Happy New Year of the Rabbit!

What are you committing to? 

Now is the time to get clear. Cosmically we are supported with new start energy: The Chinese Lunar New Year, Aquarius New Moon, and as of today – all planets are go – Mercury, Mars and Uranus are direct. Venus conjuncts Saturn giving us the energy to nail down to clarify what our values and take the steps necessary to live by them. 

Dr. Benjamin Hardy offers up strategies for reviewing and getting in the flow of a mindset of growth and transforming your current self/situation – if that’s something you want to do.

Check out his video, Four Journal Prompts to Clarify your mid-January 2023 Progress:

When I look over my life, when I have used the strategies Dr. Hardy outlines, I have had the most success. I figured many of these techniques out when I was a child for doing well in school. I taught myself how to work through anxiety and imagine my outcomes. As a teenager I was introduced to Shakti Gawain’s Creative Visualization. Things happened very easily for me, my mind was super flexible.

As an adult, I have been caught up in a lot of grown up dramas, and have found commitment to be more difficult. When I commit to who I am, I do well, yet, I only sporadically use what I learned throughout my life. 

I’m committed, recommitting to my personal growth. More commitment, less backsliding (and less focusing on the people who would say – “You can’t do that.”)

Looking back over my life, I found a few examples of when I used techniques outlined by Dr. Hardy and had success.

This picture and Dr. Hardy’s video got me thinking about successes I’ve had in my lifetime by deliberately focusing on being my “future self”.

This is a photograph of me (black and purple hair) and my sister Laura on my birthday, December 24, 1987. That year, I went from being a shy chubby girl (ugly duckling) living in New Jersey to moving to New York City, skipping grades in high school, from playing at VFW Halls with my band in New Jersey to playing at legendary clubs like CBGBs and the Lismar Lounge (a week after we saw Jane’s Addiction at the same club).

I was deeply focused on getting out of Nowheresville, NJ, being a musician and creating a powerful identity for myself – and I visualized and worked and things happened.

Being a teenager I didn’t exactly have adult discernment, but with focus, the world seemed to effortlessly open up for me and I manifested a huge amount of change in a very short time. 

Other examples include:

• I wanted to go to college, but first I had to change my mindset about that being a possibility. I was told that I would never go to college and that it was too expensive, and I believed that for many years. At 23, I decided to believe I could go to college. I figured out the system for getting grants, and was paid to go to school. I made money going to college while I learned my crafts. I graduated magna cum laude with two degrees, both with double focuses (oh – and all while playing in a band and holding down a job).
• I learned how to play harmonica and channeled Mick Jagger (or in the case below, Roky Erickson)!

• I began mountain biking at 43 years old. I had many amazing adventures and have seen beautiful places beyond my wildest dreams. I convinced myself I was (am) an athlete and made the podium for every race I entered.  (Images below: Strawberry, Utah – the back edge of Bryce Canyon, and, 2nd Place Podium Win for Prescott Sixer Coed Division).

• I didn’t have any money to go to a seminar I wanted to attend – so I threw an art party and musical performance fundraiser. I sold art, got tips and earned twice the amount of money I needed to go to class. (One of the songs we performed that night – Walkin’ After Midnight in the video below). 

• I threw all my focus into my own healing and creativity after my divorce. I developed the workshop Journaling through the Chakras, which eventually became Writing the Energetic Body. The class was so popular at yoga festivals I sometimes didn’t have enough space to let everyone in who wanted to attend. 

~ ~ ~ 

My biggest challenges for success have been being consistent in my mindset, surrounding myself with people who are encouraging, creating strong boundaries and not falling into co-dependency, and not being crushed by people who say, “You can’t do that . . . ” 

I bet a lot of us have similar experiences when we decide to make changes in our lives. 

So, this afternoon, I am going to do the suggestions in Dr. Hardy’s video. My New Year got thrown off by Covid and I feel like I need to recalibrate. And so I shall!

I’m looking forward to even more amazing adventures – and to consistently change and grow and improve.

Have an amazing day and year!

January 22, 2023
Brooklyn, NY