Some years are like being caught in a plunging wave that at first, beckons you with a playful curl and then, drops you into the frenzy of its internal tumble, before spitting you out against the sandy ocean floor with violent speed, leaving you floundering, fighting against the ocean’s mighty force to reach the surface and urgently fill your lungs with air. Over and over again. That was this year for me.
2022 has taught me to navigate the waves of life as a surfer does. With equal parts hope, determination, resilience and surrender.
I learned that I have more strength and capacity than I ever thought. It taught me a level of emotional maturity that was new to me that helped me handle the knockdowns. It gave me opportunities I didn’t know I wanted. It asked me to reclaim my life as my own. As a woman and a human in this very strange cosmic experiment that we call life.
My most recent piece of writing was about how when the question ‘what would make me feel good?’ isn’t big enough anymore, the question ‘how does life want to be expressed through me?’ replaces it. Read the article here.
In 2023, I am:
- Splitting the forward-facing parts of myself as A Person On The Internet into 3.
- Holding the inward-facing parts of myself close so they can rest in the chaotic mystery and intelligence of life. What that means is that my work is coming to rest in 3 separate specific fields instead of being all these other pieces at once.:
1. ‘Vienda’ as my personal brand. It always has been a personal brand in many ways, but I felt like I had to stunt and martyr parts of myself in order to be recognised as a professional in my field(s). It made me sad that I felt like couldn’t share myself fully, including how silly I actually am behind closed doors or how much I love clothes and fashion (almost exclusively second-hand because I believe in sustainability and new is never the answer) or how playful I am because, aside from being playful, I also want to talk about the truth of things which include difficult and confronting topics. I was afraid that too much playfulness would take away their weight and meaning. This part of my work will continue evolving, here in my emails to you, in all of my articles, in my writing over at ‘kismet’ and on Instagram.
2. Plannher as my first and so far only product brand heralding a new intuitive and gentle approach to planning, specifically designed to encourage one’s feminine nature, coupled with journaling practices for holistic, self-reflective, and introspection-informed growth and happiness. My COO Stephanie and I have big dreams and visions to see Plannher reach more people and the tools to be far more accessible across the globe.
3. The Mentor Training as the extension of my psychology, mental health and embodied healing background which aims to be the world’s most accessible and leading-edge training for people to help people by changing how we think about leadership and community while enhancing world peace through self-knowledge, compassion and tools for growth and change.
As of this morning, the website is as complete as it can be at this point, and I would love you to check it out, even if to let me know if we’ve missed any spelling errors (despite combing every page 100 x I’m sure we have missed something somewhere 😅) or haven’t been clear enough.
If becoming a trained mentor is of interest to you, I strongly advise you to join the waitlist, as those on that list will receive a very generous special offer valid only for 10 days from when enrolments open on Monday, January 2. Please peruse The Mentor Training website here.
Before I close this chapter and this calendar year with you, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart with the deepest gratitude for all your support, kind words, marvellous replies to these emails, solidarity during challenging seasons, and outpouring of generosity I receive from you, so very often.
You being here with me brings me the community and sense of belonging that I have always wished for.
Thank you. Until next time.
Love,
Vienda
P.S. I promised some of you I would write a full list of the lessons I’ve learned in 2022, but there’s no more room for those in this transmission, so here are 3 of the biggest, with an exhaustive list due, in the new year:
3 of my biggest lessons this year:
1. Regardless of what we say, ultimately it’s our energy and integrity that matters. If actions thoughts and words are not in alignment, it creates cognitive dissonance, a fragmentation of the mind, body and soul and the things you say you want in your life can never arrive. Because you are out of alignment with them.
2. How beautiful it is for the understanding to fully land with you that you don’t need to chase things, prove your worth, or run to be seen, loved or validated. That actually, the more you recognise your value, worth and Beingness the more the world reflects all that back to you.
3. You can only become whole by seeing the parts of yourself that you don’t really love and staying with them until you find understanding and compassion for why they’re here. And then being really sweet and loving with yourself because you realise they come from an innocent place. That’s how their charge transforms from a burden to a gift.