Hello Lovely Readers,

Last time I posted, my family and I were taking off on our move to London.  I intended to post soon after, but life has been... well, full. 

As we were warned, it has been a complete roller coaster ride filled with amazing highs and deep lows.  Our lows have been complex with feelings of vulnerability, discomfort and yearning from all of us for home.  While our highs have been enjoying amazing adventures together and opening up to a broader and more respectful view of the world and all of us beautiful beings in it.   I’m marveling at the amount of compassion, love, acceptance and strength that has been growing exponentially in my girls.  

Yet, a few months after our move we were blindsided by a devastating loss in our family.  It has rocked me to my core, a pain I didn’t realize I was even capable of feeling.   I’m not one to be run over and just stay down, so I have been doing everything I can think of to help me manage, release, and heal this immense hurt that now resides in my body.  

As you can imagine I've been tapping like crazy.  

I’ve also reached out for help from my EFT mentor, and have seen a few different therapists to help my family and myself cope, to find the right language (because our words, both internally and externally, matter so much) and learn how to best support my girls.  I’m also finding comfort, peace and healing in meditation and journaling.  

The thing about grief is that you can't tap/meditate/journal it away... you have to feel it and it takes time.

You have to allow yourself to feel the hurt, pain, loss and devastation.  There isn’t a fast way to get through it.  Trust me, if there was I would’ve found it.  

EFT, tapping has been extremely helpful in allowing me to sit with my emotions, keeping it more manageable and to be able to gain perspective.  Often our emotions are filled with noise, and tapping allows us to clear the noise and gain clarity on what we are truly feeling.  

But, I've also found a new way through this pain, and it's been in creating art.   

As many of you know, I love art and even put on an Art and Healing Retreat, ArtWorthy last spring with my dear friend and artist, Ivy Newport.  So it might not seem surprising that I’m finding some peace and space between the pain through art.  

But, you must know… I don’t do art, I just love other people's art.  So this actually came at a huge surprise to me.

Since my loss I have been yearning to create, to paint, draw... anything.

I’ve found that while I’m creating, my pain subsides… and possibly is even moving through me out onto the paper.  

Now, let’s be real… I’m not creating masterpieces, I’m just allowing myself to take my time and get lost in creating.... It’s not about the end result.  

Creating takes you into a meditative state, into a flow and it’s in that flow or meditative state that feels like the world, your mind and body have gone quiet and you’re in a state of peace, and calm…. serenity.

I know that 2016 was filled with grief for many and the beginning of 2017 has been rocky at best.  

If you are looking for a way to access internal calm and peace I strongly suggest you try your hand at creating art.

We are all creative... our body, mind and spirit yearn for it.  

Looking for some inspiration?  Check out Pinterest for some inspiration, I was inspired by the artist Jean Haines and painted the owl below based on one of her watercolor paintings.  Or try an art class, my dear friend Ivy offers a multitude of online art classes providing incredible instruction, you can check them out here.

Here’s to a new year where we're able to find PEACE.

I’d love to hear from you!  How do you find peace?  Do you yearn to create?  Let me know if you give art a try.

Much love and gratitude

Here I sit writing this blog post and I’m in the middle of one of the biggest changes of my life.  My family and I are packing up our things and moving to another country.  We are headed to London, England.  

When this opportunity first presented itself to us we were thrilled.  We’ve been dreaming of living in Europe for years.  

But we quickly realized that this wasn’t an easy decision.   We have had an amazing life in the Portland, Oregon area and truly haven’t seen our lives anywhere else since we moved up here four years ago.

It is here that I have built my EFT Practice, which I’m extremely passionate about.  We have beautiful friends here and we live in the one the best little communities filled with the most amazing neighbors.  

Yet, just when we really thought that this was it, this is where we will settle for a while...this offer came... Go live in Europe for a few years... the opportunity of a lifetime… right here… so close we can touch it.  But it comes at such a huge cost.  Leave our life that we LOVE… for ADVENTURE…. for the unknown… for new experiences… for GROWTH.

Here it is.. that nasty choice.. COMFORT or GROWTH?  

I know that when I’ve chosen comfort in the past I’m usually bored, disappointed, not interested for very long, and ultimately regret it.  

But when I push myself to choose growth… well, that’s when I’m usually scared as hell but ultimately have the time of my life.  Of course it’s not guaranteed to be all roses and sunshine, but I always learn so much more about myself and end up feeling so grateful I took the risk.  

So here I am… making this choice once again… Comfort or Growth?

Can’t have them both.

Here goes everything... we are going to do it!  

My next post will be from the other side of the pond.

Cheers to ADVENTURE!

Last weekend Ivy Newport and I put on ArtWorthy, a women’s art and healing retreat.  We had 10 beautiful women attend from all across the country.  We took over a luxury 6,000 sq ft Villa in San Diego overlooking Lake Hodges.  All of our meals were prepared by a private chef who made the most delicious food, and we even had a beautiful yoga instructor come one morning.  We were very pampered.

Ivy and I set out to create a safe and sacred space for these women so they could explore inner parts of themselves, that most of us aren't even aware of.  Not only did these women bravely explore and observe themselves in a new way but they also created powerful art.  

Ivy and I put together a curriculum that we knew would be challenging.  I asked them to go deep, ponder, observe, heal and release parts of themselves that are no longer serving them.  I used EFT Tapping, meditations, visualizations and directed journaling to guide them.  Then Ivy set them up so they could release it artistically on paper.  Everybody’s art was so dynamic, telling and healing.  I then facilitated an experience for them to get in touch with their authentic self, and Ivy led them into creating it.  This provided the ability to celebrate, honor and recognize the beauty we have inside.  It was profound.

What I didn't see coming out of all of this was the kinship that developed…. an unconditional love that banded our group together.  

ArtWorthy knocked me to my knees, and has changed me forever.  

Women, of all ages, backgrounds, and stages of life came together, we celebrated, revered, loved each other, and created a ton of beautiful and meaningful art!  I've never experienced anything like it…. and I’m so excited to do it again!

Who wants to join us at ArtWorthy 2017?

Add your name to this link and be the first to know about ArtWorthy 2017  http://ivynewport.com/class-wait-list