Make Space to Shine

ear Miracles: Happy New Year. I DO have a New Year’s Eve wish for you all… Make space to shine. I have heard a lot of intriguing ideas this New Years: there are the resolutions, anti-resolutions, and rituals floating out there in the ether to help you ring in 2012. And though I am a bit late in on the game, when I sat down and journaled and thought about what word or practice could be my mantra for 2012 I drew a blank.

It could be because my family was rocked with the news that late on 12/31 my paternal grandfather, fondly known as grandpa, passed away–ending a year in which we lost: a close family friend, aunt, grandmother, grandfather, and other grandfather. At the same time I was blessed with the most amazing child ever, my sister moved back home, my husband and I bought a house and turned it into a home, and business exploded (in a really good way). Gain. Loss. Life, death, and life again. Para Vida! To life! So much has happened in 2011 and I realized that before launching into 2012 I needed to recapitulate what 2011 meant for me. For me the phrase for 2011 was: be grateful.

Grateful for food brought to me for the first week after giving birth, for all of the help from all of the quarters so that I could continue my work and not simply survive but thrive. Be grateful that I had these amazing people in my life, that I got to speak with them, kiss them, laugh with them, and love them for as many years as I did. Grateful to my family that sees me through each and every day, to my husband who stands by my side as the most solid and loving support ever. Grateful to girlfriends who call me and leave me long, winding, love-filled giggly voicemails, or emails that say “I’ve had enough! I’m coming to see you and we are drinking margaritas!” Grateful to teachers, mentors, and creatives who inspire and intrigue. To advisors that teach me to craft my work and to allow it to craft me, to clients that teach me to give, give, give, and when you think you are tapped out give some more, give better, give brighter.

I am grateful. Thank you-each and every one of you.

And as I finished those thoughts I made ready to enter into 2012 with this one: make space to shine. It came to me, as so many thoughts do, in yoga class. I showed up with my mat and a baggy top because let me tell you–it has been awhile–and went into the first asana, creaking, bending, popping. Stayed there in the pose, stretching, breathing, sweating, and then finally-back to center. And what did I feel? Space…a little bit more space, a little bit more room for those tired and cramped muscles. And filling that space was light…whirling, swirling, hot energy that shouted with jubilant affirmation-I am here! I am a leg! I can walk and run, and hold a child on me, and twine myself around my beloved. I can do all of these things! Look just look! And so it hit me that my mantra for 2012 is: make space to shine.

For me this means:

• not overbooking myself and giving each client I encounter PLENTY of room.

• Creating routines that sustain me *and* my business and ditching anything that is “for the business” without taking my needs into account (read: regularly scheduled yoga classes are a GO!)

• Forging alliances with friends/family members/and like-minded businesses that nourish me and my work.

• Carving out time, like on the calendar, for finishing up some of the projects that have been simmering on the back burner and making room for new opportunities that send a tingle up my spine!

• And in case you are interested, I started the process off really practically by cleaning out my closet and all of my clothes drawers–the difference is HUGE.

So…what resolutions, words, or practices are you bringing into 2012?