Wild Sister #25 - Thank You Edition

wildsister

ISSN: 1839-2318

Arohanui (Much love) wildsister of the month

A gratitude prayer

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July 2013

#25

thank you WILDsister

What’s inside 3

Editor’s Note

Contributors

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Tell Us What You Think!

How to Say “I Love You” With Gratitude

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Arohanui (Much Love)

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Thank You for This Experience

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A Printable Picture for You

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Quotes of the Month

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Cover image: Jessica Swift www.jessicaswift.com

Goddess Pose

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Wild Sister of the Month

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Namaste

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Affirmation of the Month

Saying Thank You for Everything

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Connecticut May Be First to Just Say No to GMO

Trust Your Gut

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Sacred Sisters

Thank You Dear Sweet Body

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How to Write a Thank You Note to the Big, Wide World

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Card of the Month

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Contribute WILDsister

A Gratitude Prayer Latest on the Blog Advertise Connect with us

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J July une Love: Love:

editor’s note 1

Beautiful wild soul, This edition marks the 2nd birthday of WILDsister.

Two years of inspiration, wildness and sisterhood.

When I think about the last two years, the ups and downs, all the learning and growing I’ve been through and we as a community have experienced, I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

I feel immense gratitude for all the women who have helped WILDsister reach this milestone. All the contributors. All the mentors, teachers, coaches, and soul sisters that have helped bring WILDsister to this milestone.

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But my biggest, most heartfelt and love-filled thank you, is to you.

You, the reader, the ultimate Wild Sister. Thank you.

Without you and your never-ending support, excitement, patience, and passion, WILDsister would not be where it is today. I would not be where I am today.

I adore our global sisterhood, you have changed my life and given me the courage and fierce determination to build WILDsister into a movement that changes the world.

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1. Reading by the ocean.

2. Tie-dye + frangipanis.

3. Making time for fun.

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Thank you,

wildsisters

{july 2013}

Editor Assistant Editor

Creative Director Jen Saunders Wild Sister

Dani DiPirro Positively Present

Danielle Tate-Stratton danitatestratton

Writers Dani DiPirro

Jess Carlson

Donna Morin

Ina Sahaja

Anne-Sophie Reinhardt

Rachel Awes

Jen Saunders

Brenda Rodriguez

Guest Writers Simonne Butler

Lindsey Colley 4

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Natalie Chouklina

Sonya Forrest

Pauline Hanuise

Michelle Czolba

Kristin Runvik

Want to join this amazning group of women by contributing to WILDsister? Click here to find out how.

let us know

what you think...

instantly

Take a photo of you reading this issue, post it on instagram + tag it with #wildsister.

I’ll re-post it and give you a shout-out on our Facebook page!

Here are a few tweetables you can send out right now {I’ll re-tweet it!}: Saying thank you with the latest edition of @wildsistermag http://tinyurl.com/b7426lo #imawildsister {clicktotweetthis} Reading: Thank You edition of @wildsistermag http://tinyurl.com/b7426lo {clicktotweetthis} Learning about gratitude with @wildsistermag http://tinyurl.com/b7426lo #imawildsister {clicktotweetthis}

pg 9 www.flickr.com / Oscar E

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pg 42

image: flickr.com / burduchwal

Tweet it!

How to Say “I Love You” with Gratitude

by Dani DiPirro

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”

—William Arthur Ward

Thankfulness — in whatever form—is essentially a way to love someone else. Let’s say someone— maybe even a complete stranger—does something nice for you. How can you express that you are happy and thankful? By being grateful. Gratitude is a universal kind of love, an appreciative kind of love. It’s something deep and meaningful and important. When you love someone, you cannot help but incorporate gratitude into that love. But what about the love you incorporate into gratitude?

There’s something vitality important about thinking about gratitude as an act of love that has inspired me to think about gratitude in an entirely new way. I’ve always thought of it as important, but now I feel as if it’s something essential—not only in terms of improving my 6

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personal relationships, but also in terms of improving the world as a whole. I’ve always wanted to cultivate gratitude, but now that I think about it in terms of love, I want to give and receive it like love. I want to use gratitude to make others feel good and I want to know that when someone is grateful for me or for something I’ve done, that his or her gratitude will mean more to mean than the simple “Thank you” I receive.

As important as it is to feel gratitude—and it is important in terms of your overall wellbeing— it’s also important to express that gratitude.

Gratitude, I’ve found, can sometimes slip through the cracks. You might feel it. You might mean to show it. But you don’t. And that’s a dangerous thing. When you forget to show gratitude, you are essentially forgetting to show love. It happens, but it doesn’t mean it’s something we should be content with

No matter what, gratefulness is love. happening. Forgetting to be grateful is a forgetfulness of love, and, I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want to forget the love in my life. It’s a precious thing, a thing that can disperse or dissolve, and for that reason I want to make every effort to show those I love how grateful I am to have them around.

Over the past month, as I’ve been thinking about gratitude in a new way, I’ve given some thought to how I can really express my gratitude—my love—for those who mean a lot to me. As with the post I wrote on Monday about expressing love, there are countless ways to show gratitude and many of them are highly individualized. One grateful act might be wonderful for someone and a pain in the ass for someone else. It’s up to you to figure out how to show your thankfulness in your own life, but here are some of the things I’ve tried to do over the past month to show those I love just how grateful I am.

How To Say “I Love You” With Gratitude • Saying thank you—and meaning it. Sounds so obvious, I know. You’re probably thinking, “I know that one, Dani!” but think about it for a minute. How often do you say thank you and really, really mean it? How often does your tone and body language and the look in your eyes convey just how grateful you are? I was raised with the please-and-thank-you manners too; we all know how important it is to give thanks.

But that doesn’t mean we’re necessarily doing it sincerely, expressing how we feel to the level we really mean it. Over the past month or so I’ve been trying really hard to say thank you with true emotion and conviction. I want those 7

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I am grateful to really know that I mean it, that whatever they’ve done for me has made a big difference in my life. Even if it’s a small act of kindness, it never hurts to be enthusiastic when you say, “Thank you!”

• Going out of your way for someone. It’s easy for use to get caught up in our busy lives and focus primarily on ourselves and what’s going on around us. But how much effort does it really take to take a pause and look around you to see if you can help someone else out?

This month I’ve tried my best to slow down and look around. There are so many people in my life that I am grateful for and it doesn’t take all that much effort to look around and see if I can help them out in some small way. Even if it’s just a phone call to my mom to say, “How’s your day going?” or holding open a door for a coworker with his hands completely full, small acts can make a big difference in people’s lives and they are great ways to show you’re grateful. You don’t always have to do the direct “thank you” thing. There are indirect ways, like going just a little bit out of your way for someone else, that can really show others how much you love them.

• Sending little cards and gifts. Now, as a disclaimer for this point, I’m just going to say that I was raised in a household where cards and gifts are a big deal. As I’ve grown older, I realize this is not the case for everyone.

Not everyone expresses love in this way and I know that, no matter what, things are no substitute for actions. People would much rather be treated well than receive a gift as a token of love. That being said, it never hurts to pick up a little something for someone who

• Treating others how they want to be treated.

You know the old saying, “Treat others how you would like to be treated”? Yeah, that’s bullshit. People don’t want to be treated the way you want to be treated. They want to be treated the way they want to be treated. This, of course, requires a lot more effort on your part, making it an extra-great way to show how much you are grateful for someone else.

It’s very easy to do things your way, to treat others as you think you’d like to be treated, but it takes way more effort to go out of your way and figure out what it is that makes someone else happy.

You have to pay attention. You have to be present. You have to make an effort. Believe me, this is not an easy one, and, worse yet, it may not be fully recognized or appreciated at the time, but, nonetheless, I think this is one of the most important things you can do when it comes to showing someone you love him or her. It is the ultimate selflessness, the primary way to recognize that someone else matters just as much (if not more!) than you do. Over the past month I’ve tried to be conscious of what others want and I’ve tried to do things the way others would want them done. This isn’t easy and I’m certainly no expert at it, but I know that it is a great way to show just how grateful you are.

Sometimes being grateful and expressing your love for someone else through your gratitude can be so easy. Other times it can get lost in the mix of life, buried somewhere under your To Do list and trampled by the millions of things you need to get done. But, as the quote above says, feeling gratitude 8

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image: flickr.com / Jaqian

means a lot to you. It doesn’t have to be a big thing, but sometimes a little surprise is just what you need to show someone how much you love—and are grateful for—him or her.

I’m a huge fan of sending cards (real cards, not e-cards—though those are better than nothing!) and I think it’s such a great, simple way to say to someone, “Hey, you matter to me. You matter so much, in fact, that I took the time to pick out, write, address, stamp, and send this card to you.” These days, with all of the click-and-send stuff we can do, that kind of thing actually means a lot.

and not expressing it is a waste of effort. It actually means something to feel grateful and that feeling can be wasted if you don’t do what you can do share it with others.

(Note: Sometimes gratitude just cannot be shared and sometimes it’s downright inappropriate to go out of your way to share it. In those cases, I think it’s best to keep that feeling as a reminder so that someday you can pass on a kind act or feeling to someone else.)

Whether or not you realized it before, or are just coming to realize it now as I am, gratitude really is love. Sometimes it’s a great big OMG kind of love. Other times it’s a small simple love. But, no matter what, gratefulness is love. It’s essential to the very essence of love and love is essential to Ws the very essence of gratitude.

Dani DiPirro is the author of Stay Positive: Daily Reminders from Positively Present and Live Happily Ever After Now: A Guide + Workbook for Living in the Present Moment. She is also the founder of PositivelyPresent.com a site dedicated to helping people live positively in the present moment. To check out Dani’s latest book, and watch the Stay Positive video, visit StayPositive365.com.

Arohanui {Much Love}

www.flickr.com / Oscar E

By Simonne Butler

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www.flickr.com / AlicePopKorn

Kia Ora

Awesome Sisters.

Thank you for having me. I’m so excited to be here!

My name is Simonne Butler. I am in New Zealand on Auckland’s Wild West Coast living a wonderfully magical life in the forest with my cat Bubbacups.

My passions are writing, healing, teaching, learning, loving, guiding, working harmoniously with nature, being of service, empowering my self and others, and facilitating traumatic stress recovery.

I look forward to this journey with you all, my beautiful Wild Sisters.

I am honoured, and as I wrote above, so excited to be here! As soon as I read July’s theme of “Thank You,” my soul started to sing and I ran to my bed, grabbed my journal, and started making a list of everything I am grateful for. Let me tell you, it is sooooo long! Since then I have had the opportunity to learn some invaluable lessons around love, compassion, strength and patience for which I am infinitely grateful and I thought I would share them with all of you wild and wonderful souls!

Before I get there, though, I would love to share some of my gratitude list. Right at the top; hot showers! They are just the best. Especially as it’s getting cold now winter’s set in. I do a lot of my best manifesting, discerning, and epiphany getting in the shower.

Next was abundance. Really, this whole post will probably end up being a massive abundance fest.

That’s what my life feels like, so I live in a brilliant state of constant gratitude for everything and abundance just flows in. It totally rocks!

One of the ways I bring abundance into my life is by writing a cheque from the abundant universe to my self every new moon and setting my intentions 10

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for the lunar cycle, as well as having post-its placed all over my house.

“Thank you Universe for bringing me my true spiritual partner and best friend to successfully cocreate my life with.”

“Thank you universe for bringing me all the money I need to achieve my dreams and destiny.”

“Thank you Universe for publishing my book exactly the way it needs to be.”

There’s even one that mentions shoes!

The trick is to be grateful before you get it and say thank you like you have just received it.

Okay, after abundance comes wonderful friends and family and amazing teachers. Then sunshine, nature, love from animals, foal kisses, being an Auntie, youtube astrologers… I could go on and on from my rapidly expanding list for days! However, my mother healing and self-empowerment over the last week is what I am truely grateful for today.

Mum had to move out of her house and hadn’t found somewhere to go so I packed up her whole house and put it in storage. Throughout the week she walked around in circles crying, lost, scared, and no help at all. When I was younger I would have thrown a tantrum, but instead every time I walked past her I gave her a big hug and let her cry in my arms for a while, telling her she was doing well and everything was going to be okay.

I tease her about being a hoarder, but the funny thing is a lot of what I packed up was stuff I no longer wanted but couldn’t quite give up so I gave to mum. Oh yes, grateful for the home truths that emerge about me while I’m dealing with my mother. So who’s the hoarder now? Huh Simonne?

Hahahaha. Time to get rid of some unnecessary

clutter on every level me thinks! I am so grateful I still have a mum, no matter what state she is in.

Spending time with her has been a beautiful gift.

Anyway, the first two days of packing her house was a really cool experience. Being with loved ones and singing along to Fleetwood Mac and Neil Young at the top of our lungs while we worked was awesome.

I went with my cousin Carissa on Friday and my Uncle Martin on Saturday. Spending time with family is not something I do very often these days, living alone in the middle of nowhere without a car, as I currently am.

It struck me during that time how we can get so caught up in our lives and striving towards our goals that we forget there are beautiful people out there that love us and want to help us and again I was washed in gratitude as I felt the abundance of love and support coming to me and mum from our loved ones and the universe. We are never alone.

Now, I’m a work in progress. Part of my re-learning that I have to come from strength, love and compassion at all times, or as my teacher calls it, “staying in heart” came when I momentarily lost the plot with my mother in an emotional outburst lasting about ten seconds on the Sunday night. The next day was such a gorgeous sunny winter day that instead of catching the train home from physio I walked about 7km through the suburbs. It was perfect. Birds greeted me at every tree I passed swirling above my head. The sun was warm on my face. I felt free. It gave me a chance to reevaluate any pain, judgment or resentment I may’ve been hanging on to from the past and release it. I sent it straight to the central sun to be transformed into light.

It helped me to see that whatever my mother was in the past, now she is a frail, scared, confused, yet still beautiful wild woman and she needs and deserves my love and respect, my patience and compassion.

Not impatience or judgment. So a HUGE “Thank you” from me goes out to the universe for providing me such a wonderful opportunity for mother healing and mother loving and reminding me how absolutely capable I am to get shit done regardless of the obstacles. Oh my goodness, something else that came from this experience. I have mad sexy trailer reversing skills. Even after 10 years! Talk about feeling empowered! It was such a marvelous feeling I am still basking in the afterglow!

See what I mean? These days my life seems to be this continuous cycle of empowerment, abundance and gratitude and I love it! It wasn’t always like that. It happened when I began to see all life’s experiences as an opportunity to learn and grow.

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Objective self examination is one more to add to the “What I am thankful for” list. It grows by the second I tell you! Goodness, I haven’t even told you about all the amazing treasure I bought home from mum’s in boxes! Super yayness!

If I really think about it, what I am truly most thankful for in this life is that I know what I am here to do and I have the means to do it. In my 38 years here on earth, I have found nothing more empowering or rewarding than knowing what I was born to do and doing it.

This brings me back to my amazing teachers and one in particular, Franchelle Ofsoske-Wyber. The co-creator of First Light Flower Essences of New Zealand, who I am eternally grateful to for showing me the way. Five or six years ago I was in her healing space as a client and she asked me what I most wanted for myself. I responded “To be an authentic and power filled healer and shaman out in the world” You know? Doing my thing and doing it well! I had no idea how I would make this come about. Not to mention I still felt unworthy…the whole, “Who do I think I am to be able to do this?” rattling around in my brain. None of the shamanic schools I researched resonated with me but there was a driving force in the core of my soul that told me this was my destiny.

Then in 2011, my teacher founded the Medicine Woman Centre for Shamanic Studies and my heart fluttered. I felt like it was created just for me and I enrolled immediately! See, so much to be thankful for! Because my teacher is true to her calling and walking the path of her destiny it allows me to walk the path of mine and that is what I am most grateful for.

Thank you all so much for having me here with you.

I look forward to meeting you again!

Arohanui Simonne Butler

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