Have you ever done something, just for you, that you really needed to do bit you weren't sure you could?! Something big. Something threatening. Scary!

For many reasons, 2014 wasn't a very good year for me. As much as I like to keep my head high, my heart open and my optimism intact, 2014 was a year of difficult challenges.
Most of them revolved around my business, my "art world" you could say. I found it very difficult to navigate in my business and figure out the right thing to do. I opened up lots of new ideas and worked with them through the year. But it wasn't until late this year, that I felt some clarity about what I am actually doing.
I changed my name from The Sunshine Studio to Lone Aabrink * Sacred Art & Dreaming. I burned the old Facebook page and created a brand new.

I suppose this is normal; to go through a looong period of questions, hopes and doubt. But when I look back, 2014 really was...   quite exhausting.


I watched a BBC program with Peter Owen Jones. Peter is an English vicar (a type of priest) and the program is called How To Live A Simple Life. In the program Peter tries to live by the rules of Saint Francis of Assisi.  Francis was an Italian monk who died in 1226.
Saint Francis believed in and lived a simple life. Giving everything to God and to be at God's good will and mercy. He would own nothing and begged and prayed for food. In How To Live A Simple Life, Peter Owen Jones tries to follow his footsteps. First by growing his own food. Then by exchanging his services for food or other things he need (like washing up at the local pub and getting food out of it). In the last episode he takes to the road, to feel one on one just how it feels to live without money. In his program we follow his 'adventure' and it was especially the moment when Peter meets with a monk that really captured me. The monk says to Peter: "When you ask God to provide for you, you become extremely vulnerable. When you ask somebody else for food or to sleep in their house, you give them an opportunity to give, to show kindness".

In the muslim belief there is a tradition and a knowledge of "the sacred traveler". And the Koran says that should a traveler arrive at your doorstep, you are to shelter and give him food for 3 days. It is a well known thing to the muslims.

The monk goes on and says: "If you are self-providing, self maintaining and self sufficient (this is the BIG word in our life today, isn't it?), you are an island. Self sufficiency cuts you off from other people. This is what Saint Francis taught; When we have nothing, we give our time, and share our gifts with the community. And we become part of that community".



This program sat with me for a long time. And on this 1st day of the New Year, it is what still rings in there. Because How Can I Become More Connected To My Community? How Can I Take Money Out Of The Equation? How Can I Allow GOD To Step Into My Life and Receive The Good There Is For Me? How Can I Allow Good Into My Life? These are the powerful questions that the program made me ponder.

I have just come back from a haircut the local hairdresser's. My hairdresser said, when being asked about how she celebrates Christmas, that she doesn't celebrate Christmas. For her it is too overwhelming with too many expectations. She said she'd rather go skiing in Austria, than celebrate Christmas.

I think a lot of us feel overwhelmed at Christmas. The amount of things that we need to process; things need to be done and need to be taken care of. What to buy, get, bring, take! What to wear, what to eat, where to go and whom with?!
I think things would be a lot easier if we would stop measuring ourselves by the standard and start measuring ourselves by our own Truth. Is this really how I want Christmas to be!? If we don't listen, Christmas can be a whirlwind, that leaves us longing for a peaceful holiday when it is finally over!

That's why I like solstice so much. Solstice is upon us now. This year the actual solstice, the longest night and the shortest day falls in Europe on the night between Sunday 21st and Monday 22nd.

I am celebrating it tonight with friends. Even just saying that out loud makes me joyful, happy, free. This is my first year you see, being a facilitator; a keeper of solstice council. I feel honoured and grateful.

At solstice there are no must do's or don't's. All you have to do is show up. Show up for yourself. And the Universe. (And that is pretty strong and enough!). With your presence you say "I am here".
It's like showing up for a meeting in class, in school, at work - anywhere. You show up. You tell your story. You listen to the others. You decide what to do from now on and what didn't work this year! This is exactly what solstice is all about! Showing up, and telling your story.

Sometimes we can't show up. For many reasons we forget or put it last. Especially if we feel a lack of energy and feel overwhelmed. Sometimes we feel we don't have the power to show up.

A few years back I was on a shamanic workshop in Ireland, called Peace and Power. And I was ill the whole time I was there! Between classes and when we were not eating, I was asleep. The whole of the 6 days. I never met anyone or connected with anyone outside the circle. But I showed up for every class. I listened. I did the work. I came home and it was a very powerful experience for me, with some very deep teachings about peace and power in my life. I wouldn't have missed it for the world and it helped me see things clearer.




When we ask for help the Universe, the Spirits are there to help us. When we ask for guidance, when we chose to let go -- the Spirits are there, witnessing and seeing us. Always. Even when there are no one else around, Spirit sees us, Spirit walks with us through our life, witnessing our journey, our story.

There are times when I feel disconnected from Spirit, I feel alone. I feel like I am not doing what I should be doing, I am not telling my truth. But Spirit is there behind the veil anyway. They have not abandoned us, they are still listening. When I stand up, speak up, show up, I see that the Spirits were there all the time. Guiding me, though I wasn't listening and paying attention.

And so showing up for Winter Solstice -- at this the darkest of times -- is so brave and honest and true for me. Showing that I am here! I am listening, I am available and open; it's sooo valuable. So valuable.

And all we have to do is show up.

So when we feel stressful and too busy around Christmas, and try to fit in the box and do what we think everybody else wants us to do, it is time to PAUSE. Stop! And show up for yourself. Show up for your truth. Connect with a deeper truth, a more valuable truth, A PERSONAL TRUTH. The frame that we stretch ourselves around can be too big, wrong size or just uncomfortable. Let's throw that frame away, and see what we really need this Christmas! 

What is ONE thing that YOU can change RIGHT NOW, that will give you a little more space, a little more peace, and more of YOU this holiday season? 

Remember, this is the HOLY days season. So what IS holy? Is it gifts or presents, food or family - and what ever it is; HOW can I treat it as sacred and holy? How can I allow sacredness into my Christmas and make it MY Christmas and my kind of holy?

For me, sacred and holy means visiting the most beautiful and cozy Christmas market I know - with the one I love! It's celebrating my mother's absolute wonderful and heartfelt cooked food. It's about seeing my family - listening to their stories, and really being present! All these things are holy for me. Because being present and showing up for life IS holy. Is sacred. Life is sacred - just as it is. And listening, paying attention, participating.
But it is also about napping. Making sure I get enough rest. To calm myself down by listening to the darkness in my sleep, wrapping myself with her warm winter cloak of Darkness, that will allow me to sink even deeper into the mystery and the mystery of my own heartbeat, my own truth.

And YES! There are a number of things that I am saying NO to this Christmas. NO because it isn't giving me peace, joy and caring for the sacred.
Some of these things are very close to my heart; family, friends that I cannot see all though I would looove to (if only the Christmas season lasted 100 days!). Places I would love to see - if! - I had the money, the time, the presence! When the calendar is too booked, the heart is easily overwhelmed and struggles to take in all the planning and arranging. And so it is better for me to have good things AND time to really enjoy them.

Who I am - is who I am - and it is Beautiful! I do not need to be more than who I am. Say more than what I can. I don't have to allow myself to become angry, stressful, empty and powerless over Christmas. I can change the world. By changing my own backyard.
So again I will ask you; What is ONE thing that YOU can change RIGHT NOW, that will give you a little more space, a little more peace, and more of YOU this holiday season? And if you don't know: Pray! And if you don't know how to pray: show up for yourself!

All you have to do, is show up.

I wish you a merry, merry Christmas. And a beautiful, caring and loving 2015.

May your power shine through as the brightest, clearest light through-out the whole of 2015. May Peace be within you and outside you. May your journey be full of hopes, dreams, adventures and beautiful starry skies and wonderful caring beings.

May love shine on your path.

With Love and surrender, 

Lone

I am being asked by the Universe to Sing the Song of me.

I need you to see me. I need you to hear me.

In this video I let go of the old name for my business; The Sunshine Studio. And I take the first step on a new an unknown path. Into my creativity. Into my art. I am open and I am honest.

I talk about my journey with The Sunshine Studio, from graduation two years ago, to a life as a full time artist in France. A process of naming my products and goals but also closing a chapter and letting New Life begin.

This video is a threshold that separates what I was from what I am.
This is what I am. This is me. Thank you.

I AM