An Ending & Beginning

Welcome back, friends.

Ever so cosmically, endings lend way to new beginnings. This incredible and daunting month of dedication to a specified type of healing finds the final hour. Simultaneously, a new announcement begins a new collaboration and opportunity.

Reflecting upon this month, my inner recovering perfectionist attempts to mislead me into believing somehow it was not enough and too much at the same time. The ego chimes in with a

“you should have done more breathwork!”

“you should have followed a focused strategy!”

Ah, perfection. You foolish friend. Although misled in its delivery, perfectionism sends a subtle invitation to accept our own process, feelings, and results. Having grace with yourself allows room for a post-implementation review, but we are safe and free to leave shame out of the conversation.

Anywho, a perfect linear model of growth and understanding is flawed and false. While we are always steady on the path of ascension, it doesn’t always quite look or feel that way. This month unveiled a lot of unexpected truths, yet was the precise medicine I asked for.

As part of this process, I zoomed out to witness and understand one of my coping mechanisms is numbing. This dresses up in many hats to disguise itself - and may for you too. It invites me to overeat, scroll endlessly, and smoke to quiet the voice inside asking to be heard.

Yeah, binge-watching Master Chef relaxes me, but on a surface level. After finishing a few episodes, sometimes I will feel generalized anxiety about the unorganized thoughts that swirl around my mind under a thin veil of Gordon Ramsey’s impeccable palate.

From what I’ve learned through The Body Keeps the Score, numbing is a common coping mechanism for those who have endured chronic emotional distress or abandonment. Having ways of coping means we found a way to survive, so don’t worry about what yours may look like now. They kept us safe throughout our early lives, but we’re free to let them go. See them as a trailhead for your journey into cooler ways to deal with your stuff.

When I take the time out to hike alone, meditate, and stream of consciousness write, that part of me needing a hard reset is fulfilled in the most genuine way. Not everyone will need alone time to ground themselves, in fact spending quality time with friends may just be your perfect elixir. It also could be dancing, painting, yoga, krav maga! Whatever makes you feel in your groove. It’s all about understanding what your strengths and tools are.

An intriguing way to learn more about your innate strengths is to dive into your natal chart, which is a snapshot of the sky the very moment you took your first breath. This aids in putting names to our most empowering and authentic qualities, allowing us to lean further into them so we may manifest a life of deeper understanding and balance with ease (ease-ish.. okay?).

You can check yours out for free at: https://astro.cafeastrology.com/natal.php

Something interesting I learned about my own chart is that my sun lies within my 12th house, which highlights my interest in what binds us to sorrow. I believe through understanding our suffering we liberate ourselves. This is accomplished through going deep inside - the shadowy parts we hide within ourselves and judge in others, the coping mechanisms we swing about when triggered, and understanding what our suffering is meant for us to learn about ourselves and the world.

Whether you are a child of a narcissistic parent or not, we all have endured shame and trauma. This means we are all invited to peek down there in the corners of our hearts and shine some light where we needed extra love.

While there are individual ways we release our trauma, it is part of my mission to call out the ways societies and systems tether us to suffering. Advocacy is essential to my being and I plan to express and intertwine that with my business.

Some may not believe this is the space to do so, but the spiritual community is strife with inequality and prejudice. We use ancient cultural practices and linguistics we don’t fully understand, jack our prices up to exclusionary levels, and profit from generations of cultural development while casting aside the very groups who perfected them.

I do not know any other way of being than to make this blog and my business a reflection of who I am. I will not shy away from this and invite my readers to call me out at all times necessary as there will be mistakes. An essential truth for us to understand is we all have prejudice and “isms” in our societal programming, and this restricts us in deeper ways than we can even restrict ourselves.

In fact, oppression is the precise energy of limitation. It’s forced limitation into smallness, removing each viable option. We embark on lifetime journeys of releasing our own smallness and our spiritual evolution will demand us to show up in the global community in the same way.

We reclaim the power of our own truth. We break away from rationalization and denial - the tools of suppression on a global scale. The world attempts to gaslight communities white supremacy has traumatized to maintain a grip on power and control. Objective reality is skewed and irrelevant details politicize basic humanity. If you see the manipulation in self, I invite you to see the manipulation on a world scale. We’ll build this understanding together.

An Exciting Beginning

I am beyond excited to announce… my first ever collaboration and sponsorship with a business! Ever unexpectedly, I reached out to a dream collaborator and they agreed to work with me.

Not sure if you’ve heard of them, it’s Earth Hero!

Earth Hero is a one-stop-shop for all things sustainability. They carry products for your home, children, travel, beauty, clothes, and are constantly expanding.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this on the blog, but I recently moved into the first home that is exclusively my own, and Earth Hero was the first place I sought out for environmentally friendly products to fill my home. My favorites so far have been the bamboo cutting boards, compostable trash bags, and rubber gloves. But let’s be honest, there’s a lot on the wish list.

Earth Hero is incredibly special because they consider sustainability in every stage of developing and delivering a product. They even off-set the carbon emissions that are emitted into the atmosphere upon delivering your order to your home. I hope their dedication inspires other businesses to lessen their ecological footprint and empower customers to do the same.

Earth Hero is part of a few really cool initiatives, including 1% For the Planet, The Climate Collaborative, and they are a Certified B Corporation.

I honestly could not be more thrilled and humbled to have such a beautiful collaboration. When you use the code LEAHB10, you can support Earth Hero and my business at the same time!

Check out their products here: https://earthhero.com?ref=leahburkley

Happy shopping!