How are you doing now that we have been in the New Chinese Year of the Fire Horse?
This energy can feel like a lot. The Year of the Horse represents a fast-paced, dynamic period focused on independence, forward momentum, and significant change. Associated with the fire element, this rare “Fire Horse” year brings intense energy, passion, and, at times, impulsivity to careers and personal growth. The Fire Horse year only comes along every 60 years.
Many of us, including myself, spent the last year of the Wood Snake shedding what no longer serves us. It was a time to look at energies, patterns, habits, relationships, etc., with a new perspective, cleaning up the final aspects that were no longer serving us.
For myself, this was a tough year. I have been doing deep inner work since I was 24. I have shifted, transformed, cleared, and healed many patterns, relationships, energies, habits, behaviors, and beliefs. The thing about growth is that you are never really done.
Truth: If we aren’t growing, we are dying.
This year brought up pieces for me I thought I had already dealt with. They were in the past. So I thought. What it did give me was a new understanding, a perspective I hadn’t been able to see before.
An opportunity to stand more fully in my authority, my voice, and one of the hardest things for me, my heart.
Where there is pain, there is also opportunity. It’s not easy, and it’s not for the faint of heart. And for those of us who chose this path and keep taking one step after another, I applaud you.
How has this been going for you? I would love to hear where you are and what your experience has been like. If you are inclined to share, please reply to this email.
It can be messy. For myself, the transition from the energy of the Year of the Snake to the Year of the Fire Horse has been very messy.
It’s also a time for us to step into something NEW. To bring something different to the table. You might be feeling called to something bigger. Something more that you can’t quite put your finger on. I understand the frustration. I will tell you this. There is more for you.
A couple of years ago, my guides gave me the phrase “The Sacred Warrior of the Heart.” I have always had a lot of warrior in me. A fierceness that hasn’t always been received well. When my guides gave me this, I could feel its magnitude. I knew this was essential for me to understand and embody.
If you have been in my world for a while, you know two things. I am fiercely loyal and protective of my people. If you are in my world as a client, community member, friend, or loved one, I’ve got your back. No one monkeys with my people.
I’ve got you in the mess, in the celebration, and anywhere in between. This is the space I hold. I am committed to your empowerment. Period.
And with that, my warrior had a lot of armor associated with it. Armor that protected me and served me for a long while. Armor that made it very hard to fully sit in my heart and my Divine Feminine. Armor that was keeping me from truly stepping into what I was being called forward into.
There were a couple of patterns that we all carry at some point that I was being asked to confront, heal, and transform in order to fully embody “The Sacred Warrior of the Heart” and bring forward Soul Guided Leadership™.
One key aspect that showed up last year was something I could feel but couldn’t quite name. I was circling around it. I knew it, but couldn’t see it.
It wasn’t until I worked with an incredible coach, Jeffrey Van Dyke, who was able to see it, put his finger on it, and say it. OUCH. Of course, I immediately resisted it. Which always means I have to look at it.
He said I was acquiescing. What?
I don’t acquiesce. It pissed me off, to tell you the truth.
When we got off the call, I wasn’t even sure I actually knew what that meant. I looked up the definition, and it means, in my words, saying yes when you really want to say no. UGH. Once I saw that, I could see it everywhere.
Acquiescing is sneaky. It hides in all the right corners. It’s a place we can rationalize away, but any way you look at it, it is where we leak power.
It’s a place where we don’t fully stand in our truth. The more I dug into it and talked about it, the more I realized this is a huge challenge for a lot of us.
Once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it.
This was one area I cleaned up, and I cleaned it up fast.
In doing so, I was able to more fully stand in my truth and take responsibility where I had previously not been.
If this resonates with you, here are a couple of questions to ask yourself:
- Where am I saying yes when I want to say no?
- What stopped me from saying no?
- How did saying yes when I wanted to say no benefit me?
These were important questions I played with and got curious around. Get curious. Explore what comes up for you.
I will continue to share my journey of bringing in Soul Guided Leadership™: Changing the Way We Lead as I go.
Remember, it isn’t about being perfect. It’s about the evolution of you. And we all have some type of evolutionary work we are being nudged to do or straight out being called to do.
