Yesterday, I reached my personal milestone of 1,000 consecutive days of daily morning meditation and Journaling.

The first journal I used started with the quote I often reflect on: “A journey of a thousand miles starts beneath one’s feet” (Tao Te Ching – Lao Tzu – chapter 64), today I feel like I’m ready to close a phase of my self-discovery and growth journey but not the journey. It took me a thousand days and 20 notebooks to get me here, to really appreciate the journey more than reaching a destination, to honour and consider equally important each and every day because every single moment counted and contributed to creating the life I live today. Many things have subtly and slowly changed in my way of approaching life thanks to this, in theory, simple routine of starting every day with a ritual of morning journaling, inspired by Julia Cameron’s book “the Artist’s Way”, and meditation. I’m learning that loving myself means sometimes doing and appreciating what feels hard in the moment, but is good for my life and saying no, instead, to familiar immediate easy pleasing things which because of my personal history are in reality unhealthy for me. I’m learning that life is a continuous act of balancing opposite forces, opposite desires and to look for the truly honest intention behind my own choices and actions while trying to embrace the quote: “Love says ‘I am everything’, Wisdom says ‘I am nothing’, between these two my life flows.” (Sri Nisargadatta as quoted in The Wise Heart by Jack Kornfield).

The journey is not complete and will never be completed, so this is, at once, an important mandala and a mandala like all the others I  drew before,  and any moment is a good moment to restart with honest acceptance, courage, compassion and love as travel companions. The journey will continue to present obstacles, discomfort and moments of uncertainties and confusions, but will also continue to give me moments of hope, faith, freedom, joy and clarity because life is made by everything and to live a full and meaningful life, I need to continue on this path with renewed purpose, energy and clarity.

I planned to say more,  but maybe, for now, this is enough; maybe, now, it is time for a rich and meaningful silence.

 

Mandala - 1000 days and Day 1 (drawing)
A mandala of 2 opposite mandalas.

 

 

1000 days Journals
My 20 journals of morning pages.

 

 

My meditation sites
Some of my meditation sites.

 

I find extremely difficult to talk about me and I started this piece few times and I have experienced a strong resistance to complete it or publish it, on the other hand I believe that introducing myself, telling little of my story and about my qualifications is an essential preliminary step for building a trusting relationship with the people I will interact either through my blogs or through Life coaching. I have an accredited diploma in Executive and Life Coaching (September 2015) and QQI Award with distinction in Professional Coaching Practice and Ethics (Component Certificate level 6 - December 2015). More recently I received a certificate from the Mindfulness Coaching School (ICF and ASCTH approved) in “The Art of Engaged Mindfulness” (May 2016) and I attended two courses at the Dublin Buddhist Centre: “Introduction to Meditation” and “ Know your mind” for my personal growth, even though I have been practice mindfulness meditation for few years. I also got few years ago the Reiki level 1 and I plan in the future to obtain also the second level. In the future in addition to the second level of Reiki, I plan to continue to attend other courses in Mindfulness and Psychology because I wish to integrate my coaching with other complementary holistic therapies and applications. In the last few month I started a new project working with Mandalas as a method for meditation and reflection which I publish on my blog. I work fulltime in the asset management industry where I currently worked as Client Transition Manager and before as Institutional Client Service Manager, Investment Analyst and at the very start as Executive Assistant. I also briefly worked at the start of my professional life in accounting department of a car rental company. I have an “under-graduate leaving certificate” in business and languages studies from a commercial secondary school in Rome and a Master’s Degree in Political Science – International Studies with honors from the University of Rome and a post-graduate course in the European Union Economy, Law and Policies. I have lived in Ireland since 2000 and I have settled down in the north county of Dublin where I live with my husband, my daughter, a cat and some tropical fishes. I grew-up in Rome (Italy). I grew up in Rome and when I was young student I used to be a very active participant in my local Catholic church in Rome and do random volunteer activities there. In Ireland, I volunteered for many years in an Oxfam shop and I currently volunteer as mentor for a charity working with young student. In 2013, I had a short experience in setting-up and manage a small not for profit holistic and community studio (The StillRoom). In addition to an interest in holistic therapies, meditation and Buddhism, drawing Mandalas, writing blogs, reading and buying tons of books, volunteering and supporting charities, I also enjoy working with my favourite crystals (clear quartz, rose quartz and amethysts) to create small keepsakes, dream catchers and wind-chimes.

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