It’s our 25th anniversary today (on July 25th) so it feels like a wonderful celebration to share with you.(Confetti! Bouquets flying through the air! Tinkling glasses!) 

My husband and I are celebrating our 25th anniversary this summer. In the week leading up to this auspicious day, I got a download for a mini-series of articles I’ll be sharing with you over the next few weeks: 7 Spiritual LessonsLearned from 25 Years of Marriage.

This series is being featured in Brainz Magazine so please click the link to read the rest of the article.

Click Here

 May you have an exceptional week filled with love, empowering moments and clarity of mind. 

With devoted love and long-lasting courage,

Christina

>Creator of Courageous Self-Care

>So grateful for all the wedding gifts we received all those years ago; one of my favourites continues to be the Henkel sheers from my super practical and wise Uncle Franz - we use them everyday!

>Super excited for the...

We’re back from camping (just) and, of course, I have some highlights and stories to share.

Our home in the outdoors was probably the nicest campsite we’ve ever experienced. The Whistlers Campground in Jasper National Park is exceptional. There were brand-new hot showers and washroom buildings within a short walk of every campsite loop. Those buildings also had cell phone charging stations and electrical sockets! (Not that we go camping to stay plugged in but it was very nice to be able to charge our phones to continue to take spectacular photos and get directions to hikes and lakes.)

Another wonderful thing about the campground is the rules; no more fires, cannabis or alcohol past 11pm. I am so grateful for those guidelines because it means that only a certain kind of camper chooses to go there; the kind of camper who likes to sleep. It was a tremendous gift. 

For the first time ever, the four of us camped in a palatial tent. Usually, we use our backpacking tent...

I’m big on reflecting and as I’ve been doing so over the last few weeks, I must admit that I may be at capacity. It’s possible I’ve said yes to a few too many things (which I don’t necessarily like to admit because I tend to have the view that I have boundless energy and unlimited time).

Currently, I’m doing 50+ client sessions/month, managing the chats for a variety of calls, ghostwriting a book, editing another book, writing my weekly blog, doing the occasional BEST session (Bio Energetic Synchronization Technique), and teaching online yoga. 

On the homefront, my husband and kids are on holiday and so there’s far less alone time and a big adjustment. 

My personal devotion to my well-being means that I get on the yoga mat every day for at least 5 sun salutations, go for a walk, meditate, do my daily rituals and make most of our meals from scratch. 

All that to tell you that I’m going to lead by example and take this...

Ever since the days of yore when I was in the Stampede Band ColourGuard (you know, the girls - and occasional boy- who wave flags around in time to the marching band music), our family has headed out to the mountain town of Canmore for Canada Day. It’s close to Banff so it’s a spectacular venue for a parade and celebration. 

We’ve missed a few years here and there but for the most part, that’s the Canada Day plan, as it was this past weekend. (Here's a family photo from a few years ago.)

We decided not to partake in the pre-parade pancake breakfast this year so we headed out for the 45-minute-ish drive with the goal of arriving before noon in time to see the main event. 

Since it was the first day of summer holidays, we found ourselves on the highway with a multitude of other people with similar plans. We didn’t drive to Canmore so much as crawl. In fact, if there had been a toddler with great stamina walking beside our car, they...

Me: Crying to my family because I’m doing so much and can’t take on one other thing. I need help!

Also Me: I think it’s time to relaunch my podcast!

Also Me: Yes, I can take on that new project for sure!

Maybe you do this too in your own way. Or maybe it’s just me. At any rate, I was wondering, “How does this happen?”

(Bewildered dog moment.)

Here are my musings.

1- I think it happens because we need to find the edge of our capacity in order to rein things back in. Expansion (which is our souls’ ultimate purpose) isn’t linear. It’s more of an out and in scenario. 

2- It also happens (at least for me) when I follow my heart. I used to make mostly mind-based decisions but now my choices have moved more into a heart-based experience. If my heart says yes, I do my best to follow that guidance, even if (and especially) if it doesn’t make logical sense.

3- When you cultivate a favourable experience with time, you can trust...

My son, Oakley, celebrated his 15th birthday last Thursday, just one day after his Grade 9 graduation.

Oakley’s grade 9 year was the best year of his school life and we are so thrilled he courageously went out of his comfort zone to land in an ideal school for his last year of junior high. 

Now for the llamas.

For his birthday, Oakley received this card. 

Then on Saturday, I pulled the Llama card from my animal deck as guidance for the Yoga for Divine Alignment class I taught online. The message of Llama is to be unbothered. Little did I know I was going to get to practice being unbothered in just a few hours' time.

Later in the day, whilst taking my iodine supplement, I spilled that very dark amber liquid onto our white marble counter. For a few moments, all I could do was stare as the iodine puddle spread. Thanks to Llama’s energy, though, I remained unbothered.

Since iodine is quite pricey, I wondered if I could somehow direct the puddle back into...

Before we dive into sunshine, walls and detachment, a brief announcement: The Courageous Self-Care 1/2 Year Review is coming up later this month. For more details on that, go to the Christina Recommends section below. You'll recognize it by the words Christina Recommends. 

And now back to detachment learned through sunshine on walls.

In our home, we have some east-facing windows through which the sun permeates the neighbours’ leafy trees every morning. The resulting reflection on our walls can be truly magical because not only are there the shapes of leaves and branches, the light is infused with the subtle grid of the screens over the windows. It creates a diffuse image that dances when there’s a breeze.

Here's an example of what it looks like, although when I asked my camera to focus, it said, "No thank you". You get the idea. 

One morning, I was captivated by such an image on the wall. The way the light shone through created a face of an...

Every year, I work with three intentions. I used to make them really specific outcomes but the more I’ve learned about energy and intentions, the more I’ve released my attachment to how things turn out. Now, it’s all about the feeling. 

One feeling I’m working with right now that I am absolutely loving is the feeling of Victory. It kind of feels like the Winged Victory of Samothrace - all flowy and majestic, but I would go so far as to even add a head. It’s that good!

Here’s how I’ve been connecting with Victory. 

Intentional Practice #1 - Visit Your Memory Vault

Upon waking each morning, I consider how victory feels before getting out of bed. I go through the previous day’s events and note where there were victorious moments. They might be seemingly tiny (if I were to judge, which I don’t - any victory is welcome), like getting the dishes done or doing my sun salutations. (Yay me! This is what I say to myself to...

It was another significant week in the Marlett household. The primary theme for the past few days was: Graduation!

Zoe, who turned 18 a couple of weeks ago, went and decided to also throw in a graduation to the mix for good measure, just to get as many milestones into one month as possible.

Although, technically, there’s still another month of school including final exams, graduation ceremonies are usually held in May in Calgary, most likely due to venue bookings. 

Having a child (almost) complete high school causes one to reflect. 

Here are a few musings that floated across my recent awareness.

Rituals

As a culture, we have very few rituals remaining, which is a shame because the brain absolutely needs ritual in order to adjust to significant changes. 

Zoe wasn’t thrilled to be going to a 4-hour graduation ceremony to watch some 700 students she didn’t know walk across the stage to get their diplomas. Frankly, we felt the same way. However, we...

I love to laugh. I place a very high value on the things that tickle my funny bone because joy, hilarity and light-heartedness are the vibrations where I want to hang out. When things get super challenging, I do my best to find the levity in the situation because truly, what else can you do?

When we were in Mexico recently and had some challenges with our son, Oakley, my husband and I were discussing what to do and we brought a lot of humour into the situation. Our daughter, Zoe, said, “I don’t think you guys are taking this seriously enough.” 

We loved that she was looking out for her brother and said so. We also said, “If we don’t laugh about it, it would just make a challenging situation even worse. And we’ve worked very hard to get to a place where we can have fun and find the comedy, even in the tougher moments. I don’t think she agreed but at least she saw a new point of view. 

I don’t know if you’ve noticed...