​      This post has been a long time coming! First I want to share an experience around my very first spiritual direction session 10 years ago. It was a major shift in perspective although I did not understand the depth of it until a couple years later. I accredit my own spiritual director (with some years off in the beginning, I still see her monthly to this very day) for igniting my God flame. 
     It was in 2010 out of pure curiosity (NOW I would call it the movement of Spirit) I went to have a session with a lady in the networking group I led that offered Spiritual Direction.

In Conclusion...
​     The spiritual guide/seeker relationship is nothing short of a pilgrimage to the Soul, back to the very spark that you burst into this world to become. You will uncover, discover and recover the TRUTH of who you are and who you came here to be. The time is Sacred and the space is open for movement, unfolding and opportunity. Just as you would not climb Mount Kilimanjaro without a guide neither should you take the spiritual journey alone. 
     It would be my honor and privilege to walk with you. I will bring to you the gifts of openness, compassionate listening and grace for those who desire to be heard for the purpose of seeking, healing and nourishing the Soul<3 Namaste.

 Naturally my next step...start a womens group in my home. The Joy of Connecting of Muskego was born, July of 2009 and so was Your Wellness Gal. The tag line created while in conversation with JOC franchise owner and mentor. I loved it from the get go! Although, It did not take long for me to realize that when I looked at myself I did not see a picture of "Well" looking back at me. What I saw looking back at me was someone I did not know, someone I did not necessarily like...the person staring back at me was lost and had not really a clue of what it meant to be well or to walk that kind of walk (although you probably would not of wanted to be the one to tell me that at the time, lol). Even so the hunger for more was there, I wanted it , like really, really wanted it (little did I know it would take nearly 10 years to get there, a blessing I guess:-)!! So from 2009 onward I set out to build The Joy of Connecting and what I thought to be Your Wellness Gal "the business". As of 2018 I look back and KNOW with all my heart I was setting out on a journey! A journey of growth...A journey to BECOME, a journey of wellness! It was and has been and WILL continue to be "my business" to do the work, ground MORE, grow MORE and BECOME MORE of what God created me to BE. 

JOURNEY IN A NUTSHELL or mandala triangle. I am a visual person so let me share with you a project we were asked to do at the end of our training program.  We were given a long triangle that fit into a group mandala, we were to create a visual of our 2 year journey that could be crafted any way we wanted. (2 caveats for this project I do not think of myself as particularly creative but when I lift my guard it does seem to flow and this was also during our time of silence which is "my jam" and I do not like to think in it, I like to be in it.) With that information....I WAS silent, it STILL flowed and it perfectly CAPTURED my entire Your Wellness Gal journey and practically created itself! Seriously, I LOVE WHEN THAT HAPPENS (without a doubt GOD thing)!
(PLEASE NOTE i do not in any way think THE JOURNEY IS OVER or that I have it all figured out..I DON'T, BUT I am well now, I am  in a place where I can confidentally speak and lead by WALKING the WALK and TALKING the TALK. )

Before I reveal the piece I MUST give thanks! It is IN the SILENCE and IN the STILLNESS and in the GRACE of each and EVERY moment on this journey of life that I have come to build relationship and TRUST in GOD and for that I AM forever Grateful! 

​DRUM ROLL PLEAZE>>>>>>>>>>

And it reads like this...

• There once was a hungry 
• Visual: caterpillar
• Who found HOPE in veggies
• Seeking a new view
• Became LOVE
• Packed up and moved
• To the here and now
• Where there is a special place in God's heart for YOU and ME
• Found freedom---Ready to fly
• Living my TRUTH
• PEACE

and this sums up my YWG journey to date...

I share this story NOT to be like HEY look at me BUT to build TRUST. For YOU as the reader to FEEL and KNOW that it CAN BE DONE. TRANSFORMATION does take work, but when we share our stories they become each others stories and lightens the load knowing that we are not doing this life alone. WE are connected, WE are one, WE are WORTH IT! 

I offer this TAKE AWAY: Uncovering TRUTH = FREEDOM
With Gratitude and a basket FULL of Veggie LOVE, 
Hugs, 
B~

Well this RESISTANCE showed up AGAIN early November. I was preparing to attend my last weekend in my training program and had a reflection paper to write. Picture this we have guidelines, there is no right or wrong (obviuosly it is my own experience....aka. reflection) and we get the assignment beginning of September.  I take out the paper and look at it on a regular basis...nothings coming...fast forward to 3 days before I leave....NOTHING. Hello RESISTANCE... I see you! At first, not concerned.. TRUST..it will come, it ALWAYS does (unless I try to control it and boss it around, which I CAN be very good at:-)... 2 days left...spend an hour or 2 here and there, throughout the day. I started several times but I really wanted it to be my heart and it was not feeling that way, last day I spend the ENTIRE day looking, reading, trying to jog my memory with past training weekends, conversations, quotes, songs UUUUGGGG! NOTHING I loved. So, the day I left I got up, got ready and headed to Siena Center because if ANYTHING can jog love and reflection it IS SIENA Center! If you have never been there I HIGHLY recommend you do!! Sat down at my desk, in my room and before I even new it there it was! My heart on paper! Let me tell you though even up until the moment I started sharing it the next day with my small group I did not love it or even realize it was not only my heart...it was me.

It was?IS so me! So me...that I thought as we start getting to know each other I would share it with you. On this blog I am going to share my journey sometimes good, sometimes bad and sometimes ugly crying. I share this journey so you know who you are working with, so that you know life and growth and healing and everything in between IS a process. When I say in my statement of the gifts I bring to serving you...openness, grace and compassionate listening these are ALL things I had to bring to myself FIRST!!  AND TRUST me it HAS been and will continue to be a process! And THAT IS the journey! I have been led to know that the deeper I go into my process (work) the more sacred space I am able to hold and companion you though your  process.

TODAY'S TAKE AWAY....when you are experiencing resistance, take a moment (or 2, sometimes we just need to give ourselves the space to do so) and check in with what this resistance is telling you. Feel it. Name it. Walk around it. Tend to it. In my own experience of resistance it is telling me that I am NOT TRUSTING God. I usually need to go back, acknowledge what is going on, reconnect to TRUTH and can then step forward from that place. 

Signing out...
With Gratitude and Baskets FULL of Veggie Love, 
Beth

If your interested...here it is...my final reflection from the completetion of my 2 year Spiritual Guidance Training Program at Siena Retreat Center.....Class of 2018-19