Kerri On Down The Road

 One of the greatest acts of kindness that we can give to others is to hold space for them.  By holding space we allow the sharing of experiences, the noodling of ideas and we provide a safe place to explore, dream and perhaps even give voice to thoughts that would otherwise not be voiced.  It is an ability that we can develop through practice and awareness and is a foundational skill that allows us to fully participate in conversation with others. How often do we show this kindness to ourselves?  When was the last time that you held space for your own thoughts, feelings and experiences?  Have you ever allowed yourself the time and space to fully explore what you notice happening in your inner world and outer world?  For many of us, the answer would be no as we are often too busy with competing priorities to provide ourselves with this same act of loving kindness.  And where would we even start?  I mean, it is hard enough to actually hold space fo...

"I Honour How I Want To Feel"   That was the journalling card that I chose the other morning.  As I read the card's message I started to think about some of the choices and decisions that I had made lately and then thought about some of the choices I had made going back a year or two and noticed something.  Very rarely had I made decisions based upon how I wanted to feel.  More often than not, I had based my choices and goals on how I thought I should feel, patterns of what I usually did or tried to do, or what I thought others expected of me.  I started to really think about situations where I had made choices based on these external criteria, and what the eventual outcomes had been.  How had I felt upon completing the task, reaching the goal or following the path that my choice had created.  More often than not, I was unsatisfied, unhappy or unsettled, or unable to actually get to where I thought I wanted to be. This led me to start wondering ab...

 February can be a tricky month...lots of talk of love and a focus on being partnered.  I debated posting anything to do with love at all simply because of the time of year but then decided that self love is something that we can and need to talk about all year round. At the start of the year I began marathon training, as mentioned in a couple of earlier posts.  I was not in love with the process this time around, but reminded myself that I am not someone who backs out of things she has committed herself to, so I continued to fight against the feelings I had and stuck with the program.  Until one day when a funny feeling I had led me to my bathroom mirror and lo and behold I had the start of a cold sore coming on.  I was shocked - for me, cold sores are a pretty ultimate sign of my body being under stress.  They actually were the "tell" before a pregnancy test even confirmed it when I was expecting both of the boys.  I would notice the cold sore coming...

 Have you ever had the experience of one moment feeling like you knew where you were heading and what you were looking for, only to be suddenly surrounded by doubt and questions?  Almost like walking into a room and suddenly forgetting why you were there.  That unsettling sensation of not being sure of the whats and whys, with the only sure thing being the fact that you are where you are.   I have often found myself in these types of situations or mindsets, where I have gone from being so sure of things in one moment to completely unraveled in the next.  Often this uncertainty has led to anxious thoughts and feelings of failure or frustration, almost as if I am to blame for this change of mind or heart.  What I have been learning is that these moments of two steps back are just a part of the learning cycle and are integral to actually moving ahead.  Taking the blame out of these pauses or reframes and allowing them to bring new focus to our aim is...