A “Blip” in the Flow
Branching Out - Love in All Colors
A “Blip” in the Flow 7/1/2026
May and June of this year I was really putting energy into the design and expansion of the Artist-in-Residence offering. It had come into my awareness that there was an additional need to offer one-on-one retreats for those wanting that experience.
Sometimes I am a “jump right in” person and sometimes I let ideas roll around in my mind – percolating as one might say. Towards the end of May, I felt really good about letting people know about the expansion with “Floating into Me” the personalized one-on-one retreats. So I sat down at my trusty computer and started the process, ready to write my Newsletter, telling my “tribe” about it.
Ok - First, I can’t write the newsletter, because I need to have a link to the website with the info. Ok – before I can do that, I need a graphic to make the website page, etc etc…. (Keep in mind here I am mostly a 1 person business.)
I did all the preliminaries, wrote the copy on the webpage, 9/10ths complete on that – and the page disappeared – TOTALLY DISAPPEARED! As best I knew it was non-recoverable! Yep – I felt a bit (or a lot) deflated. Wind out of the sails. I couldn’t get back to it for a week. I just needed a break. I wasn’t overly upset - just allowed the break.
One week later: Ok – I can do this! Maybe I need to save the page/copy on my website more often. Diligently – I did save it. Not joking - it did a similar disappearing act - though it DID SAVE 2/3 of what I had written. OK… I felt DONE IN! I can’t do this… I reached out to my dear friend, Annette, who had built the website for me and said “SOS – can you help?” She responded within a couple of hours and by then I had taken a few breaths, told myself of “course you (I) can do” this and set up a system for if it happened again, how I would not lose it all. There were a number of steps to still complete and step-by step I DID IT!!!
HOWEVER – by that time, I was ready to leave for WA for the birth of my grandson and to spend time with his family --my daughter, her hubby and my 18 month old granddaughter. So no newsletter at that point.
WHY AM I TELLING THIS STORY? What I observed during this process was my response as it continued. Sometimes life flows with ease and sometimes challenges show up. Do I force the issue or do I breathe into it? Do I berate myself? Do I allow and accept? If I allow and accept, do I do that with grace or with a feeling of defeat?
This then allowed me to look at other areas of my life and how are they similar or different in my responses?
Overall - life is so darn good! And I am very, very grateful. I am grateful for the ups, downs, challenges, gifts in the ugly wrapping paper… so many blessings! And I CHOOSE to see them as such – even when they are not exactly the way I envisioned it all. I am not perfect - or I choose to feel I am “perfectly imperfect.” I can get caught up in a disappointment, and I choose to feel what I feel, not wallow in the muck, use the tools I have to heal and move forward.
May you flow with life - open to the mystery and blessings. I wish you Peace and love.
Uma Joy