The Fall Acceleration is here, and this promises to be a time of great promise and change!

I’ve thought about three areas I want to invest in during this Fall Acceleration and where I want to see the most progress.

Pregame

If your heart isn’t in it….

Arnold’s Pump Club newsletter k really hit home with me. He talked about putting your heart into your endeavors.

That got me thinking about what I am putting my heart into right now. I would say my family, my fitness, and my writing. My heart isn’t in my work. My heart isn’t in most of my social interactions.

To be honest, I’m not attached to or invested in my day-to-day life. I’m just going through the motions. I would love to escape. I just want to get through it so I can move on.

One of the intentions of this Fall Acceleration is to start building a home. I’ve started thinking about where I want to invest my time and energy.

There’s No Place Like Home Tests

• Relationships with my nucleus. The formation of my team and joining a cause I believe in. I will be locked in, investing time and energy, and making sacrifices to build my home. It’s the people, stupid.
• Fitness and Health: This feels so important for so many reasons
• Writing: This is my hobby and, hopefully, the gateway to my next career.

It’s Harvest Season

It’s not officially Autumn until September 22, but we’re headed toward Fall, which is the time for Harvest.

I love the Bible verse that says, “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”

There is a spiritual law of sowing and reaping. You don’t reap anything if you don’t put seed in the ground, and you won’t have a harvest if you don’t take care of those seeds in the ground.

I believe I am in a season of harvest right now. I’ve sown seeds in the ground, and I have taken care of them.

Now a harvest is coming because I didn’t give up, even though I’ve wanted to multiple times!

Months ago, I kept hearing the whispers speak about “September.”

“You’ll be so happy you started this process in September.”

“Get to September.”

“It’s happening in September.”

 During my prep season this summer, I worked harder on my fitness and my writing than I have in a long time. I increased my capacity and built my confidence, which is part of cultivating the soil for the harvest.

I have had more excitement and forward movement in the last eight months than in the last six years combined. It is fabulous, and I know more is on the way!

Samara Joy

I attended the Samara Joy concert here in San Francisco at the beautiful Davies Symphony Hall. I first saw Samara Joy on an awards show a few years ago, and when I heard her speak, I knew right away: “That girl can sing.” I didn’t even hear her sing one note, and I went straight to Apple Music to listen to her songs, and I was not disappointed.

Samara Joy reminds me of the old-school jazz legends Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn.  Her voice is rich and full. I describe it as honey or a comforter you want to cozy up in on a cold day, but after hearing her sing in person, I was impressed by her range, power, control, and technical prowess. At times, her voice reminded me of the full-throated singers we used to hear in church.

The Samara Joy concert at Symphony Hall was the perfect way to begin this Fall Acceleration. During the intermission, I wrote down some observations of how I was feeling.

 Enlivened

Something touching my core, my soul, not soreness from my ab workout (well, maybe it was PMS, but no, I think something was turning back on.)

Enlivened

Invigorated

Inspired

Right environment

Alignment

Notice I wrote down enlivened twice. I did feel something coming alive deep down in my core.  It could have been PMS, but I doubt it because the only way I could describe it was that it felt like something was gnawing deep down inside of my core area. One of the definitions of gnawing is to wear away by biting or nibbling. I think the beauty of her voice was wearing away the hard shell I’ve developed during the hard times of the last few years.

Samara Joy sang an unrecorded song by Billie Holiday called “Left Alone.” The lyrics and her interpretation just about took me out.

Maybe fate has let him pass me by
Or perhaps we’ll meet before I die
Hearts will open, but until then
I’m left alone, all alone

 Lord, have mercy!! That is what good songwriting will do for you!! I felt that thing. It’s such a privilege to feel

This week, one of the fitness competitors I follow said that she had experienced dissociation from her body. She couldn’t feel her body while doing exercises. She wondered if that had to do with body dysmorphia, and I commented that when we go through trauma or stress, we learn to cope by becoming numb. We no longer feel, to protect ourselves. I said that when you start to realize that’s what happening, that is when healing begins.

While I was still attending that church I was involved with, I noticed that I had stopped feeling. I was going through the motions; I was spiritualizing everything and rationalizing everything away. I didn’t feel anything because doing so would mean acknowledging some painful truths. After I left, I did start to feel again. To be human is to feel, and many religious people have been taught to numb themselves with rituals and moral superiority to avoid their raw and valid emotions.

When my mother passed away, one of my major thoughts was that I wanted to feel the grief of her passing and her loss. I didn’t want to be one of those people who stuffed their grief down, and then it manifested in other ways.  I think that’s what has allowed me to keep moving forward during my grief process.

According to Merriam-Webster, enlivened means to give life, action, or spirit to. I believe that is what is happening and what will continue to happen during this Fall Acceleration.

Since the spring, I’ve heard whispers of “September.” I remember hearing “September” before getting on the treadmill and saying out loud, “In September, you will be so happy you started this process.”

What that means, I do not know, but if the first day of the Fall Acceleration is any indication, beauty, vibrancy, life, and vitality will all be returning with full force.