My kids started back to school this week. My husband started his new career as a teacher, so he was back to school as well. As a Mom, this is my New Years, the time when things begin again, goals are set, and new experiences unfold.

For me, this means getting back into the groove of blogging. I have taken an unplanned hiatus from my blog for the past month or more. I’ve had lots on my mind, maybe too much to choose what to write about. I’ve had some amazing experiences and learning this summer, but what to share first?

I suppose it makes sense to start with my own new path. I am now a Certified Daring Way Facilitator Candidate and will be starting Daring Way groups next month. What does that mean? It means that I have been trained by Brené Brown, author of The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, Rising Strong, and I Thought It Was Just Me (But it isn’t), fabulous books that I have read more than once. I attended her four-day training in July and learned how to use her research to help people be more courageous, connect more deeply with others, and engage in wholehearted living.

My new groups will focus on courage, connection, and wholehearted living.

That is all very exciting! The catch is that wholehearted living requires that we learn to be vulnerable with others in order to really connect with them. It requires that we give up striving for perfection; give up comparing ourselves to others and judging others; give up the scarcity mindset, believing that there is not enough of the good things to go around; give up believing that maybe we are not enough. So that’s the hard part. It’s really hard to give those things up, since we are so used to having them as part of our lives.

The other hard part is facing shame. A big part of Brené’s research that nobody likes to talk about is shame. Shame is a universal emotion that most of us deny we experience. Nobody wants to have a conversation about shame, which shame loves. Silence keeps shame powerful and under the radar, able to guide our choices and behaviors in ways we are unaware. Shame is linked with addiction, violence, aggression, depression, eating disorders, and bullying. Becoming more aware of what triggers our own shame and learning ways to become resilient in those shame experiences can help us lead more wholehearted lives.

In my groups, you will learn about Brené’s 10 Guideposts for Wholehearted Living: cultivating authenticity; cultivating self-compassion; cultivating a resilient spirit; cultivating gratitude and joy; cultivating intuition and trusting faith; cultivating creativity; cultivating play and rest; cultivating calm and stillness; cultivating meaningful work; cultivating laughter, song and dance.

I am very excited about this work. This gives me even more tools to help people in their struggles with depression, anxiety, anger, loneliness and isolation. I am also excited to start working with groups, as this can be a powerful and meaningful way people learn about themselves, connect with others, and make changes in their lives.