Your blog posts always nudge and lift me. Thank you for listening (to that beautiful inner voice) and writing.
I’d just settled in at my favourite writing spot, the table along the window at our local island cafe. My go-to order here, the lavender fog, was freshly delivered to my space, and I took a moment looking out over Howe Sound and the North Shore mountains. I’d stopped by the mailbox on my way over, and happily found the annual Christmas/New Years letter from a dear friend (soul sister). Now I opened the envelope to find an especially timely gift…her encouragement expressed in italics above, as I pulled out my laptop to begin this post.
Today the clouds have rolled midway down the mountainsides towards sea level, and I’ve got a cozy steep waiting to be poured. I’m grateful to be here with a warm heart.
I’ve been thinking about the importance of sharing, and the inevitable gift of mutual blessing when we share from the heart. The emails, texts, and messages you’ve left on our posts have let us know that what we share here is resonating and finding its way from our hearts to yours. In turn, we find ourselves heartened as we see this process of sharing becoming a beautiful gift for many. That’s the essence of Hearth, to find home as heart meets heart. We are gifted by giving in addition to the gift of simply writing.
Writing doesn’t work if you’re writing for an audience. I have to write the words that can’t help but find their way to the page, the ones that come running to my fingertips, typing their way out one by one. The great part about following and not leading this impersonal process is that the words are free to flow from the heart, and therefore they can’t help but find their way to other hearts. The ego’s editor takes a back seat.
Don’t be afraid to share yourself and your time with others. Maybe you’ll share your expertise, your space, or simply your listening ear. And don’t be afraid to share space with yourself. You’ve been given the privilege of a lifelong friendship with y-o-u, and there is so much value in taking time each day (be consistent!) to check in, share what’s going well (journal, or make a mental list), and be intentional about where you’ll be taking yourself (outside, to meet a friend, to your favourite reading nook…) on a customized, heart-tailored adventure.
We are all Hearth Sisters, finding home in this sisterhood as we share from the heart.
Earlier this week I attended a conference workshop on fostering self-esteem in teenage girls. One universal truth shared was, You are worthy because you exist. Period.
We show up better for others when we show up for ourselves. Showing up, truly allowing ourselves to be “all there” can be a messy, humbling process. It’s an ongoing process. It’s a vital process. Show up gently, but be sure to show up.
I’ll borrow the last few lines of Diane’s letter, as her words are the best way to sum up this post:
Give yourself the pleasure of caring, assisting, encouraging, and lifting up (and allow others to do the same for you). Take care of yourself, as you would a dear friend. Trust in Good.
**Simply texting Diane for permission to include this piece became a mutual blessing and opportunity for two way sharing. Our brief exchange was in itself an invitation - the chance to find home as heart met heart - a tangible expression of the true intention behind Hearth.
A few patches of blue passed by above me as I wrote today. Bright moments interspersing the overcast skies, those gloriously comforting punctuation marks, blessings breaking up the grey. Not dissimilar to the gifts you have to share with yourself and others today. You are a deep reservoir of heart space, and you are inherently, boundlessly a gift to our world.
-Ali
