A quick update & can blogging be meditative?

Hello everyone!

Remember me? After a period of rest on the blog, I decided that I do want to continue blogging/writing in some fashion, just not sure the frequency or form yet. Thanks to those who are still with me 🙂 Unfortunately my time away from here was not equal to me working on my personal story writing offline…like I hoped for. However, I did start a business venture, so my need to create took another shape!

Moon River Wellness is up and running (sort of – I am still without a website, business cards, logo, good-working internet, etc.) BUT hey, it’s a work in progress, and it makes me feel proud and slightly insane depending on the day. My biggest challenge at this time is the whole self-promotion deal/putting myself out there. As much as I don’t mind tooting my own horn on occasion, being your biggest cheerleader gets tiring! I admit, I love PR, and I love selling stuff I believe in, but let’s just say doing it for yourself gets old and seems odd – it’s a tough balance but its something all business owners face. In any case, it’s a good learning practice to say and think good things about yourself to others. Hopefully as I gain momentum and clients, they can do the talking for me. But until then, it’s my voice that will have to ring through the valley!

Lucky for me I was at least born an entrepreneur so I’m not totally going against nature.  In middle school I sold beaded lanyards to the teachers at the schools where my parents worked. In high school and college I graduated from lanyards and started selling my jewelry on consignment in 3 shops in 2 different states – KJBEADS, anyone? (This was after my parents told me I had to find a place to sell my stuff because my beading was getting out of control). And by out of control,  what I mean is I was developing early signs of carpal tunnel syndrome from all the beading – doctors told me so, which led me to take a break from the jewelry-making adventures of KJBEADS. Fast-forward to now.

Similar to when I sold jewelry, the way my business of today took shape is simple. I am just turning what I already do on a daily basis into a business. While of course there is new creation happening and the red tape in between, really I am doing the work I already do – which makes it easier.  The difference between the days of KJBEADS versus Moon River Wellness is how I spend and value my time. When you get old(er), suddenly responsibilities happen and choices have to be made. How do you do it keep your head above water, reach your goals AND thrive?

Gardening as a meditative practice

One thing that has helped me through it all is yoga and meditation. What people don’t always realize is that yoga and meditation can occur in many ways. I’m taking an 8 week meditation class series this summer, and I find the most beneficial mindfulness practice for me lately is working in the garden. Another meditative practice I enjoy is writing. That is what I’m missing lately from not being here. That is why I love blogging. It is my way to meditate, organize my thoughts and then let them go…

Do you meditate? What does your practice look like? Interested in meditation or yoga? Please I’m all ears, send your questions/comments to kali[dot]j[dot]higgins[at]gmail.[dot]com. Also stay tuned for a mindfulness & movement series coming to the Valley hosted by yours truly. There will be a workshop on meditation and then subsequent mindfulness & movement classes this winter! Location to be announced. Meditation, tea & community, folks. Stay tuned. It will be fun, I promise!

In peace, love & well-being,

Kali

Moon River Wellness – “New Moon” special

It’s official. I broke 100 for # of wellness coaching sessions I’ve done, and I’m so happy about it I want to offer you a special!

If interested, email kali[dot]j[dot]higgins[at]gmail[dot]com with “100” in the subject line to get started! Offer must be claimed by July 1, 2013.

PS- Sorry for the anti-climactic unveiling – as you can see my new business name is Moon River Wellness! You will likely see some changes happen to this site in the next few months as I figure it all out.

Thanks for being patient and growing with me.

Much love,
Kali

What does it mean to be ready?

A lot of my healing over the years stems from the need to accept myself – my whole self. I think everyone has varying degrees of this experience embedded in their lives – wanting to fit in and feel “accepted” by their families, peers, communities – whoever it may be. For me I experienced a heightened sense of this need growing up adopted-Korean in a predominantly white community. Being inherently different on the outside forced me to make peace with the world one part by accepting myself and one part by trying to fit in desperately. Let me tell you only one of these parts worked.

As a teen attending Korean Culture Camp, I went through self-esteem classes each year. Definitely one of my least favorite aspects of camp. Really all I cared about was mandu (Korean dumplings) and plum candy. (I paid for that care later in life – will save for another post). But the self-esteem classes at the time weren’t especially helpful or practical. I just thought of it as fluff – acknowledging that my peers and I were prone to lower self-esteems than everyone else and yet not recognizing that we were not feeling open or receptive enough to share about it or even identify this about our very nature. It was one of those classes you just go to to only wait for it to be over. You maybe even feel worse about yourself, afterwards knowing that you have a bad self-esteem. It’s victimizing. So then what to do with oneself? [Go to the camp store and buy some more potato snacks, right?]

Well years later I can say an important part often missing from those early self-esteem talks was the readiness factor. It is possible that at camp they touched on the idea of self-compassion, but it took me until my post college years to really understand that practicing self-compassion could alter the effects of low self-esteem. Funny how education and learning works…you can only retain and understand the message when you are ready, and messages become clearer to you when it becomes personal.

At the same time, if we all waited until we were completely “ready” we would never move forward. (This is a popular topic among the new parent camp, believe me, I hear it all the time :)). So what does it mean to be ready? And why does it matter?

Of course there is no simple answer. But I find there is this delicate balance with the readiness factor – you cannot push yourself somewhere you are not ready to be (or you can, but you may force yourself into a healing crisis), but you also must push yourself beyond what you believe is possible at times. The key I’ve found for me is not doing too much of one or the other. Do a little of both. Let the busyness inside you settle, and stir up the well-rested parts within you.

I always say in my yoga classes, if you tend to move and breathe slowly, allow yourself to increase the pace of your breath, or viceversa, if you are a person who breathes fast and is moving quickly all the time, let yourself slow down your movements. It’s good to switch things up, it keeps us well and it challenges us to be better people.

In what parts of your life are you putting on the brakes because you are not ready and sincerely need more time? In what ways are you ready to move forward but are stalled because of habit or fear?

Challenge: This week find a way to either slow down or speed up something that needs attention in your life.