🏡 Maintaining Momentum

Published: Wed, 02/02/22

Keeping the joy level up

when the music stops

Hello everyone,

Happy 2-2-22! Is it too late to wish you all a Happy New Year? With the culmination of a much anticipated wedding in my family, I feel like I've been floating in some kind of alternate universe since my last newsletter.

Yes, after two years of extensive planning and one postponement due to the pandemic, our daughter and son-in-law finally got to say YES in one of the most beautiful and romantic cities in Mexico. On what felt like a most auspicious date of 12-11-21, the whole thing proved to be nothing short of a miracle – a divinely-held and inspired bubble of love that couldn't be touched by any gremlin, covid or otherwise.

My 3-minute video (below) will give you a taste of the magic that it all was before, during, and after!

And now what? With all the heart and soul that went into anticipating, hosting, and experiencing something as epic as this was, the question for me has become how to keep the joyful momentum going? How does one stay expanded when the music stops, the proverbial party is over, and it's back to life as usual?

It doesn't have to be some big life event like a wedding, mind you. It could be staying true to a big vision or creative idea; maintaining a daily meditation practice or clearing that closet once and for all. How to keep going when we contract – when we lose heart, focus, our center – applies in much the same way.

There are infinite ways to keep the joy level up and the heart open when the music stops, of course. But if you could use an inspiring nudge, keep scrolling.

Below you can learn about a practice that I've adopted called awe walking; read my latest Q&A interview with DailyOM; and watch that three-minute video I mentioned that takes you on a joyful romp leading up to, and following the love fest that was our daughter's wedding.

Wishing you a beautiful, light-filled new year on what feels like another auspicious day.

Stephanie

Awe walking

Step outside of yourself to find yourself

While navigating the swings of expansion and contraction has been the focus of my work and attention for years, there is one thing that usually helps me find my way back into balance when I get lost. It's called awe walking. This is a practice where I step outside of myself (literally) to find myself.

Yes, every day, rain or shine, I put on my sneakers, grab my iPhone, and head outdoors in search of beauty. It could be a leaf, a cloud, a crack in the sidewalk –– something ordinary that wakes up the spirit of curiosity, wonder, awe. The simple act of photographing these things and posting one a day on Instagram is profoundly grounding. It helps me overcome inertia, stay fluid and present, and connect with something bigger than myself.

I didn’t realize until recently that this daily practice I’d adopted for my own emotional well-being had a name and studies to back it up. To learn more about the benefits of awe walking keep reading HERE.

Photo courtesy of David Baum

Ask Stephanie

Q&A interview with DailyOM

Last month I was invited by DailyOM to talk about one of my popular online courses, "Clearing Physical and Emotional Clutter." Here is a small excerpt:

DailyOM: Tell us what inspired you to create this year-long course for our DailyOM community. How is it different from your other courses, A Year to Let Go of What’s Holding You Back! and Clear Your Home, Clear Your Life?

Stephanie Bennett Vogt: The creation of this course was inspired by my other 365-day course that you mentioned, A Year to Clear What is Holding You Back! With tens of thousands of participants completing that program and many begging me in the comment thread for a Year Two, it was a no-brainer. I wanted to create a way for them to keep going. The beauty of taking a year to gently tend to our physical, mental, and emotional attachments (and discover the spacious goodies that are hiding beneath them all) becomes such a delicious, nourishing habit. You don’t want it to end. And it doesn’t ever have to. At the end of the year you can begin all over again with either course and have a different experience, because you keep getting lighter and freer. That is why I call it a clearing journey. And you do not have to complete the former to get value from the latter. The two are completely separate experiences. They stand alone.

My December: A feast for the senses

If you could distill a month into one-second slices that includes the extraordinary wedding of and with the people you love... throw in brilliant colors, music, holiday lights, festive glamour and natural beauty set in the heart of a 17th-century colonial hill town in central Mexico... this is what my December 2021 looked like...[best viewed with full screen and sound up ;-)]

My December A Feast for the Senses

For more wedding highlights, go to @spaciousway on Instagram and click on "Wedding" – the album at the top

Clearing Online

Join nearly 250,000 participants!

Check out Stephanie's popular online courses on DailyOM designed to lift, lighten, and enlighten.

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A Year for You

Clearing the Spacious Way

If you could use a week of soulful nourishment, imagine what can happen when you take a whole year! This book gives you 52 weeks to tend, untangle and find your way home to you.

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A Year to Clear

Clearing from the Inside Out

Wonder how taking the smallest steps in clearing can lead to big, lasting changes? This book guides you the whole way, one day at a time.

Why a year?

Your Spacious Self

Clearing made simple that lasts

Want to play a much bigger game with clearing clutter – be it physical, mental, or emotional? This book lays it all out.

Read Chapter One

Meet Stephanie

Stephanie Bennett Vogt is a leading space clearing expert, teacher, and author of five books and four online courses. She brings forty years of experience to SpaceClear, a practice she founded in 1996 helping homes and people come into balance.

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