Hello beautiful people and welcome to this dose of Celestial Goodness. As always, thank you for joining me in this space and on this journey. I hope you have all been doing well, and if not, I hope that things are getting better. See this week’s video here: https://youtu.be/emgqw1cc6wc
It has been five weeks since I joined you in this space, but the blog and channel were never far from my mind. As I wrote up what I wanted to speak about today, I have been sitting in what is a space of peace for me. My mom made the comment recently that I am living the things that I have shared in this space—I am taking my own advice if you will. I am drinking my water, resting, and minding my own business in my sacred space.
My home is indeed a sacred space for me—a safe sanctuary of peace, Zen, and tranquility. It is sort of like a chrysalis, allowing me room to evolve into the next version of myself. As I write this, incense and the scent of my favorite candles permeate the air. I have a cup of hot orange blossom and cinnamon tea, and I can look out through my window and see the rain and fog that comes with a traditional fall day. When I am home, chances are that ocean sounds are playing as background sound—the sound of water soothes my spirit. If not, I am playing music and singing and dancing around because I am silly and because dancing is amazing for the root chakra and the soul lol. I highly recommend this lol!
My plants are thriving, and teaching me important lessons about growth. Recently, a large number of leaves fell off my ivy plant, I panicked, I thought I had been doing everything right, but my plant advisors—the plant aunties–said it was fine—water it, just the right amount, and leave it alone. Recently I have noticed an abundance of tiny new leaves, green, vibrant, and fresh.
My plants have taught me that growth is also work—and each plant is different and needs a combination of certain elements to support their growth. Some love sunshine, some love to be left alone. Celeste, my coleus, which is now mammoth, loves water, light, and attention. When she has those things, she thrives. When she thrives, she is magnificent to behold. Humans are the same. What do you need for your growth?
So, growth has been a constant theme over the past few weeks, as is the topic of gratitude. The two things came together for me one day after a very long and glorious nap. Rest is one of the things that I have needed the most in recent weeks. Once the sun goes down, I too feel like hibernating.
At first I felt guilty because I like to be “doing something,” but I would tell any of my friends that rest is as much a part of the process as is taking action. Since I am my own friend, I am taking my own advice. There are seasons for a reason. My own season said, “go softly…sleep…it will all get done.” This has helped my mind to feel clear, and to see how I am growing in gratitude.
As I said before, it has been about five weeks since I made a post, and most of that time was during the eclipse season. I would be lying if I said that the eclipse season was gentle on me—it wasn’t, but it had its moments of reprieve. I will also say that I didn’t expect it to be gentle—having read the astrology, I knew that there was room for some deeply transformative facing off with myself. Questions like how do I show up for myself? Questions surrounding my fears, abandonment issues, and some other often taboo topics crept in heavy. All of this required deep internal excavation. That kind of heavy lifting requires deep rest, and it was a season for me of deep rest, deep internal transformation, and reflection, grief, and gratitude.
I include grief here because when we lose anything, even and especially an older version or part of ourselves, it also feels like a death of sorts, and we are allowed to grief what once was. We should grieve the things that need grieving well so that the energy does not internalize itself and manifest itself in ways we do not desire. After the night, we can always be assured of dawn, and recently I could feel myself emerging from my chrysalis. When we do the deeper work to get to know ourselves, it does pay itself off in feeling lighter, freer, and more confident that we have all that we need to face the unknowns of life.
As I was writing this, I got a call from one of my dearest friends. She is all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, and she called to read to me from a card that I wrote to her in 2017.
The card spoke of growth. It spoke of reflecting on my journey from a little girl in rural Jamaica to someone who has had access to the spaces and places that I do in my day to day life. There are no coincidences, and I shed a tear as I told her how much this meant to me. I do feel like our friends can sense when we need a reminder too—and I am grateful for my friends who have always gone above and beyond in showing me love. I am at a similar place in my life to where I was when I wrote that card, but I can see the growth, and for that I am thankful.
That being said, the last few weeks was also a beautiful time for me. I traveled with my mom to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for the wedding of one of my dearest friends. I could not miss it, and I am so delighted that mommy got to come with me. We rested, ate well, splashed around in the sea, danced, laughed, and explored the area. I got to spend some much needed one on one time with my mom, and the time we spent together are moments that I will treasure forever.
Two highlights were visiting the Botanical Gardens. I love gardens as it is, and this one was truly top tier. It even had a river running through, and an amazing restaurant with probably the best Mexican food that I have ever eaten. It also had an abundance of beautiful birds and butterflies—including hummingbirds which I love.
The other highlight was visiting the Magical Butterfly Garden Sanctuary. Getting there was an adventure, but it was well worth it. We learned so much about the life of butterflies and moths, and I felt some resonance to the notion of transformation. It is a delicate but beautiful process.
I also learned about the Green Malachite butterfly which is not my second favorite next to the Blue Morpho. I think the biggest takeaway for me was that growth does not always come without its obstacles, but we must certainly appreciate the journey to get where we are today. We have to celebrate what it has taken to get to this place and phase of our lives. We started somewhere—like the egg that became a caterpillar. Did you also know that a caterpillar eats its body—that sounds weird, but when it is ready to shed, it basically eats the exoskeleton. When it is in its chrysalis, it has eaten everything it needs to survive that journey. Nothing is wasted with butterflies.
In similar fashion, nothing that we have gone through in our lives is wasted—it is just that we can’t always see that. Hindsight really is 20/20. Soren Kierkegaard said, “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” So keep moving forward, but let the lessons from the past propel you along your journey. All of this is to say that as I have been reflecting, I have been immensely thankful—filled with a deep reverence for life, filled with gratitude for the ways in which I can see my own growth. Maybe I handle certain situations differently, maybe certain things don’t bother me like they used to, maybe I am more patient, maybe I can approach something and someone from a more loving and compassionate place. Maybe I can understand something in a different way, a way that helps things pan out more peacefully.
We can also look at growth in terms of where we are. Once upon a time, I was a student in many ways, and there are a lot of things that I can share now as a teacher. That does not mean I am no longer a student, life is always teaching us, and teachers are always appearing, but it does mean that I can appreciate my own life experiences, and say wow, thank you life for getting me to this place. As I am rolling up soon on a new decade of life, I am eternally thankful for the people, places, and experiences that have helped to shape me. These are the elements that have watered me, given me light or shade, and that have helped me to grow.
I hope that you will take a moment to reflect on where you have been, the journey so far, and to celebrate the victories and the defeats, because both have been instrumental to your growth. In one of my favorite books, the Warrior of Light by Paulo Coelho, he says, “The Warrior of Light is a believer. Because he believes in miracles, miracles begin to happen. Because he is sure that his thoughts can change his life, his life begins to change. Because he is certain that he will find love, love appears. Now and then he is disappointed. Sometimes he gets hurt. Then he hears people say: “He is so ingenious!” But the warrior knows that it is worth it. For every defeat, he has two victories in his favor. All believers know this.”
I hope the stars shine brightly over your week, and I hope it is a beautiful week, filled with opportunities for you to see your growth and to see how miraculous life can be.
Celestial Goodness 