putting the final touches on my second retreat of the year. just opened my online store. secured half the funding needed in my small, private crowdfunding campaign for my book.

much is still under construction - design decisions still being made, titles being chosen. and much will be revealed come january.

but I look at the work I've done to find my way, and I know I've been doing good work.

it's Dec. 1 and I'm thinking about the holidays...this time last year was frankly a scary moment. I just thought back to the very first step I took in the right direction...and it started with a book called The Firestarter Sessions by Danielle LaPorte. the tag line is: A Soulful + Practical Guide to Creating Success on Your Own Terms. I actually bought it for my littler brother for Christmas, snuck a peek, and then proceeded do devour the whole thing myself before returning the dust jacket and wrapping it for him. the book lays out a path of honest questions, clear gems of wisdom, and a shitload of inspiration to fire off in the direction of true calling.

The Firestarter Sessions led me to The Desire Map, which walked me through a series of exercises to help me boil down to six desired feelings that I want in my life. mine are:

clear. light. abundant.

grounded. centered. nourished.

the idea is that if I check in with these desired feelings every morning, every night, and whenever I'm making a big decision, I'll never be far off course in creating the life I want. actually, I realized somewhere along the way that I felt most in line with the feelings immediately after yoga. and I started checking in with myself in dealing with friends and lovers...if I don't feel more clear, light, abundant, grounded, centered, and nourished when dealing with them, they become a no.

to be honest, I forget often. but when I remember I realign with the work I did to figure out what I wanted in the first place.

this was all in january and december of last year - before the lease buyout and the trip to bali and the yoga training and the decision to stop acquiescing to what everyone else wanted and to start doing me.

if you've got the same itch...as far as tools go, I can't recommend Danielle's work enough. I've been passing along hard copies and raving all year.

ps my bday is coming up and if anyone wants to get the me the desire map planner, I wouldn't be sad.