42° 22′ 58″ N / 85° 57′ 25″ W
Hope Is
Moving Forward to Better
Dear readers,
Divinely, I had a starfish cross my path yesterday. If you have read past hope quests, listened to some of the first videos I created a few years ago, or been a stranger on an airplane who received a handwritten note from me, you know that starfish are very meaningful to me. Think Starfish Parable.
This time the starfish had an additional message for me. The starfish is a natural and exquisite beauty…The problem is these creatures have been reliant on how they look (and what other people think of them) for so long that they may have forgotten their deeper callings.
Starfish delivered this message to me yesterday amid my struggle to write this month’s Hope Is quest.
Am I being swayed by outward appearances? What dreams have I put aside to please others? Starfish nudged and my inner whisper translated am I swayed by the percent open rate when I send a monthly email? Are there other ways I feel called to share my writing gifts?
I went for a run with the girls since I always gain clarity during a run, with my running mates. As I ran, I laughed and then lighthearted apologized to the Universe and my TEAM (of guides, keepers, and ancestors) for the times I am exhibiting strong-willed, determined, stubborn, I can’t hear you because I am diligently focused traits like dear Kutana. I think the Universe must feel like a satisfied parent who becomes a grandparent and then witnesses their grandchild give their son or daughter the same challenge they felt when trying to raise the son or daughter. You know, the moment of satisfaction from that once said someday you will have a child JUST LIKE YOU! Thankfully the Universe loves unconditionally, like my heart that swells with immeasurable love right after I have deep breathed my way through one of the maddening moments of Kutana’s very good display of, I can’t hear you!
As I ran, I smiled at the guardian running just ahead of me, paving the way, but staying close. Ginger, who isn’t afraid to shout her voice if needed, is also the gentle grounder, a cousin to Deer who messages compassion and grace. The one whose heart overflows with giving for those she cares about yet holds her own in what she wants or needs.
As I ran, I thought about the ways I have been utilizing my writing gifts, which includes my intuitive gifts to, as one person graciously said to me, see into my eyes to my soul and then offer a reframed story that aids another to heal their emotional pain. Whether I do that as teacher, coach, or life story writer, to provide inspiration, a listening ear, or written words that help someone find self-compassion, dignity, self-worth, and forgiveness is one of the greatest joys for me. To aid another on their transformational journey from the holes within towards their wholeness is what calls me.
To aid someone on their forward movement to better.
As I ran, I realized that where once I could sit down and write the monthly quest days if not a couple of weeks in advance of the month drawing to a close, I have been struggling for some time to write just before the month ends. I had been receiving messages to listen deeper, differently, to see and see again. I wasn’t ready to let go of I can’t hear you.
Until yesterday.
It is time for new beginnings.
It is time to stop the quest I have been traveling. This will be the last Hope Is quest in your inbox.
Now, this doesn’t mean it is goodbye. One, I don’t believe in goodbyes. But more importantly, I am available to continue providing inspiration, connection, a listening ear, or a framed/reframed perspective. Based on pull, not push. Translation, instead of me pushing to you a message that may or may not resonate for you, I will look to you to let me know what would be of benefit to YOU.
I have a vast variety of ways I communicate inspiration and offer connection. These include:
- I write inspirational monthly stories that get published in a newspaper titled Good News. If you don’t live in the Kalamazoo area, you can still access these papers online goodnews-paper.com.
- I send daily inspiration messages (can be sent via text or email)
- I facilitate a series of classes or a one-time workshop that provide individual opportunity to reflect on the stories of your life and how they might be reframed as well as collective belonging in a community of life story cohorts.
- I offer 1×1 meetings.
- I can provide a written life story if that is of interest.
- I have created writing club communities (though you don’t have to be a writer to be part of one of the clubs)
- I post weekly inspirational videos on both Instagram and YouTube. New videos are available each Friday.
Of course, there are two written books and a third in development as another avenue to be inspired by written extraordinary stories of resilience, dignity, and hope.
And, I am interested in providing a monthly story to you, the current readership, every month via email, based on what would be of value to you, based on your email communication to me in what you would like to read. If my written words and how I see and hear the world are of benefit to you in addition to the avenues noted above, send me a message to Christine@hopewhispers.com or contact me via my webpage (HOPE – Hope Whispers: The Inner Pathway to Whole (christinehassing.com). If I don’t hear from you, I thank YOU for how you have followed the monthly quests and I look forward to when our paths intersect again. In the words of a dear friend, until soon.
For those who plan to contact me, I look forward to talking further with you.
I will leave you with this inspirational picture of hope and this quote. The picture is of flowers growing near the summit of a mountain I hiked a few weeks ago. The universal truth of life. It may be extremely rocky, rough, course, steep, jagged, at the edge and yet, life always finds a way to thrive.
Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life. – John Updike
Namaste’
-Christine