I am 30 days away from my 60th birthday. Yesterday, I decided to step right into my 60th year with a mantra and intention that focuses on ONWARD. ONWARD is defined as “a continuing forward direction.”
Are you exploring the direction you will take as you move into the final weeks of 2024 and start 2025?
I talked about how I am using the Thriving Mindfully approach and core commitments to envision and plan for the rest of this year and in 2025 and beyond during the Thriving Mindfully Circle on November 17th.
Watch the recap video below to learn more and gain tips on how to use Thriving Mindfully Core Commitment #1 Slow Your Living to guide you.
Need support navigating CHANGE?
Join me for the Thriving Mindfully Circles, a six-week series that will help you be present, well, and the REAL YOU no matter what’s happening.
Click the button register for the Thriving Mindfully Circles on Embracing Change on November 24 and December 1, 8, 15, and 22 at 7-7:30 PM ET. Pay what you can to attend. No one will be turned away.
Take a deep breath and a few seconds to let me know how you are doing by leaving a comment below, sending an email (ananda@anandaleeke.com), or reaching out with a direct message on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or YouTube.
May you and your loved ones be happy, healthy, and free from inner and outer harm as you navigate daily changes in your life, relationship, and career.
Love, Ease, Grace, Joy, Peace, Wisdom, Creativity, and Abundance,
Ananda
P.S.: The Grief + You Retreat is a two-day nurturing experience (90 minutes for the first day and two hours for the second day) that I lead each month. The final retreat will be December 7-8 at 2-3:30 PM ET (second day is 2-4 PM ET) via Zoom. Click the button to get more information.
Thriving Mindfully is a heart-centered approach I have been using to be present, well, and the REAL ME as I breathe, live, and navigate CHANGE for the past 30+ years.
Thriving Mindfully is my passport to the freedom ancestor James Baldwin spoke about: “Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be.” His wisdom is grounding me as I move from 59 to 60 and through the current state of things in America. It is also fueling me to fully and freely embody and express who I was made to be.
In 2023, I wrote and recorded my “Thriving Mindfully” poem that is featured on my debut spoken word album, Thriving Mindfully as Theresa’s Daughter. It has become my freedom anthem as I move through CHANGE that shows up in my life, relationships, and career. Click the video below and take a moment to listen to it.
Need support navigating CHANGE?
Join me for the Thriving Mindfully Circles, a six-week series that will help you be present, well, and the REAL YOU no matter what’s happening.
Click the button below to register for the Thriving Mindfully Circles on Embracing Change on November 17 and 24 and December 1, 8, 15, and 22 at 7-7:30 PM ET. Pay what you can to attend. No one will be turned away.
In 1989, I graduated from Howard University School of Law and began taking the bar exam to fulfill my 16 year old teenage self’s dream of becoming a practicing attorney with a bar card.
When my bar exam journey began, I had no idea it would become a four-year painful life and career experience that produced my first adult struggles with loss and grief.
I had no idea the experience would bring me face-to-face with suffering and my type A personality. I didn’t know the experience would cause me to begin a personal relationship with surrendering my ego power for my heart power.
My bar exam experience dropped me into a well of deep loss and grief, and introduced creativity as my “healing balm” medicine. The creativity showed up as listening to lots of music while writing poetry and journal entries. Both forms of writing reminded me of the many days I would spend listening to my vinyl records and WHUR 96.3 FM while writing poetry and making handmade cards when I was in elementary and junior high school.
My creative practices became lifelines to healing that supported me as I dealt with CHANGE, LOSS, and GRIEF. In 2020, I began tapping into my creative practices of listening to music, writing, drawing, coloring, painting, cooking, and wearing colorful clothing and lipsticks to navigate the stress and anxiety I felt as a result of the loss and grief I faced during the global pandemic and the elections.
Four years later, my writing has blossomed into my debut spoken word album, Thriving Mindfully as Theresa’s Daughter. The album’s creative process helped me express and manage the loss and grief I started experiencing when my mom Theresa made her life transition on July 9, 2023. I still use these creative practices to ground myself as I go and grow through the loss and grief connected to my mom and the current changes I am experiencing as a result of aging, menopause, and the recent elections.
What are you using to support yourself as you experience CHANGE that shows up as loss and grief?
I invite you to click the video below to listen to “G.R.I.E.F.,” one of the tracks on my album, for tips on how to go and grow through CHANGE that shows up as loss and grief.
Just in case you need some inspiration for tapping into the creative practice of listening to music, check out “Thriving Mindfully as Theresa’s Daughter,” the signature track on the album that celebrates the gift of music my mom gave me.
FYI: Footprint Productions founder Garnet Jackson, my best friend for life and soul brothalove, breathed life into my creativity as the music producer of the album. Garnet guided me through the four-year process of writing and recording. In August 2023, I traveled to London and worked with Garnet and Brian Bogdanovic, the chief producer at BonaFide Studios, to record the album. I am deeply grateful for their amazing gifts and support.
To date, I have only released three tracks on M-xCloud, SoundCloud, and YouTube. I will release the full album in the coming months on a paid platform that aligns with my beliefs and values.
MORE SUPPORT
If you need more support, join me for the Thriving Mindfully Circles, a six-week series that will help you be present, well, and the REAL YOU no matter what’s happening.
Click the button register for the Thriving Mindfully Circles on Embracing Change on November 17 and 24 and December 1, 8, 15, and 22 at 7-7:30 PM ET. Pay what you can to attend. No one will be turned away.
Take a deep breath and a few seconds to let me know how you are doing by leaving a comment below, sending an email (ananda@anandaleeke.com), or reaching out with a direct message on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or YouTube.
May you and your loved ones be happy, healthy, and free from inner and outer harm as you navigate daily changes in your life, relationship, and career.
Love, Ease, Grace, Joy, Peace, Wisdom, Creativity, and Abundance,
Ananda
P.S.: The Grief + You Retreat is a two-day nurturing experience (90 minutes for the first day and two hours for the second day) that I lead each month. The next retreats will be November 16-17 and December 7-8 at 2-3:30 PM ET (second day is 2-4 PM ET) via Zoom. Click the button to get more information.
Change happens each day you get to breathe and experience a new day. It can show up as individual, organizational, and collective changes. Examples include:
-Individual Changes: mental, emotional, relationships, financial, education, and career
-Organizational Changes: leadership, staff, goals, workload, performance expectations, and resources
Change shows up in your spirit, heart (emotions), mind, body, relationships, career, and community. Many people resist change because they are afraid of it and/or want to control what’s happening.
When you resist it, change often becomes more messy, overwhelming, chaotic, and/or stressful.
What would happen if you learned to embrace change when it shows up?
Who would you be?
What would you say YES to?
What would you say NO to?
What dreams and goals would you pursue?
What intentions would you set?
What small steps would you take?
If you’re interested in gaining tips on how to navigate changes, join me for the Thriving Mindfully Circle, a monthly 30-minute session, that will introduce you to the Thriving Mindfully approach, a heart-centered awareness and approach to being present, well, and the REAL YOU no matter what’s happening.
Click the buttons below to register for the Thriving Mindfully Circles on November 17 and 24 and December 1, 8, 15, and 22 at 7-7:30 PM ET.
This Fall, I offered seven Thriving Mindfully Circles to support people in need of self-care and community care during the election season (November 1-8).
In case you didn’t know, community care is rooted in our awareness, choice, and actions to be connected to others in safe and sacred spaces. Community care is the commitment and actions to nurture and support ourselves and each other in ways that respect our humanity and positively uplift us.
I am committed to providing community care in the services and resources I provide. That’s why I have included post-election self-care resources below. May they help you navigate post-election stress, anxiety, loss, and grief.
What type of support are you getting to navigate your time of waiting on the election outcomes this week?
Leading the Thriving Mindfully Circles reminded me to get support from a daily dose of the self-care vitamins: loving kindness, compassion, NONJUDGMENT (needed it), PATIENCE (especially), and forgiveness.
Revisiting how STRESS impacts my spirit, heart, mind, and body has been an eye-opener.
Diving deep into practicing NONJUDGMENT and PATIENCE are guiding me to change how I am dealing with stress from the potential election outcomes.
Being able to gain COMMUNITY SUPPORT while sharing my thoughts and feelings during the Thriving Mindfully Circles has been extremely helpful and comforting because I know I am not alone or the only person with these thoughts and feelings.
Click the button to read my latest newsletter to learn more about how you can gain support this week.
Click the button to sign up for the Thriving Mindfully Circles on November 5-8 at 12-13:30 PM ET via Zoom. Invite your family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues to join you.
For the past two days, I have been leading the Thriving Mindfully Circles and holding safe space for people just like to inhale, exhale, and practice mindful self-care to release stress from living life and experiencing the current elections.
On November 1st, we explored and practiced loving kindness, the act of befriending yourself with gentleness and nonjudgment in all you feel, think, say, and do. Our meditation focused on loving kindness for self.
We discussed and practiced compassion, the act of never giving up on yourself as you recognize and accept that anger, jealousy, arrogance, judgment, and other emotions you prefer to keep hidden exist within you, on November 2nd. I also introduced my de-stress tool and how you can use it to practice compassion. Our meditation focused on self-compassion.
We’ll talk about:
-Nonjudgment on November 3rd -Patience on November 4th -Forgiveness on November 5th -All five self-care vitamins on November 6th, 7th, and 8th (will introduce bonus self-care practices and resources) ‘
CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW to sign up for these sessions. Invite your family, friends, and colleagues to join you.
WATCH REPLAY VIDEO FROM Thriving Mindfully Circle on Loving Kindness.
WATCH REPLAY VIDEO FROM Thriving Mindfully Circle on Compassion.
Invite your family, friends, and colleagues to join you for the FREE Thriving Mindfully Circle to help you inhale, exhale, and de-stress during the election season on November 3-8 at 12-12:30 PM ET via Zoom.
If you answered YES or MAYBE, you and I share something in common with 69% of adults.
Interesting Data on Election Stress
In August, the American Psychological Association published its annual Stress in America 2024: A Nation in Political Turmoil poll that reported:
-America’s future was a significant source of stress for adults (77%). It also represented the most common source of significant stress in this year’s survey.
-America’s economy was the second most common source of stress for adults (73%).
-America’s presidential election was the third most common source of stress for adults (69%).
Practicing your birthright of self-care is one of the best ways to navigate election stress. I have included several election self-care tips below.
1) Watch the video to learn how to use my de-stress tool.
2) Embrace November as Loving Kindness Month
3) Honor your loving + wise + well ancestors on All Souls’ Day and the Day of the Dead
4) Join me for a FREE week of Thriving Mindfully Circles on November 1-8 at 12 noon ET via Zoom. Invite your family, friends, and colleagues to join you.
Death, loss, and grief happen to each of us throughout our lifetime.
There’s no way to escape them. They CHANGE us and our lives without any notice. They are filled with MESSY, and HARD moments that leave us feeling overwhelmed, sad, afraid, angry, depressed, out of control, and so much more.
In the past 59 years of living on Mother Earth, I have learned that death, loss, and grief are a master class in SURRENDER.
They humble and teach us that we do not have any control over when they show up and show out in our lives. If we resist them, we create more suffering and struggles. If we surrender to them, we open ourselves up to receive their sacred medicine of healing, growth, and transformation.
Surrendering to death, loss, and grief begins when we choose to befriend ourselves.
Befriending ourselves starts with being S.O.F.T.
That means we SLOW down and OFFER ourselves FREEDOM TODAY.
The FREEDOM is grace, space, and time to get grounded, feel our emotions, practice self-care, and seek safe and trusted support.
The TODAY is the present moment — giving ourselves what we need to care for ourselves right where we are and with what we have.
Thriving Mindfully with death, loss, and grief is a heart-centered journey we choose to take when we are willing to be vulnerable with ourselves.
The Thriving Mindfully journey invites us to:
-Become aware of and define what death, loss, and grief currently mean to us,
-Explore our beliefs and previous experiences with death, loss, and grief,
-Set intentions on how we want to relate to them, and
–Create and use a self-nurturing toolkit that honors our unique needs.
This year, I am sharing the lessons I have learned while navigating my mom Theresa’s transition in the monthly Grief + You Retreat.
The Grief + You Retreat is designed to encourage and support you in learning how to embrace Thriving Mindfully with death + loss + grief.
The Grief + You Retreat is a two-day nurturing experience (90 minutes for the first day and two hours for the second day) that will be held on September 28-29, October 26-27, November 16-17, and December 7-8 at 2-3:30 PM ET (second day is 2-4 PM ET) via Zoom.
Participating in a retreat is a great way to make yourself a priority. A retreat helps you carve out time and space and take responsibility for yourself. When you take responsibility for yourself, you begin to see your full self. A retreat gives you an opportunity to take responsibility for identifying your vulnerabilities, challenges, wins, and losses. A retreat can also help you set intentions and create shifts in how you choose to show up in your life, relationships, career, and business.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT THE RETREAT
“The Retreat provided a safe container to be in community with others around my grief story, our grieving process. It allowed me to be vulnerable with myself and others. It reminded me of how to show up for myself and be in close company with my process all at the same time. I’ve been keeping grief at arms distance since November, and I signed up knowing that you would be a trusted guide. I really appreciated the inquiry-based approach to understanding my relationship with grief. I’ve been working my way through the answers over the past week. Some are easier than others to respond but the heightened awareness has been helpful. The gentle yoga and movement breaks, reminders to breathe, were very helpful during the retreat. Thank you for making space to allow so many emotions and feelings and experiences to show up, be witnessed without judgement. I really appreciated all the safeguards you implemented for personal choice to engage in the retreat space in a way that brought the most comfort and sense of security.” Karla T., a television professional
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS AT THE RETREAT
During the Grief + You Retreat, I will hold space for you to:
-Be present, vulnerable, and share in a sacred and safe community
-Participate in a mindful moment and meditation that will help you get grounded in your body and breath and teach you how to nurture yourself when you experience emotions caused by death, loss, and grief
-Define what death, loss, and/or grief mean to you.
-Reflect on and journal about the emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and experiences you’ve had about death, loss, and/or grief, especially during the pandemic years
-Identify how you have or have NOT taken care of yourself when you experience death, loss, and/or grief
-Learn about the seven stages of grief and how you they may be showing up in your life
-Reflect on and set an intention about normalizing your conversations about death, grief, and loss and the type of relationship you would like to have with them
-Use your reflections and journaling to begin writing a love letter to yourself and your story (stories) about death, loss, and grief
-Learn self-nurturing practices and tap into ancestral medicine you can use to support yourself when you experience death, loss, and/or grief
-Learn how to use the Thriving Mindfully framework to create a self-nurturing toolkit you can use when you experience death, loss, and/or grief
YOUR INVESTMENT – $125
Click the button below to register for the retreat that works best for you. Tell your family and friends to join you.
Change shows up in our spirit, heart (emotions), mind, body, relationships, career, and community.
Many of us resist change because we are afraid of it and/or want to control what’s happening.
When we resist it, change often becomes more messy, overwhelming, chaotic, and/or stressful.
What would happen if you learned to befriend yourself and change when it shows up?
If you’re interested in gaining tips on how to navigate change, join me for the Thriving Mindfully Circle, a monthly 30-minute session, that will introduce you to the Thriving Mindfully approach, a heart-centered awareness and approach to being present, well, and the REAL YOU no matter what’s happening.
Click the button below to register for the dates that work best for you. Once you register, you will receive a confirmation email from Zoom.
Each Thriving Mindfully Circle offers you a pay what you can option. All you gotta do is click the pay what you can button and select your own fee. No one will be turned away!
Ananda Leeke 