I’m Back! Where Did I Go?

Dear Readers,

If you follow my blog regularly, or even if you’re a new reader, you may have noticed that there’s a big content gap from March until now. I dropped off the face of the earth, but where did I go? What happened? And why did you stop receiving newsletters and seeing new articles?

Well, 2015 has been an interesting and intense year. Last fall, I won a book publishing contract with Hay House, and I started writing the book this year. I picked a deadline of June of this year to submit my finished manuscript, but I hadn’t quite planned things right. I sorta underestimated the impact of the following:

1. Selling Our Home

My husband and I frequently talked about moving to a better school district because our son is gifted. My little six-year old LOVES math, and calculates complex math equations in his head for FUN (e.g. 21 cubed = 9,261), When he started multiplying at the age of four, we realized that we needed to get him into a school district where it would be more challenging for him.

So we finally bit the bullet this year. The first step was to sell our home. Since our house was only five years old, I figured that there couldn’t be too much to do to get it ready for sale. Whoa, I was way off on that assumption!

In order to afford a decent home in the better school district, we had to sell our current home for top dollar—and we had to sell it fast in order to move in time to register our son for the next school year. I did everything I could to present our house in the most flattering manner so that it would sell fast and for a good price.

My days consisted of writing my book, packing, writing, cleaning the house, writing, buying stuff to stage the house, writing, staging the house, writing, installing a stone patio in the backyard by ourselves, writing, and more packing.

Staging the living room shelf was a multi-week project in itself. I actually looked up online how to stack books. Did you know that there are seven different ways to stack books on a shelf?

This deceptively simple looking shelf took hours of work. I did not use all the book stacking techniques! :)
This deceptively simple looking shelf took hours, but I did not use all of the book stacking techniques! 🙂

Fortunately, our home sale went smoothly, but then came…

2. Summer Vacation

I must have been crazy to think that I could productively write my book while my son was on vacation. It turned out that the only time I could write was when he was asleep. So, I would either stay up really late, or I would get up at 5 A.M. and write until my son woke up.

Of course, he soon figured out that Mommy was awake early, and he would get up even earlier so that he could find me typing away on the kitchen table, and then he’d want to play.

3. Buying a New Home

A funny thing happened to the San Francisco Bay Area real estate market this summer—it went insane. Houses were selling in 2 to 3 days for 20% over asking price with multiple offers on the table.

As a result, I had to be on top of things in order to snag a home. House hunting became a full-time job for me. I spent hours  scouring the online listings. As soon as a halfway decent home came on the market, my husband and I dropped everything to drive over an hour to view the home.

I’m happy to say everything worked out even better than we had planned. We thought our next house would be a transitional home—good for about five years until we were able to afford a better home in the future.

The Universe had other plans for us. We found our dream home!

In fact, I’m sitting on the deck right now as I write this blog post. Of course, following the theme of this year, I didn’t realize how much time it would take to pack our stuff, move it, and then set it up in the new home.

Our cat was loving the moving boxes.
Our cat, Furball, was loving the moving boxes.

If I wasn’t doing something house-related, I was spending every spare moment writing my book in order to meet my deadline in June—which by the way, I ended up missing because of the above mentioned circumstance. So, I was writing well into September.

I Was Pulled Off Balance

While the entire year has been intense, May through July were particularly chaotic and stressful as that’s when all the house-related stuff was going on. I must have gained 4 or 5 pounds during this period. I was eating because I was stressed, and I knew why I was doing it, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself.

Fortunately, after July, things began to settle down, and that’s when I felt the gentle reminder from my body that it was time to return to my center. Now, you may be wondering what exactly do I mean by the term, center?

This one little word is the key to health and vitality, and living a balanced life.

My Apologies…

Before I explain the word, center, in more detail, I would like to take a moment to ask for your forgiveness if you sent an email, wrote a comment on my blog or Facebook, and never heard back from me.

I do sincerely apologize. You are important and I value your comments and messages. However, my blog attracts tens of thousands of readers a month, and it is simply no longer possible for me to answer everyone personally.

I do want to let you know that I do read every single message and comment that I receive. I’ve created a giant spreadsheet to compile everyone’s questions and feedback. And I use this spreadsheet to help me figure out which topics to write about, and which workshops and programs to teach. I’ve been reviewing the spreadsheet a lot recently to see how can I best answer what people are asking.

It is my heart’s passion to teach people how to heal themselves, but as a full time mom, I have to find ways to do this in a leveraged fashion while also keeping myself in balance.

And that brings us back to the concept of center.

What Is Your Center? And Why Is It Important?

This is a really important concept for health. Regardless of what ails you, healing happens when you move toward your center—this helps bring your body back into balance.

Imagine a tree with its roots deep in the ground. When the wind blows, as long as the tree can sway and bend, its core stays grounded. When the wind stops blowing, the tree returns to its center. The tree has an innate awareness of where its center is—it’s simply where the trunk meets the ground and where its roots are most concentrated.

You are like a tree, and you also have an innate sense of balance. Life circumstances are the wind blowing the tree. Sometimes you experience a gentle breeze, and other times, you are hit with torrential gusts. As long as you are aware of your center, you can always return to it. This is your source of strength and life force.

However, when the wind is strong and pervasive, we sometimes forget. Throw in a stressful project at work, perhaps a falling out of a relationship, or a financial crisis, and what happens is that over time, people forget to return to where they are strongest. This slowly pulls the body off balance, and if you continue on this trajectory, health issues arise.

During the summer, that’s what happened to me. I got so caught up with the stress of buying, selling, and moving homes that I gradually got pulled off my center. This resulted in me gaining several pounds, and it also drained my qi (life force energy). Luckily, I was able to catch myself before things progressed too far, and I steadily found my way back to my center.

How to Return to Your Center

If your life feels chaotic and your body is craving balance, you may be wondering how do you return to your center? Perhaps you’re expecting me to give you a list of things to do such as a diet protocol, or some generic advice like getting enough rest and exercise, or taking the time to nurture yourself.

While these are all wonderful words, they’re not going to return you to balance. Before you take action, you must first be in the right mindset. Otherwise, you’re simply going through the motions without the commitment. And eventually, you lose your way because you lose the motivation to keep following through with the actions.

The Necessary Shift to Return to Your Center

Start with your thoughts. You have to transform them from the thoughts of someone who is off balance to the thoughts of someone who is in balance. What?!!

Okay, I’ll explain by first describing how my thoughts led me off my center. As I was preoccupied with everything related to moving, I stopped paying attention to my thoughts. Rather than consciously focus on the things that raised my vibration, I allowed my mind to wander.

Everything we encounter in life has an intrinsic vibration to it. Some things have a lower frequency, while others have a higher frequency. For example, a freshly picked apple has much higher life force energy than a dehydrated apple flake found in a box of shelf-stable cereal.

Reading an inspirational book on personal growth has a higher vibration than reading about what Kim Kardashian wore during her pregnancy. You may still be doing the same act of reading, but one version raises your vibration, while the other lowers it.

After a long and emotionally intense day, it’s easy to flip open your tablet and mindlessly surf the Internet. I personally find it quite soothing to a certain degree because it lets me veg out. However, over time, it can also be numbing. It’s a way to check out of life rather than address the things that are draining your energy.

Sometimes you do need a break, but when it becomes a consistent practice, then you get into the habit of choosing things with a lower vibration. You voluntarily put blinkers on, and you lose the motivation to do the things that support your health and well-being.

On the other hand, when you choose things with a higher vibration, you feel rejuvenated, and that’s when you receive the energy and inspiration to keep moving in a positive direction—back towards your center.

How to Choose Higher Vibes

All it takes is a bit of vigilance to keep up with your higher vibration as opposed to the Kardashians. Whenever you find yourself overwhelmed, stuck, or feeling blase, look at it as an opportunity to raise your vibration.

If you catch yourself thinking negatively, complaining, or doing things that lower your vibration, you can turn things around by looking for the things in your life that you appreciate. Abraham-Hicks describes this process in brilliant detail in their book, The Astonishing Power of Emotions

Perhaps you appreciate your family, home, or the fact that you are alive. Take a moment to thrill and revel in this. And then go about your day as usual until the next opportunity arises. The key is to be consistent with your vigilance. As you continue managing your thoughts, your outlook gradually shifts until you find yourself feeling inspired to make the changes that make you feel even better.

Each incremental thought and action takes you closer towards your center. As you get closer, the pull becomes stronger, like bringing two magnets together. And then, you become more rooted in your center.

Be well.

Wishing you and your loved ones amazing health and vitality,
Holly

17 thoughts on “I’m Back! Where Did I Go?”

  1. Dear Holly
    I am from Malaysia. I am a freelance yoga instructor. I have been interested to learn more about Chinese foot reflexology as I believe in natural healing. So glad that I stumbled your blog one day as I was looking for some information. I have recently learnt to use therapy massage balls to practice self massaging. Reading your posts have given me lots of useful information.
    I enjoy reading your posts and thank you so much for the great sharing.
    I am glad that you have settled down in your new home and back to writing and sharing your knowledge.
    Thanks for reminding us to come back to our centre. As a yoga practitioner we are constantly reminded to keep ourselves balance in order to experience harmony and peace.
    Thanks again and I wish you well and peace. Namaste.

    1. You’re welcome :). Glad to hear that you are finding my posts useful. Yoga is a wonderful practice for staying balanced and centered 🙂

  2. Thank you Holly! This newsletter arrived at the perfect time…I am totally off center. Have had debilitating back pain for the first time in my life. It took all of October to resolve. Just when it did, I contracted a bacterial infection in my small colon…went to the emergency room twice and was admitted to the hospital the second time. I just got home two days ago with quite a bit of discomfort.
    Anyway, my point is I now realize how off center I got and how to get back there. Ever grateful to you!!!

    1. I am so glad to have delivered a message to you at the right time. I can feel you’re already heading back to your center! Good for you 🙂

  3. I have a very dear friend that has Stage 4 breast metastatic CA. It is in her brain, spine, lungs, leg. She is getting I-brance treatment and has had radiation to brain and spine. Do you have anything that specifically deals with cancer. Would love to share with her. She needs all the help she can get.

    1. I’m sorry to hear your friend is struggling. Cancer requires a holistic whole body, mind, heart, and spirit approach to healing. The more emotional “baggage” she can release, the more this will help her body return to balance. Sending light and love to your friend.

  4. I suffer from depression and can’t leave the house
    my head feels like it has a tight band round my eyes ache
    and I feel mentally and physically ill antidepressants dont
    work for me

    1. It is necessary to get into a better feeling place by incrementally improving your thoughts, even going from depressed to slightly less depressed will start you on your way. I highly recommend reading, The Magic by Rhonda Byrne. I have heard of people in “hopeless” situations completely changing their life around by following the recommendations in this book: http://amzn.to/1OQRf1v

  5. Hi Holly,

    Congrats on shifting in your dream house and finding your way back to the center. Thank you for writing this post, it couldn’t have been more timely. Lately, I have been feeling off-centered, panicky and dizzy. I am better now but I would still like to know what foot points to rub for panic and dizziness.

    1. Thank you! Panic and dizziness could have multiple roots that differ for each person. It’s always best to balance the body as a whole. My new book, Sole Guidance, is going to be released in the summer of this year. It’s a brilliant way to learn and practice Chinese Reflexology in more depth.

    1. For reflexology for the eyes, I would recommend the Chinese Reflexology for Healthy Eyes video. Maybe I will teach another session this year as it seems to be a very popular topic. If I do, I hope to *see* you there (bad pun intended!) LOL

Leave a Reply to Holly Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *