What will YOUR word/theme be for 2018,
dear Friend?
Nathen’s Newsletter
December ’17
Warm greetings and blessings to you, dear Friend!
May you be filled with lovingkindness.
May you be safe and protected from all inner and outer dangers.
May you be well in body and mind.
May you be at ease and happy.
THIS MONTH’S TOPIC
If you’ve been with me for a while, you know that my “words to live by” are “Small Steps, Big Life”.
Being a “recovering perfectionist”, I can get myself worked up into quite a lather about things (!)… AND, two recent decisions that I’ve made are making an enormous difference in my life. I share them with you here, in the hope that they will be helpful to you as well.
1) HOLD THE SPACE for silence.
On December 6th, I stopped listening to the radio.
(It had become a habit for me to listen to it many times a day – while driving, shaving, brushing my teeth, preparing food…)
Making this small decision is giving me – has given BACK to me – time to think, and opportunities to check in with how I’m feeling about whatever’s happening in the moment.
2) HOLD THE SPACE for open-ended questions.
A few years ago, I met a woman at a speakers’ conference in Singapore who told me that questions serve us better than affirmations. When we state an affirmation (such as, “I am powerful”), the mind quickly finds discrepancies between the affirmation and our present circumstance and says, “that’s not true”. When we ask an open-ended question (such as “How can I be powerful in this moment?”, or “What if I were powerful in this moment?”), the mind quickly seeks to find solutions.
Making this small decision is freeing me from my recovering perfectionist belief that I have to know everything about everything – even when I’m doing something for the first time (!).
I’m REALLY excited about HOLDING THE SPACE, and I look forward to discovering more Small Steps to explore it more deeply.
So – with gratitude and curiosity – I eagerly ask, “How good can life get if I continue to explore HOLDING THE SPACE?” – and listen, in silence, for the answers!
In honour of HOLDING THE SPACE,
I offer you my chant “I Surrender”, and my rendition of “Silent Night“; may they serve you well.
(You can listen to my songs and chants here.)
(You can find the words to my songs and chants here.)
(You can buy my CDs here.)
How about YOU, dear Friend? What’s most resonating in YOU this month?
WHEREVER you are on your journey, I’d love to hear from you.
Please e-mail me; we’re all in this together, and we have much to learn from each other.
(BIG THANKS to all of the kind souls who respond to my newsletters; reading your comments is always a highlight of my month.)
APPRECIATION
Every Monday on my Facebook business page, I post messages of gratitude.
Please have a look, join the conversation, and SHARE the posts with your friends.
UPCOMING AND ONGOING EVENTS
– PERFORMANCES
(For the most up-to-date information, please click on any date in my online calendar)
– VIDEOS
May I be of service to you and your organization or community with my words and music?
My KEYNOTE CONCERT presentation can be seen here, and my PERFORMANCE VIDEOS, including my LATEST ONE (“Learn, Share, Grow and Belong”) can be seen here.
– MUSIC
My very dear friend and song co-writer Becca Palm has created “Community Songs”, a songbook/CD package of 23 songs which includes 4 chants that she and I co-wrote (“Ho-oponopono”, “Listen”, “Small Steps” and “Turning Within”). To get your copy, please click here. (You can also listen to and/or download the songs here.)
As a very dear and wise friend in Montreal once said to me, “All I can offer you is my experience”.
My sincere desire, in every one of my newsletters, is to encourage us all to live our Big Lives one Small Step at a time.
Much love to you, dear Friend. May you HOLD THE SPACE – in this holiday season and in the new year – for whatever your heart most desires with Ease and Grace and Joy, and may you go with LOVE.
– Nathen
