Sacred Becoming

Tag: connection

  • The Story Behind the Magic of Growing with Gratitude

    I’m sitting here, sweating, because I can’t make it any cooler, but I am grateful to be in clothes that are soft and comfy, sitting on my couch that is covered in a beautiful and vibrant tapestry, and trusting that we’ll return to the regularly scheduled fall weather soon.

    I’m sitting here and thinking about how much I love Growing with Gratitude. I love it for the simplicity, for the community, and for the opportunity to slow down a bit and shift how we come into a season that tends to be pretty hectic.

    I’m sitting here and remembering how Growing with Gratitude came to be. Do you know this story? It’s magic.

    hannah-and-xandra-riFour years ago, the sweet Mary McConnell came to visit the States and Hannah Marcotti put together a visioning night. This ended up being a gathering of women who had become close in online community, but I had not met them before in person.

    This was a huge edge for me – getting on a train to go to a city I’d never been to, to spend an evening with women I had not met in person. It may have also been my first time away from Chloe, probably so.

    It was a night of visioning, of laughter, of vulnerability. I cried at Ruth’s feet as she wrote the word trust on my arm.

    I gave myself the next day to explore Providence and the next night alone to myself in a hotel room. Even then, I knew I needed time to ease back into ‘real life’ after events like this.

    I had come to Providence knowing there was an inking of a program in my mind. I may have even known it was going to be around gratitude. What I did not expect and could never have imagined was that within 36 hours I would have all of the content done for the month-long course. All the quotes, all the prompts, all the pictures, everything in order. It felt like a divine download, truly. I don’t know that I’ve experienced anything like it since.

    Each autumn while I’m still in the gentleness of the season, I know the hectic time is just around the corner, and I know it’s time to share this offering again.

    And so it is. We start again, for the fourth time, in just two weeks.

    You’ll see me sharing some of my favorite parts of Growing with Gratitude, some of the why behind it, over the next couple of weeks. I just wanted to share with you right now the magic that began it, and invite you to come experience the magic that gratitude can gift us, if it lights up your soul.

  • Passing on more than our stories…

    family generations

    The last few months have found us visiting my grandmother a lot, and I have to say that I’m really grateful. Getting to share the joy of Chloe at age 2 with my 93 year old grandmother is a blessing beyond words.The time together has gotten me thinking a lot about what ties the generations to each other, what bonds family from generation to generation.  Part of it is story.

    The last time we visited, my grandmother shared her birth stories with me and it was fascinating to see what has evolved in our family.  Her mother and sisters all gave birth at home.  My grandmother was the youngest, and all three of her children were born in a hospital.  My mother gave birth to me in a hospital.  I spent most of my labor at home and then welcomed Chloe into the world at The Birth Center.  I wonder what the future will look like in our family.

    There is more that binds us than story, and some of what I’ve learned in recent months I am eager to share.

    What I now know actually empowers me to help determine the health and well being not only of myself and Chloe, but of her children, and yes, even her grandchildren.

    How amazing is that?!

    Did you know that if you’re pregnant with a baby girl, her eggs are formed during the fifth month of pregnancy?

    That means, among many other things, that your health, your choices and the environment that you’re exposed to during pregnancy not only affect your baby but have the potential to affect her babies as well.

    It goes beyond that, because many of the chemicals that we’re exposed to these days have been found to actually change our DNA, meaning that the impact can be felt for many generations to come.

    The first thing that I found fascinating about this is that the egg that I came from was actually created in my grandmother’s womb.  That connects me to her on an entirely different level than any story ever could.

    The second thing made me pause.  I know that I tried to clean up my eating and lifestyle habits before I got pregnant, and I know I wasn’t where I hoped to be by the time I was pregnant with Chloe.  What will that mean for her health?  For the health of her children?

    I came to realize something, and this is the message I want to share with you today.

    I could drive myself crazy with guilt about what I had and hadn’t done, worry about what would happen in the future, and overwhelm about how to make a million changes that I hadn’t yet made.

    That would serve no one for a few reasons, not the least of which is that stress itself is a toxin, so I’d be adding to my toxic environment by worrying too much about it!

    What I decided to do instead was to learn as much as I can, to make choices that feel right for my family, and to teach with love as I share these findings with other mamas and mamas-to-be.

    It’s not about feeling this sense of all or nothing.

    It’s not about living life in fear.

    It’s about living life from a place of joy and love, and doing what you can to set yourself and your family up for health and wellness, now and for generations to come.

    When my grandmother was pregnant with my mother, most of the chemicals that we’ve been exposed to in our lifetime didn’t even exist.  It’s a whole new world out there and I’m here to support and guide you through it, whether you are still thinking of conceiving, pregnant, or are already a mama.

    Are you ready to release the worry and find the joy? Click here to get the conversation started.

    Peace, Love, and Wellness,

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