I love discovering new things about myself. I am a Scorpio Sun and Rising, so discovery and transformation, particularly from the shadows, comes naturally to me. I like to dive deep, I probe, I push the limits to try to understand people on a soul level and I continually practice this with myself. What this practice does is allows me to renew myself on a regular basis. I have “shed my skin” more times that I can count, growing bolder every year as I transform. The secret to this exercise is allowance. To allow oneself to grow takes sacrifice. One must ultimately let go of something to obtain something else. Sure, we can carry quite a lot at once, but when piling too much into our arms, we will drop something eventually, or often the whole armful, tumbling to the ground. Metaphorically, holding onto too much energy, ideas or behaviors we no longer need will have the same affect. To live in true alignment with the Self requires shedding. Like a snake sheds its skin, once free from its former confines, it cannot slip back into it. The process of shedding, growing, adjusting, maturing, flourishing, and so on, is the process of life. What if we were to be truly mindful of this? Often, my former self included, we are so busy we fail to notice what we are allowing to happen within our own lives and bodies.
In celebration of my 60th birthday this week, I’ve compiled a list of 60 lessons to remind me of how much I have grown. I am proud to be here. I have worked hard for it. And as I share with myself my own wisdom to date, I share it with you, with all my love…

1. start small
2. stay still enough to listen to your heartbeat as often as you can
3. relax your face (there’s so much tension there and I am still working in this one!)
4. take a walk to work it out
5. feel, you cannot discover yourself if you don’t allow feeling
6. if it feels bad, what have you allowed in
7. remove, it is okay to remove yourself from a situation you don’t wish to be in
8. courage takes practice
9. courage is facing fear, not the absence of it
10. be your own best friend (this takes practice)
11. let them think what they want
12. try again
13. be honest with yourself, for real
14. don’t listen to negative people
15. be kind, but don’t be a doormat
16. be strong, at first its hard but it becomes harder to be weak once you’ve got the hang of it
17. make yourself proud as often as you can
18. laugh at yourself
19. create Joy, it is created through mindset
20. marvel in the simplest of things
21. marvel in the vastness of things
22. find your center, this can be multiple times, everyday
23. learn something new everyday
24. realize that all you know is what you’ve learned thus far
25. there’s so much more you don’t know, keep an open mind
26. what you think you know can change tomorrow
27. welcome change
28. if you’re fighting to maintain the status quo, your trying too hard
29. say yes to yourself more often
30. please, please, please, don’t let other peoples opinions form your opinion of yourself
31. express yourself as creatively and honestly as you can
32. practice gratitude everyday
33. try to stay organized (Im still working on this one too)
34. be kind to animals
35. smile at at least one person you don’t know every day
36. help how you can
37. you cannot meet everyone’s expectations so stop trying
38. meet your own expectations as often as you can
39. take inventory of any negative energy that’s been building up in your body and throw it away
40. open a window to let the fresh air in
41. take a bath before bedtime if you have trouble sleeping
42. try not to feel guilty
43. celebrate the seasons of the year
44. celebrate the seasons of your life
45. always have an animal companion (this one’s just for me, but might be a must for you as well)
46. discover your Spirit Animal
47. balance your partnerships with others the best you can
48. never let someone have power over you
49. do not attempt to overpower others
50. let conversions breathe
51. listen with all of your senses
52. get in touch with your Spirit Guides and Ancestors and foster those relationships
53. never go to bed mad at someone, talk it out
54. allow yourself to change
55. be the change you wish to see in the world
56. be free to love, don’t be afraid of getting hurt, it does, but it heals
57. apologize if you’ve hurt someones feelings
58. don’t waste any more precious time feeling trapped…get out
59. work on things and give them time, results take time
60. people don’t always remember what you said or did, but they do remember how you made them feel.

I hope I make you feel empowered, validated, seen and loved,
XO, Stellaluna