This week I began the second-to-last semester in my grad school program in clinical mental health counseling + rehabilitation counseling

After a break (following summer semester) that was not nearly long enough 😬
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This journey keeps surprising me with its depth of challenges

It feels like a deeper or more potent version of what I experienced 10 years ago

When I was engaging with divorce, my mom’s illness and impending death, and clinging to an increasingly stressful corporate job by the skin of my teeth

I was stretched beyond thin back then

As I watched challenge after challenge line up before me
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In the years that have unfolded since then, I’ve learned to learn from my ruptures, to hold the ensuing trauma

To surrender to Life

And so, the challenges that I experience now feel like lessons delivered directly from Life

And I practice opening to them, trusting them and

Listening to Life

And what It’s trying to teach me
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But I’m still human 😊

and I find myself pondering these challenges incredulously and at times anxiously

I find myself surprised and infuriated by them

And I have thoughts that some of them feel random and downright unnecessary
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And then I come back to my Center

I feel the responsibility of this path and the heart-knowing that everything I experience and move through can be for my highest growth and learning, and that of others

And I remember two potently wise phrases (and books) by beloved spiritual teachers:

That “everything is here to help you” (Matt Kahn)

And “what’s in the way IS the way” (Mary O’Malley)

And so, I prepare to plunge yet again into deep learning—as I also meet those additional challenges

While striving to live my value of Excellence

As a way to learn fully and commit to my continued healing and growth

And that of everyone I come into contact with ❤️✨