I've done a lot of thinking, feeling, and soul-searching over the last few days since I got back home from Oregon, and I'm very happy to report that I've come to a decision today!

The background: I've done a LOT over the last months.

I've achieved goals, I've crossed things off endless to-do lists, I've kept up with my calendar.

I've taught countless private and group coaching sessions and created a new self-study course. I've practiced my violin.

I've run my business and done all of my own marketing, as usual.

I've shown up with sincere, loving presence and joy with a LOT of people in many different contexts – both professional and personal, strangers and family.

I stayed at an ashram in India for two months and got up at 4:15AM every day for hours of chanting and meditation, yoga, or vegetable-cutting.

I followed the strict protocol of a daily Ayurvedic wellness treatment with mostly-not-pleasant treatments and an extreme diet for six weeks.

I lost 20 pounds and gained it all back over the next 1-2 months when I got back home (not by choice).

I launched a completely new program for string players this summer and I'm teaching more than ever before and I LOVE seeing the amazing progress my students are making!

It is both humbling and totally heartwarming to see what's possible when ideas resonate and people are open to discovering who they are and what they value and love, hidden just underneath their habitual way of thinking and doing life and music.

I've traveled to Croatia with my mother, then Oregon with Mio, and back to Ohio last Saturday.

I'm going to Switzerland on Sunday, and then I'm teaching at a conference in Ireland before returning home.

I was sick last month for only the third time in 10 years (that's when I ended my marriage! no coincidence).

And now…

I AM TIRED. (Are you surprised? Of course not!  🙃)

So, what have I decided, you may wonder?

I've decided to ask myself what I “should” be doing now, and see what happens if I dare to let that go.

COMPLETELY.

Even if it's for just one moment.

When my students are caught up in all the “shoulds”, I tell them there's an easy cure for that: turn “should” into “could” and notice the difference in how you feel.

Do you notice the sense of being liberated from obligation that comes from realizing you actually have a CHOICE?

When I realized today that there are WAY too many things on my schedule and to-do lists for me to feel comfortable, I quickly realized how many “shoulds” were attached to most of the things on my lists.

What if I could turn those “shoulds” into “coulds”, and make a fresh decision about each one of those things? I wondered.

I often share with my students how we can make “clean decisions” from a place of relative ease and freedom; from a place that sees the bigger picture instead of just what's immediately in front of us – or even behind us in the past which no longer exists; and how empowering that is.

So, today, I am doing this for myself.

My first decision, which I'm making right now – is to STOP.

TO STOP EVERYTHING.

To get off the horse.

To stop time for a moment, and give that moment to myself, to simply BE.

Without moving on by imposing any “shoulds” on myself.

Instead, I am letting go and easing into my life exactly as it is right now, without needing anything at all to be different.

Right now, I can notice how I'm feeling in my mind-body-emotions-soul… and now I can notice it some more… simply BEING here…

…until suddenly, I receive a quiet flash of intuitive guidance from within, a gentle suggestion for what I COULD do next.

Free of obligation, pressure, or tension.

When inner guidance comes from this centered place of integrity (whole-person, spacious, timeless presence and awareness), the choice presented to me is simple and the action (or non-action) that happens next simply does itself.

Right now, I am choosing to stop and to live more simply.

This is my process, and my intuition led me to share it with you WHILE I'm in the process.

If you pause for a moment right now, and give yourself the gift of a moment to reconnect with YOUR self, what do you notice?

What new possible choices arise when you let go of what you think you “should” do and replace it with “could”?

If you allow your inner guidance to lead you into the next moment with ease, what happens next?

What do you decide to do?

Would you like to share your experience with me here? I'd love to hear what happened if you gave yourself this gift and the opportunity to make a “clean decision”!

With Love & Light (and much more freedom and ease than I felt this morning!),

Jennifer 🙂❤️ 

P.S. What if you could make musical decisions this way? Or career decisions? Or relationship decisions? Or dietary decisions (that's something I want to explore more for myself)?