full of connection and creative thinking about our next steps personally and professionally. We had planned some independent work time and I sat with my mini watercolors, reflected on the lessons and wondered how I might gather them all in one place. As I did this, I knew I needed to connect with Heather again to brainstorm ideas for pulling these together. When the two of us met later that month, it became clear that this was meant to be a journal. We got to work and “Aligned Enchantment: 100-day Self-Reflection Journal” was recently published. Now, here we are less than a year from starting the 100 day project, 8 months from day 100, and 4 months after starting the publishing process and it seems this was the plan all along. I’m extremely grateful to Julie for sending that initial email that started this ripple effect of connection and possibilities. I’m also thankful for that quiet voice inside that urged me to slow down, sit with the pieces, and gather them up into a complete collection. Ripples into Waves As for launching “Aligned Enchantment” out into the world, I’m proceeding one step at a time and am trusting the unfolding. This has been a key lesson throughout this project. Aligned Enchantment is an opportunity to journal for 100-days and beyond about the things that matter most to you. The things that light you up and make you feel alive. It provides a space to imagine, wonder, and reflect.  It helps you set intentions for how you want to be today and what you want your impact to be in the future. My greatest hope for this journal is that it allows your inner wisdom to emerge. I hope you notice any inklings of insights arise, you feel any glimpses of soul shimmers, and that you follow the subtle hints of curiosity. I have found that intuition, enchantment, and inspiration hang out in these seemingly insignificant places. The extraordinary is hidden in the ordinary, not just in the grand gestures or the big, bold moves.  I share this story to say: please don’t underestimate the power of one small action as it can set off a ripple effect and empower what is possible. Butterflies continued to emerge as a theme throughout this project.  They are a symbol for  transformation, hope, and empowerment. Reflection Questions: ✨ What helps you feel empowered? ✨ What enables your sense of internal strength, vigor, and might? ✨ Remind yourself that you are magic just as you are  and you are  capable of more than you can imagine. What do you notice? Want to learn more? Learn More about Art of Presence: http://artofpresence.org Begin your own Journey to Aligned Enchantment https://www.amazon.com/Aligned-Enchantment.../dp/B0CZH8SD3N You’re invited to the Aligned Enchantment Book Launch Event on May 4th https://www.facebook.com/share/HR93TBngQjBFWs24/?mibextid=9l3rBW Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Click here to get your own subscription. Excerpt from Aligned Enchantment  by Rachel Gilbertson

In the Media Want to listen to Rachel explain more about the inspiration for her project? Check out her interview with Sarah Bamford Seidelmann  https://fb.watch/rDGIZD0_AY/

Connect with me on social media! Copyright ©EMPOWER Possible Duluth, Minnesota. EMPOWER Possible is dedicated to empowering individuals, organizations, and communities to organize and act together to regenerate our world through Self, Social, and Systems transformation.  info@empowerpossible.com \ Website \ Mission