Thank You 2011, You Were Lovely

2011, you have been a big and beautiful year filled with dreams come true.

If 2010 was the year I fell apart, then 2011 has been the year of rebirth. As 2011 comes to a quiet rainy close, I’m enjoying this pause for breath remembering the wonders that have unfolded during the past 12 months.

I didn’t consciously choose a word for 2011 but its theme has been expansion. During this magical year I’ve expanded from local workshops and one-to-one consultations to offering different types of soul support to over 70 people in 3 continents through this website.  It’s such a huge and humbling privilege I can’t quite find the words to express how I feel. It is an honour and a blessing; the golden thread of joy that weaves my heart and soul together.

I am so grateful to every single one of you who has visited this site, shared comments, booked consultations, an emotional healing package or intuitive diagnosis with me, bought Soul Blends or Bach Flower Remedy combinations, attended workshops and meditation classes, opened your hearts and trusted me with the precious jewels inside of you.  I wish you all the wonders of the world in 2012.

Here are some of my highlights from this lovely year.

January

I began setting up the Bach Flower Remedy Garden Project at Offshoots Permaculture, created leaflets and posters and information to publicise it, started writing the content for the 12 week course on Bach Flower Remedies I’d be teaching, received a full set of Bach Flower Remedies for the project donated by Crystal Herbs and sourced the garden centres, nurseries and wild places that would supply the seeds and plants we needed. I read what would turn out to be my favourite book of the year and began practising a weekly faerie meditation.

February 

The 12 week course on Bach Flower Remedies at Offshoots Permaculture began with a group of wonderful people. We planted the first of the seeds we’d be growing, received funding from The Twelve Healers Trust to buy educational materials for the project and I ran a flower remedy art workshop with artist Eddie Foster. Happy days.

In meditation I asked how I could best honour nature spirits and received the message PERMACULTURE. Next morning I woke to an email saying a permaculture course was enrolling close to where I live! So lovely to study again, my brain needed to learn new things.

March 

I had a piece of writing accepted for publication in the Earth Pathways Diary alongside artists and writers I really admire, cried at the generosity of garden centres and nurseries who donated trees and plants to the Bach Flower Remedy Garden, taught workshops on Bach Flower Remedies and learnt new things about the Bach Flower Remedy trees.

I got enthused by the Save Our Woods Campaign and joined the Grizedale Forest Rally, designed leaflets for our local Transition Town, had macrobiotic and whole foods coaching to help my energy levels and fell in love with Wast Water in the Lake District.

 April 

The sun shone hot during the Easter holidays while we camped near Castlerigg Standing Stones and stroked moss in Borrowdale Forest.

Jason and I made and tested Essence of Wild apple and lilac flower remedies; I embraced seaweed, brown rice porridge and other macrobiotic recommendations and felt so much healthier, created a Beltane spiral which released stagnant energy in my life and garden, and celebrated my birthday in beautiful bluebell woodland.

May 

Jason and I created the bluebell meditation, started taking 100 barefoot breaths outside every day and began creating what would become the Barefoot Breathing e-course.

I launched the Intuitive Diagnosis service, met friends in Sussex for the Life Cairn, enjoyed a pottery workshop and stumbled across the honeysuckle we needed to photograph for the Bach Flower Gallery.  I joined the Goddess Circle and read the Business Goddess e-course from start to finish in one day in the garden. Day turned to night as I brainstormed and visioned and planned, sitting by the fire-pit, finally seeing a way to reach more people with my work. So inspired I barely slept until October!

June 

The Bach Flower Remedy workshops I was teaching at Offshoots came to an end with a joyful day planting baby Bach plants outside.

Jason and I made Essence of Wild geum and ragged robin flower essences and we worked day and night living, breathing and writing Barefoot Breathing e-course content.

I walked in King Henry VIII’s footsteps, drinking mead and eating cake in Epping Forest with friends for Summer Solstice weekend.

July 

Met the elusive wild oat plant for the first time after days trying to track it down in Yorkshire (photographing this Bach Flower Remedy plant marked the end of two years’ work on the Bach Flower Remedy Gallery), worked hard on the Barefoot Breathing e-course and invited some favourite online writers to guest blog for us at Essence of Wild.

I contributed to the 30 Days of Goddess E-course, learnt to knit on 4 needles, discovered the pleasures of wasabi beans and dark chocolate with sea salt, and wrote guest blog posts about Self-Love and Bach Flower Remedies for PMS.

 August

We opened registration for Barefoot Breathing e-course and had such fun with the Wild Woodland Giveaway.  I guest blogged on Roots of She and was delighted to be asked to review two books written by online friends: Orange Moon and The Sweet Shack and Bach Bar.

I saw my first ever kingfisher by the River Hodder, went to a Starhawk workshop, met up with gorgeous online friends in real life, took my beautiful boy surfing for the first time and spent precious time with three friends who I rarely see.

September

Wrote a guest post on the Spiral and the Lotus, enjoyed being interviewed by Jackie Walker on Barefoot Radio, wrote close to 7,000 words of content for the Barefoot Breathing e-course every week, designed course materials and created weekly meditations. Barefoot Breathing ran for 30 days with almost 70 participants and I cried nearly every day at the comments and connections shared in the community. Huge, humbling, magical, life-changing, all-consuming, exhausting.

I fell in love with Abersoch celebrating Edward Bach’s birthday there on 24th September (it was one of his favourite places). Craggy coastline reminiscent of Scotland, cafes selling homemade cakes, walking in Bach’s footsteps and White Stuff. What else could I possibly want?

October 

Barefoot Breathing drew its last breath on 10th October and I felt like I was drawing my last too! Jason and I had poured heart and soul into it for months. Slept for days. Drank lots of green smoothies. Wrote REST in big letters across every weekend in my diary until the end of December.

Created an audio workshop for the World’s Biggest Summit, launched the Emotional Healing Package, guest blogged about Healing the Family Soul and rewrote the content on this website.

November

Created Soul Blends, Jason and I launched Nature Inspiration at Essence of Wild, I redesigned the look of this website using Headway theme and created the Soul Medicine from your personal healing flower meditation (free when you sign up to the Flower Spirit mailing list).

Saw Seventh Wave Music in concert, enjoyed a day of community gardening and willow weaving with local Transition Town, dug more flower growing zones in my garden, had a Deadly Day Out and made Christmas cards.

December

We redesigned the Essence of Wild website, changed our mailing list provider and created ‘infrastructure’ that will make business life so much easier next year.

I started the Creative Goddess e-course to nurture my creativity outside of work, had lunch at a favourite cafe, knitted Christmas presents, had 3 weeks without sugar, did a site visit for our permaculture design project and rediscovered the joy of dancing Five Rhythms. I’ve been reflecting on 2011 and visualising 2012 using the Goddess Workbook and Planner.

Now as 2011 comes to an end, I’ll make sacred space with this oracle tonight and connect with the energy of 2012. My wishes for the year ahead are for freedom (the kind of freedom only I can give myself), nature and creativity.

What do you wish for yourself? I hope all your dreams come true in 2012. If you need essence support to make your dreams come true, the Live your Dreams Soul Blend contains the essences I’ve taken during this magical dream-filled year.

 P.S. Some of these links are affiliate links, most are simply diversions!