PATTERNS.
Sep 21, 2022
Do you feel it? The morning air smells and feels like Fall to me this week. I hope this email finds you present and noticing the changing season. We’ve already made our first batch of pumpkin muffins over here (leaning in big time). Helllllooooo, September!
This weekend marks six weeks since I’ve been temporarily relocated (my daughter is in a program that has her and I living up north for a few months). We go home for the weekend which is wonderful but have been spending a majority of our time in a completely new environment. Here’s what I’m noticing. New environments and experiences expose patterns in our life, the good ones and the ones not serving. We are creatures of habit and routine and when our environment changes (on purpose or by circumstance) it can throw us off our axis a bit. Expose truths about patterns in our thinking, patterns in our personal habits and routines, and patterns in our relationships.
Three questions I’ve been asking myself these past few weeks:
What habits and patterns go with you, wherever you are?
Where are you being invited to break a pattern?
What are your power UP patterns?
Power up patterns are the ones that add to our life, ground and anchor us amid the distraction and noise of everything else. These patterns power us up because they are the strong ones, they carry the good kind of energy. They endure change because they are tied to our personal values. A power up pattern of mine is reaching for the quiet morning ritual of writing and stillness when I'm feeling overwhelmed. It's honoring daily movement when I'm feeling restless. It's choosing connection with family and friends when I feel like retreating and hiding instead.
And for the patterns we are being invited to break? It’s where we discover our work, our opportunity. Oofta, I’ve had my share of invitations these past few weeks--practicing patience and flexibility, letting go of control, trusting the process, and discovering gifts along the way. Here’s what I know to be true, our commitment to breaking or interrupting patterns in our life is simply to practice. What we practice we can make more permanent. Meet yourself with grace and love and patience in the place you seek change and growth. Practice over and over again with a single goal: progress over perfection. Adulting is hard enough my friends, if we can level up just 1% more today than we did yesterday, that's progress–we are winning.
What patterns are you being invited to bravely interrupt? What are your power up patterns and how will you continue to honor them this week? As always, stay open, brave, and on-purpose.
