Dear reader,
Consciously or unconsciously, we live our lives according to particular values. Knowing your core values is one thing, living them or embodying them is another. As I move through this dance called life, I’m coming to understand and accept that how we express our core values can evolve.
Your values reflect who and what matter most.
Connection has long been one of my core values. In fact, much of my work over the years depended on my capacity to connect the dots between social change issues and organizations. I prided myself on being a bridge builder who facilitated introductions and made links between ideas, people, places and projects, intent on making our world a better place.
Making connections was a thrill—and in retrospect, perhaps a compulsion. I had a lot of ego wrapped up in my ability to connect.
Connection is the thread of life.
In more recent times, my search for connection is focused inward. I yearn to connect with and be my most authentic self. And woven into this connection with self is a deep connection with the Divine. I thirst for this connection and want to devote more time and energy, more presence to this, the ultimate source of connection. Connection is more quiet these days.
The holiday season is touted as a time to connect. All our tools and writings are designed to facilitate your connection with self and with others. When, where, how and why you connect will hopefully reflect who and what matter most to you. Helping you get clarity about who and what matter most is at the heart of what we do at Willow.
So, in the coming weeks, whether you find yourself turning inward, outward or your particular balance of the two, we invite you to use our free tools and our workbook. Learn more about each of them with the following links:
Manifesto for Living: 5 calls to action for living your best life
Five-Minute Love Letter Exercise
How to Write Your Heart Will Guide
9 Things to Include in Your Departures Directions
Reality of Our Mortality Planning Checklist
Making Sense of Life & Death: A workbook to explore the reality of your mortality.
Merry merry and happy happy.
With love and light,
Michelle (+Reena)
PS: We’re taking a writing break and will send our next blog post in early 2020.
Dear reader, Identifying your core values—the second tool in Willow’s 7 Tools for Making Sense of Life & Death workbook—is a critical part of the foundational work of end-of-life planning. Seeing your values reflected in your end-of-life plans also keeps you accountable to living the life you want. Let me share how this works for…
Keep Reading
Dear reader, “I was so relieved when I named and declared my fear around my death and dying. I’ve been carrying it around for so long, and thought I was the only one.” This was shared by one of the participants at Willow’s Legacy, Love Letters + Heart Wills workshop this past weekend in Vancouver,…
Keep Reading
Dear Reader, Ram Dass (Of Blessed Memory), an American spiritual teacher, psychologist, author and one of my sources of inspiration, died on December 22nd, 2019. His teachings inspired me to co-create Willow. During my 2016 training in community deathcaring, I listened to a Ram Dass lecture on YouTube (Facing Death, Ram Dass Full Lecture 1992)….
Keep Reading
