We’re here. It’s March.
On March 7th, my company turns SIX. Six!
Six years since I marched into City Hall in San Francisco and declared this a business.
Six and a half years since we launched this website. Seven years since the idea and the first vision.
And nearly two years since we opened the Destuckification Playground, our fabulously crazy not-like-anything-else-in-the-world center in Portland, Oregon.
It’s a lot to celebrate. Also, my business and I share our birthday, so it’s a pretty big day of Reflecting for me personally as well.
Hello, March. What I want from this experience.
Oh, March. If I am going to enter as I wish to be in it, then I want to take this moment to connect to how I want to feel.
The qualities that I want to spend time with this month.
Presence. Sweetness. Ground. Grace. Possibility. Belonging.
The superpowers of MARCH.
Transition. Forward movement. Expansiveness. Shelter. Passage. Springtime. Entry.
Turning the page. Naming the moon.
This morning I turned the page to March on the gorgeous Playground calendar.
There’s a space to write in the name of the moon, and I thought I didn’t know what it should be, but then I knew:
The Moon of ARRIVAL.
March, I am looking forward to these things about you:
Expanding into the MUCH larger Playground space. Yay! Excitement!
Painting the new Playground. Preparing to move into my new offices.
Enthusing gleefully!
Gearing up to open the new Shiva Nata studio.
My birthday. The Director told me that all sorts of important things happen through the passage of this particular birthday. It’s about sevens, again.
Walking in the park.
Feeling strong.
Flowers EVERYWHERE.
The air smelling like dirt and freshness and new openings.
The March Rally (Rally!), of course.
Playing happily at the Floating Playground, which just opened YESTERDAY and is already an astoundingly magical place.
What will help me this month?
Paying attention to internal architecture: tubes and arches.
Talking to my spine.
Getting low.
Rolling around on the floor doing old Turkish lady yoga.
Being outside.
Dreaming my dreams and writing about them. The writing part is important.
PLAY!
What does the Director have to say?
She says:
“Your genius is culture. You know better than anyone how to establish culture that is safe, playful, unique, creative and joyful. You know how to make environments where people can get to know their internal wise and fascinating selves. When you recognize the importance of living in that world yourself, everything else can happen really easily.
This is so much bigger than you think. And it will be so much more fun than you think. But the only thing that matters now is making sure that every day you are dedicating time and energy to making space for yourself.
Make space for yourself so that you can do your work through humming your happy hum.
You think you don’t know how to do this but you do! I’ve even seen you do it.
I am with you every step of the way. Keep asking me and I will remind you.”
March, I hope you feel welcome.
I’m really glad you’re here. I’m glad that we’re here.
I am going to try to remember that Now Is Not Then. That my relationship with you-now is different than my relationship with any other March of years past.
Show me what you know. I’m up for the adventure.
Play with me? And comment zen for today.
You are welcome to write your own Hello, March.
You can write March a letter, drop off some gwishes, or give it a new name.
(If you like, peek at other months — July and August and September and October and November and December and January and February.)
We all have our stuff. We’re all working on our stuff. We take responsibility for our stuff. Because without sovereignty and spaciousness, this whole thing falls apart.
And we make this a safe space by not telling each other what to do, how to be or how to feel. We make room for each other.
Wishing you a beautiful and welcoming March.
Follow
I should really take this from you: Now is not Then 🙂
Happy birthday, Havi! And Happy Birthday, Fluent Self! The world is blessed by both of your presence.
Hooray March! March is not quite so srpinglike here in Denver, but we make do.
I name you the Moon of Clearing and Clarity.
Qualities I want:
Play. Sweetness. Sovereignty. Forward motion and productivity. Writing, writing well, writing and meeting deadlines. Fun, joy. Ship-SHaping! TReehouse time and all that brings.
I want to make Great Strides on the book. I want to get started on the Other book too.
I want to continue with my energy protocols and cleaning/clreaing/purifying. I want to eat better food and do more yoga and FLAIL. I havent flailed in weeks!
I want to dance and make art. I want to sleep enough and nap. My most recent instruyction wasd that I needed “extreme self-care” and ease. I want to give that to myself. Why the hell si that so hard?
And I want to pay down my credit card and buy Non-sucky yoga or the Art of Embarking by the end of the month.
Plus movement on projects, like Mapping the Isle du Rhum and EoS.
Happy birthdays to havi and the playground!
Happy Birthday, Fluent Self! Happy Birthday, Havi!
Wishing you both everything that you wish for for yourself, in March. I really don’t know what I’d do without this beautiful online space now. The internet AND the world would be a poorer place, that’s for sure.
And March, for myself I am Gwishing for the Superpowers of Solitude, Focus, and Renewal, please.
Happy birthday to both of you!
And hello, March! I’m looking forward to warmer weather and some better times ahead…
A wonderfully happy birthday to Havi and the Flunet Self!
Hello March!
What I am looking forward to this March:
-steps taken to take care of myself and have fun – possibilities include a trip to the beach, the Celtic Ren Fest, a massage
-spring-ness – nice weather for being outside, wildflowers, orange blossoms, longer days
-being done with the Central Switch
-getting back to some kind of exercise pattern
-making further progress on my knee
-playing in the Floating Playground
-Mini-Rally
-Progress on various projects
Possible challenges in March:
-having hoped for events (like the beach) not happen
-continued challenges with overwhelm and time and money monsters
-various new work projects and roles
-finding my way into a healthy and comfortable relationship with the Floop
-my relationship with Fergus, and impending 1 year clock starting
What do I want to experience in March?
gentle progress
blooming and blossoming
sunshine
deep, cleansing breaths
shedding, releasing
connecting
delight
comfort
support
What do I want to give to March?
My appreciation
My presence
My breath
Playtime
Naptime
Loving curiousity
Hello March. Let’s play.
Hellooooooooooo March and fellow March explorers!!
Goodbye, February
You were different. I adored you for it, too.
You showed me strength an indepence all over again, and in a new format. All was not easy, but February, you were my container for transitioning. I transition, with you, from travel to having a new home.
I would like to take with me from February
Strength, and compassion. Sanity, a sense of Alice-in-wonderland-ness: I know what is true even if everything around me spins continuously.
Hello, March
Very excited to meet you.
What i gwish for you
I gwish you to be a moon of new beginnings but also – of familiar beginnings. Of starting in a place I know. Of digging deeper through a path I walked before. I know you, March. I know you, student-life and phd-work. But I am eager to know more. I am excited to see what else there is. I have energy and I have an inkling you might bring me energy to.
Moon I name you the Moon of Shelter.
Qualities
familiarity. peace. presence. noticing. beauty. beginning. spring. recovery. permission. enjoyment. strength. protection.
What I would love to learn more about
The floating playground! so excited to explore, rejoice, mcgrumble and oodle.
My paper-project. The foundation I am building.
Clews! about the forward motion, about the after-thesis-era, about, most importantly – JOY and EASE.
Future Me
You are fine. All is fine. Enjoy the emptiness of the days and the freedom of your thought. Be proud of what went well. Practice what you preach your students: do something small and it will be enough.
Confetti + sparkles for The Fluent Self + Havi’s birthdays! Giving thanks for all the Pisces in my life.
Goodbye February. Loving hand-on-heart sign for you.
Thank you for being a home for my emotional transition back to LC. I’m sorry for resenting you because you didn’t bring me a job. Here are some of the things that were great about you:
-Trying new experiments.
-A fun mini-vacation in Chico (proxy!)
-Little flecks of clarity + permission about my money situation. Not more than I can stand, just bits of it.
-Battlestar Galactica.
-Friday rituals, and the man I’ve shared them with.
-More interview practice.
-Kitten cuddles.
-A bonus day! Including snow, driving adventure, napping, and a new tradition.
Here are some things I’d like to try in the future:
-When the weather clears up for a few days in that mock-spring, that’s when the allergies start to flare up. I’d like to be prepared for that in the future, have the medicine ready to add to my routine. Look for some local honey to add to my tea.
-I spent a lot of this month not being present, and I’d like to see if I can play with being present a bit more and taking notes on it so I can remember what it’s like to be present in February.
-I’d like to find out how it feels to treat myself super, super gently in February.
Hello March. Loving hand-on-heart sign for you too.
This is the Moon of Tinkering. The qualities I would like to experience: Permission. Expansion, like taking really deep breaths. Giggles. Filling up on me-ness, especially the me-ness that isn’t stuck in the pain. To me, tinkering is about changing little things, experimenting, and taking notes on what happens. It’s not about making huge sweeping changes, but making little stretches.
March, your superpower is Being in the Middle. Being comfortable with the transition and being In It. You are the reminder that Winter Always Turns To Spring. Even if it’s not ready to happen *yet*, there are clues in you that lead the way. You’re like a bridge!
What I’m looking forward to in March:
-Costumes!
-Finding fun things to do with my time, so it doesn’t just stretch out endless + empty.
-Seeing the Hunger Games movie, and dressing up for it. I need a pink wig!
-Spring cleaning/space clearing, except not in an awful way like that sounds. Sage and spaciousness and sparkles.
-Cherry blossoms.
-Further adventurings with man-friends.
-Giving myself permission to learn the things that I claim I already know, but don’t.
-Tiny spurts of inspiration and destuckification. I don’t have to go to some crazy 10-day retreat and come out a brand new person. I can tinker.
-We get 5 Saturdays this month. More bonuses!
-Unexpected miracles.
Goodbye, February! and thanks for all the clarity. I would like to take that with me as I say,
Hello, March!
What are the qualities I would like to spend time with this month?
Sovereignty. Trust. Safety. Comfort. Celebration. Play! Support. and oh-so-much Love!
Superpowers of March?
Spring. Transition. Expansiveness. Green. (It’s totally a superpower.) Promises of things to come. Self-care and self-love.
Naming the Moon: The moon of presence
March, you hold so many beautiful, wonderful things:
Birthday! I get to turn 29 for the first time, which means I’m finally the same age as grandma! Oh so much fun!
Planting seeds with Simone
My friend from the river is coming to play for a weekend! (And now that I wrote that, I will forever picture her as a naiad.)
Pittsburgh and Boston. Old friends. Hotel rooms with big fluffy comforters (yum)
What will help me this month?
Self-care mantra
non-sucky yoga (the short sequences! yay!)
filling out forms. All the time.
Shiva nata
hey, I bought future me two massages. And I want to schedule appointments for her to use them. Yes? yes.
Sovereignty spray from Deborah. oh yeah.
Breathing. Lots of breathing.
Applying Elgin. All the time. (so in love!)
March, I would like to learn more about what is next and how to prepare myself for the voyage, and how all the things I’ve been doing so far have been part of the preparation. And I would like to find some people to hold my hand. And I would like to spend time in the green and the sunshine, remembering to use the magical outdoorsy places I’ve found lately to ground and replenish me. And I want to remember in all of this hustle and bustle that I am not my stuff. And that presence and noticing are awesome.
Yes, that.
Love, me
Yay Six! Six into Seven is a beautiful segue. Whole-heart sigh for your happy anniversary month, Havi!
I am silent retreating on most of what is going on in my exiting and entry (Thank you FLOOP for spawning so much; more please), but I wanted to share that I have named March the Moon of Beautiful Drama.
Love and sighs and mrrrs to everyone’s month-gone and month-to-come.
Wheeeee! It is March! I love March. Something about March makes me happy. You know, with the weather slowly moving towards spring and wildflowers blooming and animals coming out again. And sunlight! And international women’s day. And my best friend’s birthday (and mine!). But March also means the end of term is near. Which means lots of mad rushing about and completing readings and assignments. A lot of stress and monsters and unhelpful narratives about Failure and DOOM!
So, the qualities I’d like to spend time with this month:
Release. Healing. Growth. Sovereignty. Strength. Ease+Flow. Grounding. Presence. Permission. Spaciousness. Love, Belonging and Engagement (for me and for everything that may happen this month, for all the strangers and strangeness I may encounter this month).
What might help me this month:
Trusting my instincts. Self-care, lots of it. A return to exercize. Shopping at the Farmer’s Market. Resetting my budget (playing with my relationship with guilt). Believing in possibility. Making space for slightly-future-me. Making space for Bunny (and the absence of Bunny). Making space for the pain of slightly-past-me, and really loving her.
Happy birthday, Havi! And happy birthday to Fluent Self and all the wonderful people here that make it what it is 🙂
Happy Birthday, Havi! I hope you’re having a molto groovy day! And congratulations on 6 years of the Fluent Self!
Hello, March. Hello, Lion Moon.
What I want: To enjoy my work. To enjoy the release and promotion of my book. To enjoy putting my house in order. To enjoy improving my health and appearance.
The qualities I want to spend time with this month:
Strength. Comfort. Confidence. Steadiness.
The superpowers and supertools:
* The Super Raincoat — toxins slide off instead of paralyzing or contaminating me.
* Patience
* Perspective
* Experience
What will help me this month?
* Saferooms
* Massages
* Hydration
* Gentleness
* Curiosity
* Unclenching and unclutching
Also? My word of the year has morphed from “break” (aka wanting to escape unhappy patterns and habits) to “re-place.” Future Me has been murmuring to Present Me about spaciousness, sprucing-up, and spryness. Present Me is daunted, resistant, achy, and hopeful.
Happy birthday, Havi. Happiness to the company and happy March things to all.
Happy birthday, Havi! And happy birthday Fluent Self!
March… So very, very excited that you’re here. I’ve been getting wonderful little messages from my future self that things are afoot for this month, and I’m excited to see what’s coming!
Which will mean that I have to trust in the process, and not push or force what I think should happen. Just allow what’s growing to bloom in its own time. Which will be a challenge, but I’m willing to give it a try.
Happy March and sparkles to all who want them!
Oh, happy joyous birthdays to you both! Very glad we’re all here together.
Hello, March! You are Moon of the Western Marches.
This month I am looking forward to: lots of teachers to connect with. Travels to the West. More Shiva Nata. Continued transition. Ever more congruence. Coincidences and synchronicity. New people to play with, yay! And the Floating Playground – oh! Heartful sighs of pleasure and appreciation.
Also, possibly some cowboy boots.
Oh, hello, March!
Superpowers from February I would like to keep:
The superpower of rest
and the superpower of Perfect Things Appearing!
Also the superpower of Using The Wheel (because I don’t have to reinvent it! Because other people have already figured out a lot of things about the world! I love that.)
Qualities for March:
Delight. Clarity. Grounding. Compassion. Grace. Love.
Superpowers for March:
The twin superpowers of Discernment and Alignment
Also, the superpower of Savoring the Awesome
Things I am looking forward to in March:
Cleverly-hidden day off
Trip to VT with tasty foods
House decision I hope I hope
Making room!
Springy!
FLOOPity floop floop
Things I am apprehensive about in March and my plan:
I am taking a belt test in kung fu, which is new and therefore a little intimidating!
Plan: practice in new spaces so I don’t depend on the walls to know which way to turn
Remember what I already know about being nervous
Reminders about how now is not then!
Proxy! I am contemplating making a big change to my wardrobe. I think that this will change a lot of things about how I see myself and how other people see me, so it sometimes feels overwhelming. I know that taking little steps towards the new wardrobe will make the transition smooth, and I’m worried that without time pressure, I might put this off.
Plan: put some times for wardrobe-recreation in my calendar. Use March’s superpowers. Maybe there is a way to add mini-revues that would help!
What will help me in March?
Safe rooms
Lying on the floor
Fresh air
Space to process the process
Slightly-future-me says:
Remember what you already know about changing your shape. Now is a good time to talk to You Always Give Up Monster about this, and then you’ll have the ease to build a treasure map. Think about turtles! You don’t have to plan for everything.
Welcome, March!
Happy birthday The Fluent Self, Inc.!
When I read the title of this post, this poem swam up like a goldfish from the blue pond of my mind:
“When I was one, I was just begun.
When I was two, I was nearly new.
When I was three, I was barely me.
When I was four, I was not much more.
When I was five, I was just alive.
But now that I’m six, I’m as clever as clever;
So I think I’ll stay six now for ever and ever.”
~ A.A. Milne
Hello, March! I name you the Moon of Groundbreaking. Let’s be friends, okay?
Happy Birthday to you, Havi, and The Fluent Self.