1 Kawok: Birth of a Project

It’s 1 Kawok, the beginning of a new cycle. Kawok represents a soothing rainstorm, fierce grandmotherly love, midwifery, and slowing down as best exemplified by grandmother Turtle.

I slept poorly and woke up tired this morning, so I decided not to attend a fire ceremony I had planned to go to. Instead, I watched Mark Elmy’s Kawok trecena video and did some journaling. I’m getting inspired, feeling the ideas and plans beginning to flow.

I’m letting my creativity pour out onto the page and in these very words on the screen. I’m listening to my intuition more. I’m letting go of the need to control. I’m releasing unrealistic expectations of and demands on myself.

I’m in the seed phase, ideating, daydreaming, and pondering both a new writing project and our family’s next move. While I’m deeply grateful for all I have experienced and learned in Guatemala over the past (nearly) 15 years, I have a strong sense that our chapter here is coming to a close. What that will look like and where we will go remains to be determined.

At the same time, having lived at Lake Atitlan for almost 12 years now, I am comfortable, rooted, and connected here. I am thrilled to be offering several retreats this year at this magical lake. I’m also psyched to start leading retreats in other countries. The first on the docket will be in Mexico in March 2025. In my wildest dreams, future venues would include Peru, Colombia, California, Italy and Japan.

Today is an ideal day to start birthing something new into the world: a concept, a philosophy, a project, a song. The birth process isn’t always easy, but it is beautiful.