Growing Our Voice

11/07/2023

For those like me who needed this reminder!! Thanks for your beautiful new book.

09/03/2023

Fun time in NYC with one of my favorite people!!! Great show!!!

01/11/2023

Last week was the first monthly meditation gathering! The topic was Contemplative Reflection and Conscious Intention Setting. I have turned the talk into an edited blog post which includes the 30 minute guided meditation (recorded from last week). Click link below to read and meditate!

Here are some of the inspiring intentions that participants arrived at: May I...

* experience less judgment as a path to increased kindness and compassion and forgiveness
* live in a way that supports a healthy mind and body
* be more compassionate to myself
* continue the creative journey I began last year, cultivating a creative mindset

While I write daily intentions at the end of my morning sits, I have identified these intentions for the new year:
* May I remember that I am home within myself - safe, loved, accepted, appreciated, welcomed.
* May I walk through this new year with fierce compassion, radical honesty, profound courage and deep self-love and trust.

If you have set any intentions for the new year, please share in the comments. If you read and/or engage with the meditation, please let me know your experience.

This piece is the first of a year-long series of monthly meditation talks and practice. For more information and to participate in the live event, go to Walking the Path of Heartfulness in 2023.Exp…

12/15/2022

New Poem: The Way of the Warrior

May this be both our intention and aspiration for 2023 to walk the way of the warrior-healer, the compassionate hearted one.

May we believe that to heal our collective world, we need to heal our inner worlds. It is a both/and, an inside out, outside in process.

Sending peace, love, courage and warrior-like strength to you today!!!

Click link to read poem and hear audio version.

Audio of Poem Reading Healing is the way of the warrior -brave. fierce. intentional.It’s revolutionary to witness one’s inner world -to push open the rickety, old gates housingthe forgo…

12/09/2022

If you'd like to explore rest or slowing down as both a meditative practice and daily life practice, join me this Monday the 12th & the following Monday the 19th @ 8pmEST via zoom.

RSVP https://growingourvoice.com/contact/

Each session is 60 minutes with a 25-30 minute meditation.

Session 1 (12/12) Rest & Release - will explore the idea of “rest” as a mindfulness and compassion practice within a culture that promotes busyness, striving, and production as evidence of one’s worthiness or happiness. We will explore how we relate to this idea of “rest,” how it is core to our meditation practice, and ways to integrate into daily life. We will also explore what it means to release our conditioning around busyness, bring a gentle curiosity to our thought patterns, and ways to let be and let go in the moment.

Session 2 (12/19) Relief & Renew - will begin with some reflection on the “daily life” practice from the previous week. We will then explore somatically how the practices of rest and release can provide relief in the body and mind. This leads to renew – an opportunity to open and perhaps connect with the extraordinary nature of life even in the midst of the ordinary. It is a way to bring loving kindness and compassion to our experience.

The 4Rs are an accessible way to approach meditation or to purposefully pause during the day. It is way to guide one’s attention into the body and to allow ease to arise through loving awareness.

This is a free gathering! Grant yourself this gift of rest (physical, mental, emotional). Invite a friend!!

11/28/2022

"Don't wait. Everything we need is right in front of us. Impermanence is the doorway to possibility. Embracing it is where true freedom lies." - Frank Ostaseki, from The Five Invitations

This quote came up on a mentoring call this morning in response to a mentee's awareness of putting off her life until X happens. It was an inspiring moment for her to reflect on this shift in both her mindset and behavior.

I wanted to share this quote with you today as a way to encourage and inspire all of us to stop waiting. Now is the time to live. Now is the time for joy.

Sure, we can have goals and we can process the past AND be present for our life now. We don't have to wait until everything is processed or our goal is met.

Life is right here, right now. It will change. It never remains the same. Why put it off? And living now doesn't have to be grandiose. In fact, being with the ordinariness of the moment helps us stay in the present rather than get caught up in what ifs or not until.

May you live in love and compassion now!!

11/24/2022

"When we embrace the poignancy and vulnerability that comes with gratefulness, we're reminded that time is limited and experiences are fleeting, so we have better treasure deeply what we have now and live more fully into what we know really matters." - Kristi Nelson

May today be a day where you can get in touch with what matters to you, not what you think should matter or what others say should matter.

In this moment of aliveness is where we find gratitude.

In this moment of choosing what serves our well-being on a day full of expectations is where we find gratitude.

In this moment of seeing what's before our eyes differently than we did before is where we find gratitude.

In this moment of taking a breath, taking a walk, bringing a fork to the mouth, receiving a smile from a stranger, sending a text to a faraway friend is where we find gratitude. The ordinary is actually extraordinary!!

For those in the way back, let me say this loudly: 🗣️ You do not need to seek out gratitude. You do not need to feel it or experience it a certain way. It is you. You are gratitude. You are gratefulness.

May you know that in this limited time, we can choose how we want to show up or not show up today.

Sending you loving kindness! 💕

11/22/2022

Hey Community!!

🎁Gift yourself two hours this December to heartfully rest - to explore what this means and how it can be integrated into the hustle and bustle of life.

To learn more & RSVP to receive Zoom link go to https://growingourvoice.com/exploring-the-4rs-rest-release-relief-renew/

I aim to make learning & exploring meditation accessible to anyone interested. While it does not need to cost you money or lots of time, it does take the effort of choosing yourself sometimes. This is often the biggest obstacle for people.

So RSVP NOW - make the commitment to choose yourself and explore how this act alone initiates relief in your body and a spark in your heart.

For those who want to meditate NOW - here's a 15.30 minute version of the 4RS - https://growingourvoice.com/.../11/The-4Rs-Meditation.mp3

Reach out with any questions.
❤️ Wendy

06/05/2022

Wherever you are, look up to the sky.

Breathe in the magnificence of nature. And remember that you are nature.

Breathe out your wish for your life and send it to all beings. And remember we are interconnected!

We are breathing the same air.

The wish I'm sending out: May all beings everywhere be safe and protected from inner and outer harm.

📷 Taken on my morning walk.

05/07/2022

New 5 minute meditation - Start Where You Are! 🔗 in bio.

It's spring and cherry 🌸 trees bring the reminder of impermanence. Life is always changing and unfolding - beauty comes and goes, comes again and goes just like these breathtaking blossoms.

We can meet our lives with openness, curiosity, and kind attention. We can savor the beauty knowing that it's temporary. We can meet our difficulty with tenderness knowing that it is temporary. This non-attached engagement with life cultivates gratefulness. It cultivates equanimity. It cultivates contentment.

This is why I practice. So how does one begin to practice? Start Where You Are!!

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Follow for inspiration and practice tips. Go to bio for guided meditations and supportive practices to integrate into daily life.

05/06/2022

Love this story!!! This is an example of kind attention, of loving presence, of compassionate action, of seeing another's humanity!!

Thanks for sharing this story.

May we all find a way to share "our socks" today and everyday!