when nothing goes to plan…

5 Jun

I’m currently sitting in a cafe in Osaka, Japan, drinking an ice latte and reading through the welcome messages in the community space for Bud to Bloom.

I have shared quite openly that the last few months have been anything but perfect, anything but easy. Life has been, more than ever, completely unexpected at almost every turn. To spend half of this year travelling, working and writing from my favourite places in the world was so very far from what I had planned for 2023. And yet — over the last week or two I’ve had moments, daily, where I quite literally become teary with gratitude.

Walking to the local sento (bathhouse) in a gentle rain. Laying in bed with my best friends daughter listing our 15 favourite ice cream flavours. Praying together at the shrine in Mie. Taking a foot Onsen high up in the mountains. Making my way through a s l o w conversation in Japanese and somehow, being understood. New friends and old friends. Writing from this cafe.

A few months ago I had wondered why I found myself in an uncomfortable place even though the only thing I was truly certain of, was that I had definitely followed my intuition to arrive there.

But that’s exactly it.

Living intuitively, or from a place of your own inner authority does not guard you from difficulty or discomfort. In fact, sometimes it will lead you directly to the heart of it, if that’s what you need.

Living intuitively does not mean you can be sure of how it all works out.

In fact, it’s the exact opposite.

Living (and working) intuitively is a constant practice of surrender and letting go. It’s not about avoiding the dark, but learning how truly important the unknown is.

From Bud to Bloom comes from a place of both lived experience as well as what I have observed over the years working with creatives, business owners and wonderful people who are committed to existing in a life that is full and alive. It doesn’t matter how ‘aligned’ or ‘healthy’ or ‘spiritual’ or ‘successful’ we are. There are seasons. There is difficulty. There is uncertainty. There is trial and error and failure. There is the unknown.

It can all be beautiful, if we let it.

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If there is one thing I know I can do well, it is to bring the right people together to create a strong community of support. In Bud to Bloom I build the foundation, create and hold the space and set the tone, but we all learn from one another. I truly feel like the one teacher approach lives in a dying version of this world and this work comes alive in the voice and experience of all those called to the group.

The first module, The Root, goes live tomorrow. It’s a collection of stories, practices and resources that will grow over the next four weeks. The Root is for navigating those moments in life, in business, in creation where we simply do not know what comes next. Maybe we’re creatively drained, maybe we’re in a lull, maybe we’ve recently experienced a great wave of expansion or success and mourning it’s passing, forgetting everything is liminal. Maybe we feel as if we’re in the dark and instead of replenishing and drinking in it’s nutrients, we’re trying to push past.

Our first live class is on June 15th, followed by two live mentoring circles on June 29th. We haven’t even begun and a few members have messaged me already thanking me for the community space. I truly cannot wait to bathe in this together, feeling so very alive with inspiration and love in my favourite place on earth.

❤️

Emmie xo

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