I worked with a coach for a while and one of the best pieces of advice she gave me for abundance mindset was to see abundance in everything I look at throughout the day. At the time, it was winter in Colorado, so I saw a lot of snow, and that was a multitude of abundance. Plus I was living in Aspen, so those snowflakes really were equal to dollar signs falling from the sky too!
Here on this peaceful property, I see abundance in the water that flows throughout the 6 acres, I hear the frogs singing at night and I can pick out 7 different species, there is even more than one species of firefly! Flowers are abundant, space is abundant, and this is Madison County, so rocks are abundant too!
When it rains here, sometimes it really pours with huge thunderstorms. I've watched in amazement how the creek swells with an abundance of water too. We live across a creek, so it really brings new meaning to the phrase "I'll be there, Lord willing and the creek don't rise."
I’ve been scouting free posts on Craigslist and FB Marketplace, and have received help in so many ways. People passing on furniture, beds, tools, gardening supplies, bedding, building materials, you name it! Abundance flows too in the past month of friends and family pitching in to help on the property.
My friends Shannon and Pamela came and spent a few days helping me with projects on the barn—we finished sanding the floor, dusted the walls and wood with the leaf blower, vacuumed and mopped the space where the sound healing instruments will be, and Pamela painted the spindles on the stairs and accent pieces in the sound healing room with an enlightening lavender paint that I found in the rejects section at Lowe’s. "Reject" my foot! That was nearly the very color I was looking for so it looks perfect to me.
The day that Shannon and I were to leave for a trip to Florida, we delayed our departure after we found out I was chosen to receive a whole storage unit of free event items from Asheville Citizen-Times newspaper, and we went to scoop up that abundance too—swag we can give out at events, a speaker’s podium, a padded dance floor, iPad stands, a phone charging station, about 1000 grocery bags, 1500 writing pens, and about 100 hide-a-key rocks! It will all be put to good use and given new homes. Then I put a stain on the floor to bring out a rich warm tone and put finishing touches on the wood floor of the sound healing room.
My ever joyous & generous mama, Brenda Walker, has been helping me so much as well. From picking up sticks to mowing to using lots of elbow grease cleaning (& there is a LOT to clean around here!), her giving heart and excitement as we bring this dream to life goes a long way. She even gave me a hedge trimmer, saying “we’re going to whip your property into shape with this!” My brother has given me some tools too to help with projects I am working on too—wire snips for the garden beds, levels, even the handiest of all tools I’ve seen this far—the Sawzall / reciprocating saw!!
My friend and my mom’s friend Betty came over one day to help my Mama and me clear out some briars and wild rose bushes. I had heard according to the Farmer’s Almanac that if you cut briars “in the dark nights of May and August, then the briars will never grow back.” We sweated and worked hard to beat that deadline! Thankfully, it doesn't mean you have to work at night with a headlamp and power tools; it means that as the moon is waning from full to new, those are the best days for the task. Betty said she had fun working along the lake with us, so anyone looking for a day of fun on a meaningful project, you just let me know and I’d love to have your helping hands and have a good time with you! Plus it's always a good workout using tools!
I also met Eric Worley during this time; he has become my greatest support from the Universe / Spirit / God on this project. There will be more I write about him and all his skills in the next blog. He has been helping me clean up the property, and now we are a team working on projects building too!
I've also picked up an abundance of nails and screws all over the property, and I reuse the ones I can too. This was just one sweep in one section of the barn!
I also listed our space on HipCamp and we got a portajon and a picnic table and built a fire ring for campers. When I told the lady at Griffin Waste who was helping me arrange the portajon that I was so excited, she said she'd never had anyone say that to her about a portajon before....Well, I'm excited about what their portajon helps me to create! We hosted our first campers on Memorial Day and that was fun to see people enjoying the land and peaceful nature. Come camp with us at:
I have a lot of energy for building this retreat space and at times I want the process to go faster. I have had to remember another piece of advice that same wise coach, Macy Matarazzo, gave me about loving the whole process. She likened any process to my love of hiking. She said, when you’re hiking, you don’t think, “oh I wish I could be done with this hike and be on the next hike.” Or, “oh I wish I was already back to the car and done with the hike.” No, you enjoy the one that you’re on and you see the beauty in every step. I see that reminder in these projects that I’m doing on the Inner Wolf Retreat Space. You see, I am a planner and I do have an outline for the whole renovation! So I have to curb my fueling Mars energy to get things done, and be in the moment with each step along the way. Maybe it is human nature; Do you have to remind yourself of that in aspects of your life too?
In life, we also have reminders to find peace in the process. Often times, (well, every time actually, since I am learning a lot about renovation right now), there are sneaky, invisible speed bumps steps in the process too. These mysterious surprises can really infuriate a lot of people with the slowdown to the process. Sometimes you need to do a few more steps before the project gets to the next stage. Sometimes you make another trip to Lowe’s. Life is a lot like that too. I am practicing finding peace in the process by trusting in Divine Timing, trusting in Divine Support, and really reveling in gratitude when exactly what I needed next shows up for me. Keeping an open mind on what that support or supply looks like allows it to flow more freely to us.
Tending to this space and property is igniting a fire within me—a purpose, a desire to share this peaceful place with others. I also just love the projects and love this land! I find it hard to leave the property to go into town—that’s a good sign! But when I do, the space continues to connect me with so many amazing and generous people, and I love getting to hear about each life along the way too. We are all having this Shared Human Experience. We are all walking each other home. We might as well revel in the process along the way and help each other enjoy it even more.
We have two events approaching! One is on Sunday, June 19 from 6:30-8:30pm at our friend Jean's house in South Asheville. And the first event in our new space at the Inner Wolf Retreat Space in Wolf Laurel is on Saturday, June 25 from 5-7:30pm. I would love to see you at these events and to be a part of making your life better--that is my purpose! Please see my events page for more info by clicking here:
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