And the year that was...
Hi Folks,This post comes a little later than hoped as my website was hacked and it has taken a few days to get it back on its feet- which I am so grateful has been accomplished. Thanks to all those people who have offered advice and support.So now over to this... (mailing list subscribers, you will have already received this in your inbox, with thanks)...There is the doing, and then there is the being.2015 invited a lot of doing for so many of us. Looking back now it reminds me how much can be done in just a year. But before we swing into the new, it is powerful to pause. In review can come insight and if we are lucky it can inform our doing, and further still, our being too.So tonight I pause.For myself, I entered 2015 in a bit of a haze, lacking focus and feeling the depths of the doldrums. But something inside me urged me to sit with that shadow and question what really wanted to be born. I sat (sometimes reluctantly). I cried. I wrote (a lot). I sat some more and thankfully within a few weeks the doldrums shifted and the darkness stepped aside. There followed a blast of a year in which my ‘doing’ had a boost of inspiration. I launched two new websites, a new coaching practice and a new business. I set myself the task of learning to drive and passed my test by May (I am still pinching myself on this one and so utterly delighted that I have finally done it). I also faced a long held dream, and fear, of teaching online and have hosted two very rewarding online courses. I created a series of seasonal planners and set up my own Etsy shop. 
Then there was my first trip to Morocco, some additional yoga teacher training with one of my role models, Elena Brower, photographing a wedding in Turkey and a wonderful trip exploring the South West coast of Ireland. The year was also punctuated with my first art exhibitions- a group show last January and my first little solo exhibition in the summer- and some artwork delightfully sold. There were public speaking engagements, seminars and workshops which I hosted, and curating the Creative Islanders series on my blog with a corresponding live event. My camera took me places too, with photoshoots and portrait sessions and a few beautiful weddings. Most surreally there was even a live painting experience at a festival. Beneath it all, like my bedrock, I taught my regular weekly yoga classes and continued exploring my own practice, which seemed to fuel it all.
So, with reflection, the doing of 2015 was vibrant and diverse bringing me into new territory and opening doors which twelve months ago were unknown to me. And of course, with the newness, comes fresh questions and fresh challenges- and it is these which I think are key.In a way I measure growth and success not with the amount of things I have done but the quality of new questions I carry as a result. I am interested in the way in which my being navigates those questions and how, in asking them, I am carried to the things I need to learn the most. The doing then is the vehicle.The ‘being’ of Clare found 2015 an intriguing one- at times exhilarating and other times tough. Reviewing my own learning I can see that this year I was confronted with having to let go of variants of control, namely, loosening the hold on perfection and releasing the need to be right all the time. ‘Right’ in fact, seems to present itself as more nuanced now, while the need for perfection has been exposed for what it really is- the fear of failure, ridicule or being truly and deeply seen.We are many layered beings and when our ‘doing’ is activated it can bring us closer to our deeper self, our vitality and the base layers which govern us. To ‘do’ our true work in the world or to show up as our true being is to be raw with vulnerability. But most brilliantly when our doing aligns with our true longing it brings us closer to our own edges and to the questions we most need to ask ourselves.
So, as we move into 2016, I am welcoming the new questions, particularly ones which probe to my being; the ones which challenge how I am showing up, how I am being of service, and how I am in relationship to others through it all.I have many ‘doing’ plans for the coming year but beyond them all my intention is to ‘do’ with aliveness, warmth, generosity and authenticity, so that my being may be strengthen and and my doing take on a greater depth, reach and vibrancy.Now, as I give 2015 a nod farewell, I give thanks too to those people who have helped to shape these last months into what there were. To the people who supported me, challenged me, questioned me, inspired me- thank you. And I give thanks too for a little being who has come into my life as this year draws to a close- to little Milly, my new canine companion, my new friend, and my new little teacher. Thank you for choosing me, and I you.And to each of you, dear readers, as you transition into 2016 may your doing be blessed by your true being, and may your questions lead you to insight.Happy New Year.Clare. (And Milly) x