Joanna's blog

With the arrival of the Chinese New Year of the Water Dragon on the new moon last week, a rush of energy and momentum shook everything in my life loose to move in a new direction.

According to the article linked to above: "Now is thus the time to take a chance, to reach for the proverbial brass ring, to not only dream but act on that impossible dream. The Dragon gives you the best chance to make it come true."

What dreams can you act on in 2012?

I don't believe you can be too passionate as a heart centered entrepreneur or healing professional, but your passion can get in the way of promoting your services effectively. "Does your passion get in the way of profit?" is a topic explored in Step 4 ~ Find Your Niche of the Six Steps for Success.

"What do you do?" is the key question that Step 3 in the Six Steps for Success series answers.

What we do is always evolving, but the core essence of who we are in our heart inspires what we do, wouldn't you say?

This was my first week back at work after my two and half week holiday staycation, and wow, was it intense! Over vacation, I chose my intentions for 2012 and started working on them. This week I jumped back into my usual responsibilities and tried to casually toss the new goals into my current juggling act.

I was hoping to write an uplifting note to you today, but I have a sad heart and just can't do it. I learned online yesterday that a professional friend of mine passed away a few days ago. She was someone I met back in 2007 - we both started our holistic businesses around the same time that year. I lost track of her after I moved back to the North Shore and become very busy with The Healing Center.

I hope you have found some time to relax, reconnect with loved ones and really enjoy yourself despite the hectic nature of this time of year. I am on vacation this week, and I hope that even if you are not, you are giving yourself some sweetly deserved TLC.

It was a long, difficult Autumn for me personally this year. Well, quite honestly my mother tells me that Autumn has been hard for me since my teen years, so it's nothing new. Some years are easier than others though.

I am so relieved that the dark season is over, the holidays are here and winter has begun! The Winter Solstice this week was our shortest day and longest night of the year, and now that it has passed each day will become brighter and brighter until mid-year.

It’s been silent on my end for the last couple of weeks. Sometimes going within is what I need to do in order to birth the next incarnation of my purpose and vision. I’ve been doing a whole lot of visioning and reflection this month, getting clarity on what I’m doing, why I’m doing it and who I am here to serve and how.

Looking back over the last three years has been empowering and exciting. When I started working on a three year vision in the fall of 2008, I was really struggling to come up with a vision of what my newly single life could look and feel like. I really wasn’t sure who I was or what I wanted - all I knew was that I was really unhappy and uncomfortable. My divorce a few months earlier took place during a health crisis where I was in excruciating pain to the point of not being able to stand or walk for more than a few minutes, forget about driving, working, cooking, cleaning my apartment.

Last week in my coaching call with Kyeli, we discussed the difference between urgency and importance. WHOA! I so needed clarity around this.

We explored how so much of the demands on our time and attention from technology are often urgent, but not important.