Friday, January 08, 2010
Staying here at Ginnie and Willie's home in the beautiful Okanagan Valley, Canada, has given us the opportunity to meet with their three children. This family has such big open hearts and their daughter, Leah, is no exception. She is bright, vivacious and a gorgeous smile.

Leah literally jumped at the opportunity to share some yoga with me one night and even enthusiastically got up early the next morning to share some more before they made the big 10 hour drive home to Edmonton.

Watching Leah's enthusiasm and willingness to try something new and enjoying it was infectious. Dru Yoga has been such a great gift in my life bringing physical benefits but also emotional balance and inspirational insights.

I offered to mentor Leah as she hinted at needing support to make yoga a regular practice in her life. She was excited by this.

Mentoring our young people is so uplifting and so needed. I can only encourage you to do the same. To reach out and let a young person know they are loved and cared for. To offer support with a project, to share a walk with them or lunch. To take an interest in their work or hobby.

I have already had an email from Leah this morning, now that she has arrived safely home and our journey together has begun. 

Some tips to get started:

Ask the person wishing to be supported to consider their goals (big and little) that they would like to be supported with. Encourage them to write from their heart. (ensure them that all discussions and emails will be confidential and honour that) and also ask them to let you know how you can best support you. (a regular email contact, offer more direction, set time frames, comment on goals...etc).

Also recommend that they consider doing a vision board... get some old magazines and cut out pictures that reflect their vision/dream or draw or paint pictures if they are really creative, write down key words and put the goals out there on the vision board. Encourage them to be bold, be courageous, be inspired.... and I always suggest that some of the focus is on their inner world of contentment, peace, etc as this will sustain them at a deeper level.

And since we had shared some yoga together I reminded Leah and I am happy to remind you... to put on some good dance music every day and wiggle your hips, shake your body, stretch tall, and do the spinal twist. Give thanks for this moment and for all the joys in your life. You may wish to start a gratitude book - write down everyday five things you are grateful in your life... watch your list grow and your gratitude grow, and the peace that comes... invite peace in often.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009
I have known Alice since she was a young girl and she calls me her second mum. When she rang me the other day asking if she could come around and discuss some things with me it came as no surprise. What did surprise me though, was when she asked if she could have her 18th birthday party at my home. She wanted to hold a  dinner party for all the significant people in her life. Her family, close family friends, 3 girlfriends, a lady she had stayed with for a few months, her employers at the cafe where she works part time, her boss at the interior design shop where she does work experience every  week. There would be 20 guests and she was asking every one to bring a plate of food to share.

She also wanted to do something special and asked me for some ideas. I suggested that we invite her guests to sit in a circle after dinner and she say a few words about why she had invited them and what she appreciated about having them in  her life.  She took some time beforehand and wrote each person a lovely statement of gratitude.

On the night we shared a beautiful meal. We then gathered in the circle and I congratulated her on having such a wonderful support team around her. She then spoke, one by one, to every  person what she had written. It was simple yet lovely.

Her mum then read out something she had written that was an adaptation of a reading I had read at my son's 18th birthday  five months ago. I first came across the reading by another friend and then sourced it back to one of Jack Canfields 'Chicken soup of the Soul' books.

It was a reading that expresses the gift that having a baby is. That the baby is given by spirit for us to care and look after, to nurture and to enjoy.  That over the years, as parents, we give the child room to grow, and lessons to learn. We hold them close and also give them space to explore and experience challenges. And then, after all is said and done, the time has come to let them go. They have explored freedom and they know family restrictions and now it is time to open the family door and let them fly out on their own. The door will always be open for them to feel welcome yet it is the time for them to really taste independance. They are 18!

After her mum had shared this reading I then invited others to reflect upon their lives as a teenager and think of something they would like share with Alice. People spoke from their hearts and shared stories and words of wisdom. It was very special.

It was not your usual 18th party, (especially with no alcohol), yet it was rich with meaning and reflected to this lovely young woman how special she is. Everybody loved it.

I love birthday celebrations where there is a ceremony of some sort. I have been asked to conduct many birthday parties and one of the best places to start is by figuring out 'what do you really want?'

Because everyone who has come to me wants something special it usually involves a 'sharing circle'.

Willa celebrated her 60th by also having a circle. She spent weeks before hand choosing  photos and writing. She brought to the party a photo of everybody who  came and a story of gratitude to share with them which was read out after a sumptious meal. There were plenty of laughs and tears.

Her husband, Peter, had put together one of my famous birthday books. I initially created these home made books many years ago with my own children's significant birthdays. Months before the birthday I would send out invitations  for close family and friends to send in  photographs, letters, quotes, stories, poems or anything about the birthday person that could be included in a 'Book of Treasures' that I would collate.  The 'treasures' that came in were precious and my grown children still pull out these books years later to read through them. Many letters affirmed their qualities and inspired them to stand tall and strong, to relax and enjoy. I loved doing it (Be warned ... they take a while to collate) and they have had lots of pleasure receiving them.

For another gentlemans 70th birthday we had his guests form a circle in chronological order of when they first met him. Then everyone had the opportunity to share a story about their meeting. At the close of the circle we all called out blessings that we wished for him. It was fabulous.

At another one, everyone was invited to do a small painting or drawing. It didn't have to be a Rembrandt, just a few splashes of colour if they wanted. It was lots of fun and he then formed a collage of these and framed the finished painting.

Using candles, ribbons, storytelling, sharing thanks... whatever ritual is used it can touch people deeply. How have you celebrated a significant birthday?