Future Ancestor,

 

 

 

 

Pictured above was my last instagram post - and the last time I saw my phone. 😅

 

I was the last to board my plane, rushing to ensure that I could upload this photo before having no access to the internet for my upcoming flight to Peru. When I got to my seat, I realized that my phone wasn't on me! Did I leave it on the chair? In the bathroom? Did it fall out of my pocket? As I bolted out of the plane to retrieve it, I was stopped by the flight attendant.

 

 

In that moment, I had to make a decision… and I chose my flight. ✈️

 

It's been three weeks without my phone (but I do have my laptop, at least). 

 

I am checked into a hostel in the countryside of Sacred Valley, where the only guest in the entire building is… me. ☝🏾 

 

The name of my tiny room is “Cancer,” which happens to be my rising sign. ♋︎

 

The nearest town is a 25 minute walk, and requires a flashlight in the evenings as there are no streetlights. 🔦 While it is considered summertime here, rain has been a daily occurrence and cold showers are the norm (when the water is actually running). 🥶 The indigenous farmworkers prayed for this since there has been a drought for several months. 🙏 

 

The country has been in lockdown due to political turmoil the past week, though I am safe and far away from conflict. In fact, this has been the most peace I've felt in quite some time. At first, I could feel my fingers itching to have a connection to my device to update everyone. After all, it's how I've operated my business for the past 5 years, how I document my life, and how I primarily stay in touch with loved ones.

 

There's so many photos I've wanted to take of the beauty surrounding me, but all of this has been a radical invitation to being present while learning to let go.

 

My question for this sabbatical has been: 

 

 

So much of our identity is tied to the ways we give to those around us (or even our phones as literal service!), but what would happen if you took a complete standstill to explore what it's like to pour back into you?

 

As a result of this sacred time to myself, I've started to…

 

✨ Cultivate a daily meditation and yoga practice

✨ Document my story through journaling a ton

✨ Fall in love with the kitchen, taking my time to cook with locally sourced vegetables

✨ Read multiple books that have accumulated in my Kindle

✨ Sleep in without an alarm, while waking up to the beautiful Apus (mountains) to greet me

✨ Confront challenging emotions I've suppressed, meeting them with metta love

✨ Write poetry and music again 🥲

 

These are things I've been calling in for my life, but haven't been able to until the universe literally stripped my phone from me. Five years has been invested into me growing this business from scratch, that I strayed away from my roots as an artist - and now she's finally been given the space to play! I've also spent so much time dreaming about 2023 and what that's going to look like when it comes to “service” - and how life can revolve around the above (versus the other way around).

 

While abundance is often mistaken for how much money we have in the bank account, I've come to redefine it with how much spaciousness I have to savor these moments. It's been a precious time to also heal my heart, and to learn how to be my best companion through this experience of solo travel. Even in my solitude, I've expanded my global community of other incredible BIPOC artists and healers along the way. ❤️‍

 

 

My first week here was spent at a women of color plant medicine retreat led by my dear friend Liz Jones, and it's also what originally called me to this land. It amazes me what we've been able to create from our imagination, since I remember us as roommates together over a year ago for a separate retreat in Phoenix, Arizona as we dreamed this kind of space into existence. (By the way, she's opened up a waitlist for her November 2023 Get Grounded Goddess retreat where you'll get $500 if you apply before December 31!)

 

This is the first time I've ever intentionally leaned into my “rest cycle” as a Manifestor in my human design - which means taking a long period of time off while trusting that the clarity of my next steps will emerge when I honor this. And while it may not be in total integrity of me to even send a newsletter out during this phase, I'm also practicing informing people of my whereabouts so as not to leave folks completely hanging. After all, Your Story Medicine would not exist without your continued support. 🙏 

 

In less than a week, I will be boarding a plane to Costa Rica for a month to embark on another journey. (If you listened to my last podcast episode linked below, just know that much has shifted since then… This story is thus far still unfolding.)

 

Who I'll emerge as on the other side, we'll see! 

Until then, I'll be off the grid until mid-January while returning with a new set of wings. 🦋

 

By the way, here's some of the books I've dove into these past several weeks:
 

📚 Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach

📚 A Life of Liberation by Ryuu Shinohara

📚 A Path with Heart by Jack Kornfield

📚 The Shamanic Bones of Zen by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel

📚 Love and Rage by Lama Rod Owens

📚 The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer

📚 A Fierce Heart by Spring Washam

… to name a few. 😉  

 

Enjoy! May this also be an invitation to lean into your own season of rest so that you may deepen the well of compassion for yourself and all beings. Until next year…

 

As many of you know, I started Your Story Medicine with a deep curiosity about how to connect with my ancestors, especially as someone who was born and raised in the United States. In my previous solo podcast episode, I announced that I would be taking a sabbatical for the remainder of the year to tend to my wellness and to reconnect with my own ancestors. 🙏

 

I thought that returning to Thailand this time would be a way for me to be reminded of my medicine, but spirit clearly had other plans for me. 

 

However, my life has taken a very different turn…