How does your intuition or gut guide you? This week continues the exploration of our intuition. If it’s something that feels familiar to you, I hope the journal exercises helped build more strength in that muscle. For those who are new to the concept, keep paying attention and noticing. You might be surprised how slowing down to reflect on your intuition brings more clarity about how it can help you. https://youtu.be/7-a-jUgViPg

If you like to know things, learn formally or informally, or simply have access to information, in the episode you’ll hear my thoughts on how the actions of the current administration are threatening those actions. There is an attack on knowledge, with attempts to bully higher education into complying with demands, potential rollbacks on access to education for kids with disabilities and the defunding and gutting of offices related to museums, libraries, and archives. Our ability to access knowledge is shifting as I type, and I think this thread among recent and threatened actions is worth discussing… and worth resisting.

Intuition is like a muscle. We have to use it for it to get strong. But for some of us, the thought of trusting our inner knowing feels out of control or even foolish. This week invites us to consider that our intuition, or our gut feelings, are always working on our behalf. Nature can be a great way to tap into that knowing!

“No,” is a complete sentence. This week asks us to acknowledge that our energy is valuable. Therefore, we need to be willing to say “no” to what drains us and “yes” to what matters most. Easier said than done, like many tasks in this book. But it’s important to figure out what helps us decline and what helps us recognize when something is an “absolutely, yes!”

Do you struggle to love yourself? This week invites you to declaring that you are lovable, worth loving, and easy to love. I think this task is easier for some, and I think others feel it’s selfish to make such a declaration. But I hope the activities of this week have helped you realize it’s not selfish, arrogant, or too brash to assert this truth.

On this episode, I sit down to have a conversation with one of my book club members and we discuss their personal journey with the “A Year of Self-Love Journal” by Jamila White. For him hasn’t been easy, but remember you don’t have to keep up with my weekly posts to be a member in good standing! You just have to be curious about loving yourself (because you’re worth it!) and know that self-love can make you a more powerful member of your community. How’s the book club going for you?

This week in the self-love journal pushes us to reflect on our ability to see when we’re doing too much and willingness to ask for help. I’ve gotten better about both of these things with age, but I am definitely a work in progress. How do you know when you’ve taken on too much? What keeps you from asking for help? Some of the exercises of the week can help you reflect on what’s on your plate and how to tackle or delegate your responsibilities/ https://youtu.be/fEydRSL051U

This week in the self-love journal invites us to celebrate ourselves and the day we were born. In addition to looking back at memories of past birthday celebrations, we’re asked to look forward at what our ideal birthday celebration would look like. What are your birthday traditions? Even if you’re not into birthdays, hopefully you realize you’re worth celebrating daily!

This week’s affirmation reminds us that we deserve rest. It’s not a reward or something to be earned. It simply IS. Rest is how we take care of our bodies, our minds, and our spirits. It was a great reminder of something I KNOW but don’t always DO. Whether it’s skimping on sleep or not slowing down to nourish my body and spirit, I’m working on being more consistent about rest. How are you replenishing yourself? https://youtu.be/YRvkjyMGFBs

Is your superpower the ability to choose? Do you trust yourself to make good decisions? I can’t say “yes” definitively to both of these questions, so this week I pushed myself to ask “why?” I realized that there are too many scenarios where I FEEL like I don’t have a choice, where really I do. And that even though I make mistakes, I still am capable of also making good decisions. I’m reclaiming my superpower, and I’d love to hear how you are, too! https://youtu.be/Ar7_NJjPJmo