This is my last article/newsletter of this year (2024).
It has been a challenging year not only for me, but for my clients and for my friends in the US, Latin America and Europe.

However… looking back, here are my reflections:

Remember the stories you used to read when you were a kid? No matter the storyline, there was:

• a Hero/Heroine (main character)
• a plot (all sorts of events, some more terrifying than others)
• a plot twist (elements of surprise)
• an anti-hero (“the bad guy”)
• a helper or a guide
• all kinds of monsters and nefarious forces
• a divine intervention when least expected
• a deep transformation of the hero
• the return home, where others look up to the hero for his/her courage.

The Hero is You. The storyline is irrelevant in the end. What matters is how you showed up for yourself and others along the way. The courage to face your fears (aka ‘monsters’)  is an inside job.

All too often, when clients come to see me for the first time, they are 100% caught in the “me versus him” / “look what he did to me”/ ” poor me, I don’t deserve this” storyline. The rage, the hurt, the sadness, the grief: they are all VALID and NECESSARY emotions! Depending on the severity of the situation, a client ( you, the hero) may need anywhere between 3-12 months, or more, to completely integrate the experience, and that’s OK. Emotional healing cannot be forced into a timeline. At the same time, we can’t get stuck in it for years upon years upon years… all heroes eventually bounce back victorious, and that’s precisely what makes them THE HERO. It’s what makes you the hero of your own story.

The year of 2024 was imperfectly perfect, and we know, in retrospect, that it couldn’t have happened in any other way. I am beyond grateful for what 2024 brought me: LOVE, personal growth, wonderful women clients, wonderful teachings, the joy of parenting, the joy of writing, the leadership team at the Neuromindfulness Institute, so much learning about how my body works, the monthly Women’s Circles, the launch of my From Victim to Victory coaching program, the Compassionate Inquiry Mentorship Program with Dr. Gabor Mate… and more.

HOMEWORK

Your homework in the next 2 weeks is to reflect on your own 2024 story, and write it down in your journal when you have the time, the patience, the space and the curiosity, without any judgement or expectations. Allow yourself to “download” the information that’s already there.

• What did I learn about myself in 2024?
• Why did I need this to happen in 2024?
• How did I show up for myself when things got really hard in 2024?
• How did I show up for others in 2024?
• What do I take with me in 2025, and beyond?
• Who do I leave behind? What else do I need to do to cut off the ties that no longer serve me?
• Who helped me in 2024? Who was there for me, and how? Did I thank them directly and wholeheartedly?
• If 2024 were one word, what would it be?
• How can I express gratitude to myself and others more often?

“The journey of the hero is about the courage to seek the depths; the image of creative rebirth; the eternal cycle of change within us; the uncanny discovery that the seeker is the mystery which the seeker seeks to know. The hero journey is a symbol that binds, in the original sense of the word, two distant ideas, the spiritual quest of the ancients with the modern search for identity, “always the one, shape-shifting yet marvelously constant story that we find.”

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! Next newsletter will come into your inbox on January 11, 2025!