“When trials come, we are told to be strong, and for some, that means contorting and controlling ourselves to fit into a vision of what someone else wants us to be.” Theresa D. McClellan
The Journey: Bowed but not Broken
What do you seek when you want the best for yourself? Is it a material quest, or is it something deeper?
When you look at your life, are you making choices that serve you well? Or are you stuck in the same old patterns that give you the same results?
Are you treading water, waiting for guidance?
Sometimes treading is good. It allows you to reserve your energy until you know your next move. Or until help comes. “I lift up my eyes to the hills — where does my help come from?” is the opening line from one of my favorite Scriptures, the 121st Psalm. The answer; “my help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
I believe that God leaves us helpers in multiple spaces, whether we believe in God or call God by different names. Because God is always communing with us, finding a language we can understand no matter where we are in our journey, reaching out to us in mind, body, and Spirit.
So I’ve created this space, All You Are Meant To Be, where I will explore how I can be all I am meant to be in mind, body, and Spirit, and I will seek out the stories of others wanting the same for themselves and for this world.
I have been growing my mind since I was a wee one with an early love for reading, writing, and telling stories. I made my living telling stories as a daily newspaper journalist. On the side, I flexed my creative and social justice muscles by writing songs, challenging the status quo, leading spiritual retreats, and growing myself.
I retired early in 2009 with plans to start a business with an older sister. But those plans were shattered when she died suddenly and started me on a tumultuous decade of multiple losses of family, home, health, and wealth.
Through it all, I was bowed but not broken.
And as we entered 2020, I renewed my vow to be all I am meant to be and called it my year of vision. But again, catastrophe hit, and I spent the year re-learning how to walk and breathe again.
Part of this journey focuses on giving my body all the nutrition, support, and exercise I can so she can be all she is meant to be. I love to cook and experiment in the kitchen, so I will share recipes, explore foods, and try out different cooking styles that bring out the lush flavors of food without excessive sugar and fat.
Finally, there is Spirit.
With every rollercoaster of emotions from losses and disappointment, I never turned away from my belief in a Source beyond me that guides me, allows me to get still and lean into what Spirit is saying.
Sometimes the messages come to me in song, sometimes in the written word, often in prayer. Sometimes it comes as I allow myself to experience every emotion in the spectrum from fear to anger to hope to sublime joy and everything in between.
We don’t always let ourselves experience every emotion.
When trials come, we are told to be strong, and for some, that means contorting and controlling ourselves to fit into a vision of what someone else wants us to be.
I don’t believe that is the path to being all we are meant to be. And so I write this journey.
Come, you are welcome to join me. May you find here words, ideas, stories, and workshops, that inspire you to begin the journey of being all you are meant to be.
