Lisa’s Lessons

I hope you all are doing well. So, my birthday is coming up very soon and some years are more challenging than others to feel peace with the reality that time is passing. This year happens to be one of those challenging times.

When I find myself feeling upset about it I remember what I call “Lisa’s Lessons”. I am actually in the process of writing a Substack blog story about my friend Lisa which I will share with you all once it’s finished but essentially Lisa is a friend I made because my daughter and her son were in the same kindergarten class. We met in September and became friends quickly, she was diagnosed with cancer in December and I worked with her as a yoga and meditation teacher until she passed away in May of that same year. We spent quite a bit of time together and towards the end she gave me a card (that I still have) thanking me for me all she had learned from me. In the years since it has become very clear to me that I learned much more from her than she could have from me. One lesson I learned is that it is a PRIVILEGE to get older; to get laugh lines and wrinkles and sun spots. All Lisa wanted was to live to an age where she had spent so much time laughing with her loved ones and sitting at the beach that her face was full of laugh lines and her skin was wrinkled. I shared this and a couple other of “Lisa’s Lessons” with students this week and I will share more in my upcoming piece. 

I think it is somewhat natural to do a bit of mental inventorying around a birthday and within that process for me, the concept of retreat has been very much on my mind. Coming back from the amazing retreat in Portugal and now shifting my focus to my next retreat in Marathon Key in February sparked some curiosity to go deeper and I wrote about it in my latest Substack blog post here:

https://open.substack.com/pub/allisonwaguespack/p/appreciate-the-retreat?r=rti04&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Retreating is amazing in all it’s forms and I truly feel honored and blessed when folks choose to come with me on a retreat. They are offering me their most valuable assets;  their time and their authenticity, and I always strive to make the very most of them. There are a few spots left for my next retreat, a weekend at Isla Bella Resort in Marathon Key Feb 1-4th. Details are at the bottom of this newsletter. I have no doubt it will be just as amazing as the others.