Celebrating our Victories and Blessings
Those of us who are dedicated to working on ourselves, often forget to pat ourselves on the back for how far we have come. We work and work on a variety of internal and external levels, doing all that we can to bravely transform and craft healthier ways of being. And then, quite ironically, we forget the thing that we need most—a self-acknowledgement of our accomplishments. Sometimes this is a function of our internalized shame. Sometimes this is simply because we have forgotten, or never been taught, the value of celebrating our victories and blessings. Either way, we are missing out on something that we surely deserve, and something that can fuel our steps and inspire us to continue. We need that pat on the back in order to move forward.
In the coming week, I invite you to grant yourself permission to acknowledge your accomplishments and all of the blessings that you have been able to manifest in this lifetime. I’m not talking about a notion of accomplishment that is objectively measured. I’m talking about something that is entirely subjective. That is—your personal recognition of the small and large steps you have taken, the growth you have achieved, the healing you have earned, the blessings you have brought forth into your life. And that includes all of the ancestral patterns and traumas that you have worked on and worked through. Given that many of those steps have never been taken before in your lineage, it is that much more extraordinary that you took them. Really, it is. You may feel that you have some way to go before you can experience peace with path, but you don’t have to wait until then before you pat yourself on the back. You can do that right now. Because you know how far you have come, and you know how remarkable it is that you have reached this place…
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Writing Your Way Home
I have long taught a Writing Your Way Home course at Soulshaping Institute. It has helped thousands of souls to heal and express themselves through the act of writing. And, it has led many to finally write and publish their first books. In the coming months, I will be taking things to the next level. I am organizing a Writing Your Way Home Level 2 Autumn Course, for those who wish to take their writing even deeper. In this course, there will be much more in the way of one-on-one feedback from me, and an opportunity to ready yourself for the possible next stage of your expressive journey—Writing Your Life Story. Beginning in 2024, I will be working with a limited number of students who are truly ready to celebrate their victories and their blessings by writing their life story. Whether motivated by personal healing, (potential) publishing, or the desire to gift their autobiography to friends and loved ones, this will be an opportunity to articulate and honor your lived experience. It is my truest belief that “your story is your glory,” and that each of us has a story that is waiting to be shared.
As I wrote in my book Hearticulations: “It’s one thing to briefly detach from personal story in the hopes of gaining a different perspective—it’s quite another to deny our storied roots altogether. What will we stand in, then? At a time when our stories have been shamed and shunned in the spiritual community, it is all the more imperative to revive them and make luminous their sacred, transformative properties. The past is not an illusion, as many would suggest. It is the ground of our being, the karmic field for our soul’s transformation, a living vibration that echoes on, the mystery that threads right through our history. Story is where we come from. Story is what roots us in the present. Story is how we arrive at the next place intact. A spirituality without story is like a body without breath. Dead to the world.”
If you are interested in the possibility of joining Writing Your Way Home Level 2, and/or Writing Your Life Story, feel free to write us at support@soulshapinginstitute.com and you will be added to the contact list.
Speaking of going deeper into story, I am delighted to share my wife Susan Frybort’s affordable poetry course with you. “The Poetry Healing Course: Writing from Your Heart and Soul” begins June 6th, and is a transformative 4-week online workshop designed to help you discover healing and resolution through writing poetry. It provides writing feedback and personal support for anyone ready to embark on a creative journey to access their inner voice and poetic expression. For those who wish to become better poets, they will find tremendous wisdom here. And for those who wish to use poetry as a means to a deeper healing and transformation, the course will take your hand and support your steps.
In Susan’s words:
“This course is truly a heart journey where we'll enter the geography of our lives to offer questions, descend into our truth, and unearth profound revelations. It will be a trek where we'll explore past terrain to determine what created our set patterns in life. A place where we'll be honoring and celebrating our many held connections and deepening self-understanding. We'll begin from our core and move closer to our edges. We'll listen intently to our inner-narrative —and even marvel at the stories we told that kept us afloat among the rapids of real events. And we will tap into our treasured resources to write rich and revealing poetry from our heart and soul. It's all there, waiting and beckoning you to write. When you begin considering your poetry as an ointment to elevate and heal the soul, you may notice how it will eventually become a need to fulfill. Your poems will hold new meaning as they become life statements, testaments, soothing salve—and even bandages.”
The course begins June 6th, 2023, and is priced at only $99 US, or 3 payments of $33. The audios can be listened to from anywhere in the world, and they remain up for 4 weeks, so you can listen to them as often as you wish, and download them as well. Feedback and support is provided throughout. If you are interested, check out this heartfelt and inspiring course at Poetry Healing Course Link.
Blessings to your path, Jeff