Hi friends. Welcome back to picture. Love. This episode of picture love is the last one I will be publishing in the year 2024. And I trust that information comes to us. When it is most relevant. So, after a beautiful restful meditation I was given this outline to share with you today. But before I go into detail I wanted to first let you know. That if you would like to receive the gift of some. Clearing cleansing, protecting fortifying healing, Reiki. You can set the intention right now. You can say it out loud or in your mind. And just say I set the intention to receive healing Reiki from Kris during this episode. And you will be given this gift. And one little thing it could make you feel very, very relaxed. So if you would prefer not to relax because you're just starting off your day and you need to get into a focus mode. You can set the intention to say. I received this Reiki before I go to bed tonight from Kris and. That gift can literally be received later while you're listening to this episode. And if you do not wish to receive that energy energy from me, I am setting the intention that it just goes where it's needed the most. In nature and earth herself who we all love. So here's what we're going to cover. You could think of it as a ritual. And you can use it for any purpose. But I'm just applying it to unpacking 2024, celebrating the growth and clearing space to make room for what needs to come in next. And so this ritual has four parts to it. It's the choice of grounding. Clearing. Protecting and renewing ourselves, our bodies, our spirits, our minds, our lives. And these four components, I'm going to go deeper into them. But the teacher and me could not resist offering you this outline. So without further ado, let's dive right in. I'm going to talk to you about what grounding means to me at this stage of my life. And maybe there's something in there that you have also learned, or maybe you have a different perspective. So let's compare notes. So when I referred to grounding, I am really referring to my. My awakening to how connected I am to nature. You know, we can be so distracted by the day-to-day, you know, responsibilities or routines or addictions or technologies. And marketing is good. Devices are enticing. Entertainment is distracting. But one thing that I find that when my head is so noisy, I benefit the most from grounding. Whether it is literally going out in nature. Aye. For me. I love my feet in the grass, my feet in the sand, my feet in the ocean. Someplace where I truly feel connected to earth. And that can be surrounded by trees because whether you're standing next to them touching them or not. Um, when you are in the presence of trees, their roots are beneath you, cradling you. The branches are above you, producting you. And the energy off of the trunk is just. Palpable palpable. Is that the, how you pronounce it? Um, tongue tied at the moment. But nature has been one way where I just find my breath. I find my ease. I find my blood pressure dropping. I find my mind slowing. And it's like a neurological reset for my body and this experience. I find my breath easier. I find joy and feeling the ground underneath me and being aware of it, whether I have shoes on or not. I mean, I love shoes off and all of those elements I mentioned before, but. Even just imagining the ground beneath you. Let's say for example, you're in a very. You know, cement Laden building or on top of marble tile and you just don't feel the actual ground beneath you. Just imagining that it is below you. The earth. And. Taking a breath and slowing down and actually feeling. Your own pulse. And trusting that you're sharing a pulse with the earth. That is something that just makes things slow down in the best possible way. For me. Another way. I like to find grounding. Is in intentional movement. Like I love practicing yoga. Whatever kind of yoga or stretching, um, you prefer is fine. But I also love the contrast of movement and stillness. So I think that's why yoga and meditation goes so beautifully together by loosening the body and grounding into earth. It just makes it so much easier to study the breath and go within. And another way I like to find grounding is by identifying a color, whether it's brown or red or something that I. Choose as a root color. To ground me into the earth or even just setting the intention. All of these things make me feel connected to earth and the beauty of feeling grounded for me. Is feeling supported, feeling, held, feeling a place of trust. And that in itself is just something so vital. Why don't we teach this in schools? Why isn't this? Something that we teach are. Our children, as they're learning how to walk. As, as we're learning how to speak, as we're learning how to hold a fork or a spoon and feed ourselves, why is grounding? Not one of our basic functions that we teach ourselves and each other. So moving on from grounding, Eddie agrees with me. Clearing. Now clearing can be referred to. As a spiritual thing as a physical saying as a mental thing. I'm referring to all of the above. Clearing for me is simple, whether it is clearing out the refrigerator. Whether it's clearing out negative thoughts that just need our attention so we can let them go. One thing that I am intentionally clearing right now is rigidity. You know, being fixed in the way I've seen things or been led to see things in the past. And considering the fact that there's always another way I'm introducing curiosity into, into that space that rigidity used to occupy. And so while I'm clearing out the, uh, mental shelves for that, the rigidity I'm part of that is unpacking old rules, old assumptions, all old. You know, Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you until you? Well, I mean, there's a good intention there. Of kindness, but it doesn't mean what I want is what somebody else wants. And so applying curiosity. And filling that space with curiosity means. I can watch things without expectations so much. You know, I'm sharing an office now for the first time in. Quite a long time. My husband is officially. Working from home. Uh, not because of the pandemic, but because we moved and we live in a different lifestyle and his job status has shifted a little bit in good ways. But. Instead of being rigid about I'll work during these hours and you work during those hours, or these are silent hours so that I can record, or I need you to go, I'm going to do this while you eat lunch so that I can focus without. Wondering what you're typing. Those are examples of rigidity that I have evicted from my thoughts, because. I don't mind moving my microphone and my setup to the bedroom. Where the cats are coming in with something to say, or the dog wondering if it's time to go out and play. I am just. Willing to consider that something different and what I used to view as imperfect. Could be a new version. Of perfect. What is perfect anyway. I think it's finding delight. And the state or the version of something. So with curiosity, I'm able to see these things. And with rigidity, all I would be able to see was negative flaws and things that. Do not meet my expectations. So that deserves clearing. Um, I have also mentioned. More than one episode. My well-practiced habit, habit of overthinking. And over-planning. And I think while playing laying a plan is nice. It requires the ingredient of flexibility and curiosity for me because. I've lived for over half of a century in this. Earth experience. And I have learned a lot. And I've also learned. That I need to respect what I have learned in my own head, my own perspectives. And to not overthink everything I'm trying to do. So I'm abandoning the second guessing of myself, I'm abandoning the overthinking and the over-planning. And with that, I found it a whole lot easier to let go of anger because sometimes anger is attached to our expectations of other people or ourselves. And anger is just the quickest, shortest way of being ungrounded and cleared or cluttered and negative. Anger is just carrying negative thoughts that are not serving anyone. For me, this is just where I am right now. And maybe you have a completely opposite view of anger. I would be very curious to hear what your perspectives are. But this is what I'm working on clearing and you may work on completely different things. If you choose to partake and the clearing then there's the physical clearing more stuff we have downsized. I did not set that intention, but the new house is less square footage and it's better usable space. I love it. It has adequate storage for what we need. But he's also making it clear that as we are in a smaller space, That I like more than where we came from. There's also more stuff that I can let go of. And for that, I'm excited to have a little bit more to clear, to make more room. To be. Room to be. So an example of, one more thing that I'm clearing I'm excited about is regarding old rules is, you know, the old adage don't get a red car. Cause that's a cop magnet. Well, quite honestly, my experience with police officers has been mostly positive and. I don't think that that fear is a good reason to choose the color of my vehicle. When I have chosen red as a trust color. I've chosen. Red is one of my root colors. One of the colors that I like to ground with, you know, and when I see red. That is a mental cue to me too. Ah, ground. And so, you know, when the car search landed on a red car, I had to have an inner conversation with myself to say, Why would I be afraid of color on my car? I choose to live a different story. I lived, I choose to live a story of grace and protection and love and joy. Connected to who I really am. Not all the programs that I have adopted. And so for that reason, I'm driving a red car right now and quite honestly, Why didn't I do this sooner? I guess it just wasn't ready to come to this lesson. So there's just a thought for you. Now I've already touched on the protecting a little bit. I choose to live a story where I feel grounded and clear and happy and curious, and protected. And what I mean by protection is not that somebody else has authority over me. Or that a circumstance has authority over me. I'm saying the kind of protection that comes from. Living. In a state of grace. Knowing that I am a spiritual being, living in a human body right now. And. That I have protection. That's more than just walls, a floor and a roof. I have protection that comes from my ancestors that comes from my creator that comes from angels. That comes from whatever you believe in. What is your creation? There is protection that comes from that, and there's protection that comes from the wisdom of who I really am. And I'm excited about uncovering more and more of that. And I invite you if you're not already considering that question, how protected am I and where does my protection come from? So it is a mindset shift. It is spiritual work. And. One of the ways that I'm allowing myself greater protection is to also continue to clear. Thoughts that I used to say, you know, my teacher training was planned for the worst and hope for the best, you know, and. To me, that's putting too much focus on what could go wrong. Because, okay. I'll give you an example. I kept her harping on my kids. When you come home for Christmas, when you come over a Swiss sprang, the car registrations, we need to register it in the new state. Bring them with you. I don't want them driving their cars without the registration. So bring it with you when your car is parked on vacation and you're here. And again, and again, and again, I reminded over and over and over, and of course, one of them didn't bring it. And so, you know, the holiday. FedEX was closed and here we are. With dwindling hours for that registration to come via FedEx. So it's not here and I'm running out of days before they leave town. Running out of days in order to get this registration switched over to the new state and. The more, I focused on wanting that to come, wanting that, to come, wanting that to come. Guess what the universe gave me more of wanting that to come. So I am reminded. Oh yeah, that's a lesson I've been learning. I got to practice it again in another scenario. And now I'm just seeing it as. Okay. How good can it get, how easy can it get? How easy can it be to get all of our cars switched over to the new state? How easy can it be? How easy can it be? Honestly every time I said, how easy can it be? Things have gotten easier. I'll be honest. It's true. How easy can it be to find a new car while the new car found me and days later, bam. You know, how easy can it be? To have us both work from home. Well, with my curiosity and my flexibility and me clearing old thoughts, it's getting easy. Quite honestly, it's fun. We can take, I can take lunch break with my husband for the first time. Ever. We've been married 26 years. And we can have a lunch break together that we could just somewhat schedule. With each other. This is really wonderful. So I feel protected. In choosing to trust. The physical, the spiritual. The ancestral protection. That I have in my day-to-day life. And I choose. Protection to be my reality that I'm grounding in. And I'm smiling as I see that. Because it is really the life I'm living. So if, if any of this strikes a chord for you. I invite you to explore. How are you protected? How are you allowing yourself to be protected? And let's practice gratitude in the ways that we find that protection and we call it in. We ask for protection. And. To be protected, to be that person who thinks and feels like a protected soul. We get to feel that experience that, and the universe shows us beautiful examples and proof through synchronicities of how we are loved and protected. But if I'm really being honest, the one way I have. Allowed myself to actually be protected. The most significantly. Is with my energy. And simply setting the intention before I leave the house or before I start something new That allows me to interact with other humans, other people's thoughts and other influences. As just going within and setting the intention to protect my energy. From the energies and thoughts of other people. Like a bubble. Something that's reflective. That's shiny. That lets somebody, express themselves as they wish, but without having to penetrate me and I'll give you an example. When I see somebody who's in deep, deep grief. I used to absorb that grief and literally suffer for them. And I'm discovering nothing in that helps them heal faster. All it did was set me back. So by having that energetic bubble around myself, I am not keeping them out. I'm just keeping myself from absorbing their energy. So that my light doesn't dim. And you've heard me say this before. Somebody else can light their candle wick from mine. Without depleting my light. That energetic bubble allows me to shine. To be present. To pay attention to somebody. Without having to suffer for them so that I can be the light that they need to be influenced by. And if they don't need my light, then. They move on. They don't, they don't stay there. And I can feel called to be present with my family and love them folly without getting, knocked out of the boat, so to speak. You know, like standing up in a canoe that is not meant to be stood up in. And when you stand up, it wobbles and rocks and the chances of falling in are significantly greater. Well, when I leave the house and I go to interact with other people, if I haven't put up my energetic bubble, I am most likely going to be drowning in emotions that don't belong to me. And so that is one way I am celebrating the protection. I am allowing myself right now. And if this is a new thought for you, I invite you to ask me. Uh, or actually ask yourself, what does that mean for you right now? Does it sound like a bunch of mumbo jumbo? Or is this something that you needed to be reminded of or is this something that you can find within yourself without even having to, having to ask another person? Because energetic protection is something that. I really wish I knew a long time ago and I'm celebrating the fact. I'm finally figuring it out and I can't wait to see. What new depth of that energetic protection I'm going to benefit from and therefore help other people benefit from too. So that is the most life-changing protection I have come to accept this year. Thank you 2024 for putting me in the right spaces to receive the right information. Thank you for the growth and the challenges that have made me look within myself. To really fully start to study this. I am so, so change forever. I believe for the better. And the fourth part of this ritual that I'm recommending is renewing. And you've heard me say it before. Is that it in the last episode about the power of rest. Rest is one way we renew. We renew our mind, body, soul, spirit, relationships, rest, find rest when you can. And when you do let's appreciate it because honestly the more we save or something. The more rooted. It becomes in our experience. I am very excited about the renewing that I received through my Reiki. Practice and attunements. And, this is the first time I'm going publicly on record to say. I have officially been attuned my master level of Reiki. And so that I'm quite sure is going to be a major part of the new chapter. As I wrap up the current business reminiscence and I get ready for the new version of what what's coming next. I am quite sure. That Reiki is going to be a major, major part of what I bring into the world. And when I create. Um, the inspiration. Inspiration that I find from being creative. Inspiration. I find from nature, inspiration. I find from interacting with other people who align with my beliefs. Those are raised that I renew my mind, body and spirit as well. And inspiration is also evidence of renewal. So when we find something that inspires us by celebrating that with a simple little, don't even have to share it with anybody, but you could. Um, Expressing gratitude. Oh, I'm so grateful. Grateful for this inspiration journaling it. Jumping on it doing what's inspiring you or putting it on the calendar so that it can happen and it's not dismissed and forgotten. Okay. When these inspirations hit, there's a reason for it. It's because it's something showing you. There's something to be paid attention to for yourself. For your experience, something relevant right now. And I do not believe in coincidences when things show up, there is a reason. Another part of renewing. Is playing. And whether it's playing a game, whether it's playing music. Whether it's moving to music, whether it is, you know, Playing with an animal with a little person. With, you know, just adventuring getting in the car and going somewhere without a plan. And just asking the universe. Like can I find that's delightful and what is waiting for me today? What adventure can I discover? And just by. Falling into a mindset of curiosity and play your spirit. My spirit, our lives are refreshed and renewed. And I said it before gratitude practices just help us. Connect with the feelings. Of what we want more of. So. I'll be honest last night. We have a new sofa. It's a pullout sleeper sofa, and I never even opened it after the delivery. I'm I'm kind of was like, whew boy, I'm trusting. I didn't even know if it worked or not. I didn't even know if it actually had the mattress. As advertised because you know, things happen. So we pulled it out. And the kids piled on and the pets pile on, and I'm just laying there watching. National Lampoon's Christmas vacation and. Just grateful to be still. And just to be present and to notice we're all together. And we're in our new home and the, the rampage of gratitude thoughts that filled me up. I couldn't stop smiling. The whole time. It was amazing. My husband looks at me and he's, I was like, yeah, I'm really happy here. This is really, really, really beautiful. And quite honestly, The old self could have been up and bustling around about the dirty dishes, about the, the mess in the living room about the, you know, the stuff that has to get cleaned up or. but no. Where I am right now. I'm learning to be present and the present is where you find all the gifts right in front of you. Waiting for you to notice them. So. When I say you I'm, I mean, universal you, I mean us, I mean, anyone you. But just to quickly recap these, these are the four things that I'm inviting you to join me. As we make space for 2025 or whatever is next for you. Whenever you are listening to this, we are listening to this. Ground yourself. Clear things out. Protect set. The intention that you are protected. Celebrate how you are protected and renew. Allow ourselves to be refreshed and renewed. And the benefit of doing all this work on ourselves. Is everybody who we effect benefits from the best version of ourselves. And I can say that last week, this is my best version of me. And I can say it this week. This is the best version of me. And the best version of ourselves should always be better than when we said it last. So it's always true. It's just as, as long as we're living. As long as we're learning. We are growing. And that my folks is how I am picturing love. Whether it is at the year end review. Or starting a new anything. I am picturing love with this formula. And as you listen to it, I hope something triggered you in a positive way. And if you have something to add. I would love for you to contact me at my website and give me some feedback. I will put the link in the show notes and until next time. Just keep picturing love. I appreciate you, my friend. See you next time.