Today someone asked me, "Juna, how are you?" And my answer surprised me. I said, "Wow. I feel AMAZING. Like, the BEST I have felt in years." They asked why, and my answer was simple: "I am in love with my puppy. I am in love with my partner. I am in love with the little village I live in. And the BIG one is, I am FULLY in my Creative Flow." For the last few years, I have been on a healing journey. My body was healing from mold toxicity, and my soul was in a healing crisis as I started to reexamine EVERYTHING that I thought I knew. During this time, there wasn't extra energy to create, build, or grow things. Creation time is Springtime, but I was in the thick of a long, deep, and cold Winter.
Everything needed to die. It was uncomfortable. I wanted it to end. I wanted the joy and high of creativity again. But nothing I did would speed up this essential process. Then, out of nowhere, the tender seeds of creative inspiration started to tingle awake and germinate inside of me. And here I am, JOYFULLY and PASSIONATELY in a creative flow, birthing a course I wanted to create years ago after I did my TedxTalk. AND. I. AM. HAVING. SO. MUCH. FUN.
I am creating for the joy of creating. This is new.
Today I found myself looking back with fondness and gratitude for my last few years of Winter. I needed that time to heal and integrate. I needed that time to surrender-- composting beliefs, wounds, and ideas about myself into the Great Darkness.
I needed that time. I watch friends and clients try to push their bodies and souls through a Wintry period of creative hibernation, but the pushing never seems to work. It backfires, creating anxiety, burnout, depression, and illness. Our bodies always dig their heals in. We are not machines; we are two-legged animals.
We have seasons. We have natural rhythms. We have animal bodies that need to hibernate.
Many of us don’t have the luxury of being able to listen to our animal needs, but for those that do, heed the call.