Hello Sunshine,
I begin by sharing an awareness that arrived this week. A few weeks ago, I was called to refine this space and rename it The Conscious Moment. This week, as I pondered what topic was inspiring me to share, I realized that I may also need to refine my approach to sharing.
Treating each post as an isolated, inspired topic based on what happened in my life was a bit unfair to you. You may need some context for the journey overall so that you have a reason to return each week. Simply put, I needed to connect the practices I share into one journey you can rely on.
When teaching is random, it is not always retained.
I want to show up in a new way that builds a greater connection to the “why” behind the practices I share. When I look at the stepping stones of my archive here, I see a wide array of stones: large, small, different colors, and sometimes even different types of stone. There is an authentic journey I take you on each time I post here. I share a message that inspired me that week, my perspectives on creative or intentional living, and then usually a practice for those who want to take a step beyond reading and journal their own experience.
So, this week we evolve again, with the volume turned up a bit more on intention.
I am now inspired to share a more connected set of stepping stones with you over the next weeks, or maybe months. Recently, I was reviewing my posts from six years ago and realized they told a story, chapter by chapter, like a book. I want to do that again, but in a more immersive way, so that you can be fully present as you journey through my words.
And if I am being honest, I am also motivated to dig deeper because I too wish to embrace new intentional living practices and share them here with you. So I am creating a connected series of posts that explores what I believe are core aspects of being more fully engaged in life.
For now, I am going to call this series Create the Space for Living in the Conscious Moment.Who knows, maybe this chapter-by-chapter series leads to a self-contained book or virtual course one day. That is what I love most about Substack: it is a highly creative space to explore and discover what can become permanently published.
Create the space for living in the conscious moment
Part 1
The journey is always beginning
Last week I shared with you the story of my journey this year in rediscovering my truest self and my dream again, as well as becoming more aware of the perceived safety net meant to catch us when we fall. I discovered that in the tough times of living, the safety net is not really there to catch us from anything. Rather, the net keeps us from the transformation that occurs when we fall and then emerge into fully living.
That awareness is leading me to a sense of freedom and peace. I get to choose how to embrace life more fully using the intentional living practices I have relied on for years. Now I find myself seeking the next level of myself so that I can shine a much brighter light into the darkness of our world.
My intention is to become my most authentic self, one who listens only to the inner voice, not the inner critic or external shoulds of society. I get to choose which voices I let into my world, and I can set in place an imagined protection that repels the voices that hang out with the lower vibrations of fear, worry, and doubt.
I arrive at this place with an immense sense of gratitude for some of the toughest times in my life, because it is through them that I rediscover my truest self in this moment. In this space of discovery, I realize my purpose is to share how you can connect very deeply to your inner guide of truth too. It is through breaking life down to the purest essence of ourselves that we get to rebirth our lifelong story. The story that always lives in the present, in the conscious moment.
Intentional living is as simple as a recipe
Let us start by naming the main ingredients in our recipe for intentional living. Each ingredient will be explored in its own post in this series. I should also note that, just like in my real kitchen, I reserve the right to add inspiring ingredients at any time to up-level our collection of practices.
Create the space recipe
* An intention setting practice
* A pure understanding of unconditional love
* A mixing of sacred higher energies: joy, kindness, compassion, and peace
* Release practices for what no longer serves our highest good
* Visualizing the highest possible future, or something better
* Daily dashes of affirmations
* Gratitude in many forms
* Optional ingredients, always welcome
The servings for this recipe are infinite, just like the journey of possibilities you will create when you bring these ingredients into your own recipe.
As we begin this journey together, I invite you to comment at the bottom of the posts or reply to your subscriber email. Engaging in the experience of living in the moment is welcome here. Share your awarenesses, ask questions, and be curious about this amazing world of creative living.
My commitment to you Sunshine, is to always respond and support you.
I invite you to the safe space of your journal pages
Before cooking any recipe, we gather the tools and ingredients we need. So this week, our practice is simply to notice what matters most to us, one moment at a time.
* Gather a few colorful pens, pencils, or markers for this journaling approach.
* On the top of a new page, write or illustrate the words “What Matters Most to Me.” Keep this page book marked this week because you will return to it each day.
* Set your journal in a private space, but easy to get to for the week.
* Each day, you will pause to notice a single moment that brings you inspiration or simply joy. It may the way you enjoy your coffee or tea. Or it could be a kind act from someone who you choose to pause and look them directly in the eye with a smile and say, “Thank you for your kindness.” You also might notice the way the light flickers on the wall or perhaps you notice a few leaves are changing color on the trees outside.
* Write about the moment in 2-3 sentences. Take note of what inspired you or brought you joy in that moment. Expand beyond the thoughts in the moment and reflect on how it brought awareness to you that day.
* As a way to honor the moment, choose one simple word that holds the essence of what you experienced and write it in a color that feels like it. Circle it or underline it to give emphasis to it.
* When you reach the end of the week, return to these pages and look through them. Connect the single words together in your mind as affirmations to your conscious moments.
* You can reflect on your week with one of these journaling prompts:
* Which word appears more than once, or attracts your attention most? Explain more about why that might be.
* What do these moments reveal about what matters most to you right now?
* Where in your day can you create more space for moments? When can you take longer pauses?
* Close out the week of journaling with one last gratitude statement. Draw a heart outline the size of the page. Inside of it, write what you are most grateful for this week in all your moments.
#jenmoments
Of all the stages of rebirthing, it is becoming I cherish the most.
Nature nurtures the soul, always
Often I find that nature is my most precious space for inspiration and reflection.
One recent morning, this beautiful butterfly appeared. She rested for quite a while on the stepping stones in my garden, nurturing herself with the tiny drops of water left by the morning sprinklers.
I spent nearly ten minutes just observing her world. Being still so she would not fly away. Simply enjoying her visit. Grateful for nature and the gift of a butterfly.
I simply love the quietness of butterflies. It reminds me of my essence of quiet peace I hold within. Even in the fluttering of life, there is always time to pause and notice the peace, the time when you are most guided by love and kindness.
A bubble of stillness
Nature has a way of creating a bubble in these moments that keeps out the chaotic world. When you linger long enough, you get in tune with nature and become much more conscious of the gift of simple moments.
Be sure to explore the video of her visit at the end of this post.
The beauty of becoming
This butterfly also carries a story that inspires me, an awe-inspiring story of transformation. Here is a glimpse I will share more deeply in a future post.
When a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, it is literally a rebirth at the cellular level—imaginal cells to be specific. Inside the chrysalis, much of the caterpillar’s body breaks down, and small clusters of cells called imaginal discs grow into wings, legs, and eyes. Scientific American explains this remarkable process here.
The caterpillar and butterfly are one life, yet they look and live as though they were completely different beings before and after the transformation. Held within the chrysalis, one form dissolves so that another can emerge.
Of all the stages of transformation, it is the becoming I cherish the most. I celebrate the butterfly’s transformation in this #jenmoment intentionally through a black and white photograph. When you remove the layer of outward beauty, you can focus on the patterns and simplicity of nature.
Oh, how it nurtures us.
Infinite gratitude for the inspiration
Today, I am so grateful for this week’s inspired calling to create space for intentional living. I look forward to this journey over the coming series of posts as we connect the stepping stones of creative living.
Shall we meet again next week in the safe space of intentions, gratitude, journaling, and creative practices? Shall we shine our collective light brighter together?
Yes, yes we shall.
With love we shine,
Jen Granger
Creative Living Mentor and creator of The Conscious Moment and The Moonbeam Journey
P.S. - If you are inspired by butterflies too, you may enjoy this video of my pause with this precious visitor to my garden.
P.S. If this resonated with you today, share it with one person who you think might need it. A friend who is searching. Someone who deserves a more intentional experience of their own life. The Conscious Moment grows one sunshine at a time.
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