Reverb10: Installment 3

Hi All- One of my favorite annual traditions is to reflect on the year I’m finishing and set some intentions for the year ahead.  This year I happened to stumble across a really great tool that is facilitating the process for me.  It’s an online writing initiative titled #Reverb10.

So what is it?  Basically, #Reverb10 is an online initiative that encourages participants to reflect on the year past and manifest what’s next for them.  Essentially, it’s an opportunity to consider the reverberations of your past year, and be intentional about those you’d like to create in the year ahead.

This process is facilitated using a question a day from 31 different authors.  Each day has a specific theme to it, which you’ll see noted below.  The questions (or prompts, as they call them) can be found here: THE PROMPTS.  Each one is meant to cause reflection on a different aspect of your life and help you determine if you’d like to shift anything about that area in 2011.

This is my third installment of questions.  You can find the first HERE and the second HERE.

December 15 – Theme of the Day: 5 Minutes.  Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010.

Travel. Love. Coaching. Healthy discomfort. Beaches. Mother Nature. OBBW. Minnesota. Falling apart. Tithing. Spirituality. Powerful intentions. Nick. Norma. Rudy. Sel. Deep connection. Cancer. Courage. Finding purpose. Anointed. Helicopter. Tondo. Whale Sharks. Unparalleled Beauty. Joy.

December 16 – Theme of the Day: Friendship.  How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year?  Was this change gradual, or a sudden burst?

This year I was very blessed to have a friendship come into my life that really stretched me.  The relationship and the learnings it brought came on very suddenly, yet I know that the resulting changes will alter the course of my future.  At first, I had a hard time recognizing it as a friendship because it didn’t look anything like other relationships I’d known.  There was no one year courtship where we ‘got to know each other’; we were 15 years apart in age; she was a mother and I was not; and we were even from different countries.  Yet the pull toward each other was so magnetic that I don’t believe either of us could have avoided it.

I will forever be grateful to this friend who courageously asked me to jump into the deep end of the pool with her.  You see, I would have much preferred to start shallow and work our way out, but that wasn’t what the circumstances required.   She gave me an incredible gift  in asking me to swim with her.  That opportunity helped me realize what an  immense capacity I have to be with suffering and adversity, which in turn helped me say yes to the calling I was feeling to begin coaching cancer patients.

December 17 – Theme of the Day: Lesson Learned.  What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going forward?

The best thing I learned this year was that I have a very deep connection with God and that there are many ways to cultivate that connection beyond the traditional way of going to weekly mass.  In the past I’ve always thought of God as part of church/religion, which meant that the only place I could access him was in a church.  Well in the past few years I haven’t found the right church and really missed my connection to God.

I’m not sure at what point it happened, but I started realizing that God was more present for me in people and nature than in any particular religion or church building.  As soon as I let go of that assumption it was like GOD WAS EVERYWHERE.  God was in the faces of the poverty-stricken children playing a joyful game with bottle caps.  God was there channeling the perfect questions to me as I coached a cancer patient, helping them find peace with their struggle.  God was there in the pristine cliffs of Batanes.   God was in the gratitude filled tears of the barista that openly received my tithe.  It was miraculous, I tell you.  And from that moment on, everything shifted.

I started to pray again.  I asked for signs and received them.  I gave away money without batting an eyelash.  I executed large-scale volunteer projects effortlessly.  I practiced calming my mind with meditation.  I found my calling.  Yes, undoubtedly, I had found my way back to God, church community or not.  And this new God is so much more expansive than the God I used to know.  This God channels through me and helps me put my best gifts/resources to use so that they can multiply.  This God is all about abundance, not scarcity; inspiration, not fear.  This God is equal parts feminine and masculine, taking the best of both energies to create with.  This God intrigues me and makes me want to keep exploring.

For 2011 I am going to take this deep connection and begin to bring it into my work.  For a long time I’ve felt that spirit-based work and money were mutually exclusive, that to have one meant you had to swear off the other.  Over the past year I’ve seen example after example of entrepreneurs who are beautifully combining the two.  As I questioned my beliefs in this area I realized that I do believe that BEING FINANCIALLY SUCCESSFUL IS MY SPIRITUAL PATH.  In fact, I believe it will be the thing that allows me to have the large-scale impact my heart longs for.  Not a small task, I know, but in many ways I feel ready to break through this mental barrier.  Thanks to all my mentors this year who have modeled ‘the alternative’ so beautifully!

December 18 – Theme of the Day: Try.  What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did / didn’t go for it?

In 2011 I want to take my business seriously and stop treating it as a hobby.  I wanted this in 2010 as well but hadn’t done enough of my internal work to be ready to step out in this way.  I was ‘getting ready to be ready.’  I can feel that something’s changed.  I have a different kind of energy and mindset about my business.  I am making decisions and finding the mentors I need to take me there.  I refuse to go through another year of the pain of knowing that people need my work but I don’t have the courage to put it out there yet…

December 19 – Theme of the Day: Healing.  What healed you this year?  Was it sudden, or a drip-by-drip evolution?  How would you like to be healed in 2011?

Nothing comes up for me on this one.  I think that’s because I have a hard time with the word healing.  In actuality, I’ve been fighting a bit with this word lately.  I think it’s because I sense that my coaching work is really ’emotional healing work’ but I have a hard time owning that.  Perhaps that’s why I’m blocked on this question.  Hmmm….

In terms of 2011, I’d like to have a more loving relationship with my body, one that’s consistently positive, not love/hate.  I think accepting my body, with all its strengths and weaknesses, would bring me great healing in 2011.

December 20 – Theme of the Day: Beyond Avoidance.  What should you have done this year but didn’t because you were too scared, worried, unsure, busy or otherwise deterred from doing?

Same as Day 18 – not giving my business my all.  I had known for awhile that coaching was my vehicle, but I had felt like I was missing my engine (the purpose).  When I found my purpose (helping people deal with adversity) back in April, instead of it being this instantaneous “GO!” it ended up paralyzing me.  Instead of the clarity making it easier to act, everything felt too important to mess up on now.  I mean, we’re talking about MY LIFE’S PURPOSE HERE!  You don’t mess around when it comes to that, right?  Suffice to say that I was quite stuck for the majority of the year.

December 21 – Theme of the Day: Future Self.  Imagine yourself five years from now. What advice would you give your current self for the year ahead?

It is not okay for you to hide.  People need to hear your message.  I know that sounds scary, but for some of them, you’re the only one they can hear it from.  So suck it up and get out there because they need you big time Sarah.  Like, no kidding, time is of the essence here.  Follow your heart, take inspired action and I promise you, you can’t go wrong.  You were BORN for this purpose.  Trust that you can handle whatever comes your way.  And remember, Source will always be your partner, so don’t think you’re alone in this!

December 22 – Theme of the Day: Travel.  How did you travel in 2010?  How and/or where would you like to travel next year?

Our travel in 2010 was really centered on exploring the Southeast Asia region.  Our beloved Cebu Pacific Airline made it possible for us to fly to 10 or so destinations for less than $150 round trip (each).  Since we have no kids yet, we really took advantage of this opportunity to travel and were able to hit the following places in 2010:

January: Bangkok, Thailand
February: Donsol, Philippines
March: Batanes, Philippines
April: Boracay, Philippines
May: Cebu, Philippines
June:  Bohol, Philippines
July:  Shanghai, China
August:  BREAK  :)
September:  United States
October: Hong Kong, China
November: New Zealand , Australia
December: Puerto Gallera, Philippines

I’m really proud of what we accomplished in 2010 travel-wise and know that there will be very few years in our life when I can say that I’ve visited that many places.  For 2011 I sense that my travel is closer to home; that it’s about rediscovering what’s right around me.  For the first 6 months of the year, that means **FINALLY** getting to all the Manila destinations that I’ve been saying I’d visit for the last year and a half.  For the second half of the year, it’s about reacquainting myself with my homelands (both Minnesota and Washington, D.C.) and appreciating all that I love about them.