My Joy List
June 4th - June 10th: cute villages along the Cote d'Azur, trusting my gut, and last year's words on balance
You’re reading a newsletter from Syd, an NYC-born gal who quit her “golden handcuffs” job and moved to Amsterdam to follow her heart’s calls for a path less traveled. Here, I share the challenges and wins of my own journey from people pleasing & perfectionism to authenticity, balance, joy, & freedom. Beyond this page, I coach fellow high achievers along their own journey. I also share their stories in a podcast, The Path Less Traveled. You may find comfort, empowerment, inspiration, and/or community. Welcome 🫶🏻
Hi beautiful sunshiney people!
You know what thought gets me excited to meditate, but feels distant on the days I don’t want to meditate?
Meditating is an opportunity to hang out with my purest, sweetest, most genuine, silly, loving self. It’s an opportunity to hang out with the me behind the thoughts and the inbound noise of day-to-day life. An opportunity to push open the curtains and hang out in the sunshine that lays behind them. When that’s my intention, meditation becomes an opportunity to trust fall through my thoughts rather than a challenge to push them away.
That sounds so much more enticing, doesn’t it?
Speaking of meditating, episode 3 of The Path Less Traveled dropped last Friday and I guide you through one of my favorite meditative visualizations in about 15 minutes. It makes me feel like literal sunshine inside and out. Whether meditation is a regular part of your life or not, this is a great one to try. :)
In other news, my birthday…
is tomorrow! As the day approaches, I tend to reflect in my morning pages on the past year and then dream of what I’d like to dial up, let go of, and keep the same in the coming year.
Today, I finished my morning pages on page 69 of my journal. When 69 shows up in my life a lot, I take it as a sign to prioritize balance. So, I ended my reflection contemplating balance.
I then felt a calling to go read my morning pages from the eve of my birthday last year. I wanted to see what I was reflecting on and dreaming of coming into the year. I found this passage, lightly edited for clarity (my stream of consciousness will have you like -____-) :
[balance is] not abt memorizing or creating a rigid set of conditions under which balance occurs, but rather about familiarizing ourselves w/ 1) the feeling of being in + out of balance, and 2) the diff things that tend to bring us in + out of balance, so we have a toolkit of balancing tools as well as an awareness of the balance-threatening influences…
… + then once we have those, our conditioning to chase validation from others at any cost, neglecting our internal state, fades away…
… once we’re familiar w/ the sensations + we’ve broken the old habits of self neglecting, we can let go + move effortlessly, be in balance, or not even in balance, but live w/ less moments falling deeply out of balance.
It was really cool to read my entry from this day last year. I felt deep admiration for the woman who wrote those words, and that feeling made me smile. We’re always so focused on becoming some other version of ourselves (or, perhaps, a conglomeration of other people) and criticizing who we are now that we forget to admire and love who we are right now.
I hope in this next trip around the sun that I spend more time appreciating who I am in this moment and allowing her light to shine. I want to hang out with and love her now, not next year when I’m looking back on who she was.
Other thoughts/ideas I’m mulling:
how often am i evaluating how im living in this moment as opposed to living in this moment?
Using ChatGPT for packing list is the best thing ever. Example prompt from my birthday trip:
Help me make a packing list. Include the weather each day and the dress code for the mentioned restaurants. I leave tomorrow morning to go to Saint Jean Cap Ferrat in France. I’ll be there until Monday, June 9 in the evening. Friday: hang by the pool, lunch by the pool, walk around the neighborhood, and dinner at Les Remparts. Saturday: gym, walk around farmers market in Villefranche sur mer, eat lunch at Olivula, hang by hotel pool, dinner at Le Cap. Sunday: 9am tennis lesson, hang by pool, eat lunch at Club Dauphin, go to a nearby beach, eat dinner at Les Garçons in Villefranche sur mer. Monday: morning coastal walk, hang by pool, potential lunch in Nice.
Amanda’s letter on handling weight gain, particularly through the female lens.
I planned on keeping the pre-joy list talk short this week, but somehow that did not pan out. Whoops! But now it’s time for… THE JOYS! Happy joy spotting :)
Joy spotting: the practice of noticing little moments of joy surrounding us all the time (more)
Giving Cristina a big hug after a couple months apart
The smile on Rubs face in the story of doggy day care Instagram
The video of rubs joyfully running and jumping on the doggy day care sitter on their Instagram
the Dutch woman at the gym who stopped me to tell me my MWH flow was beautiful to watch
Ruby jumping off my lap to go play with her espresso cup
Rubs proudly running into the living room with a spoiler for my birthday gift from A in her mouth
A’s birthday gift for me
Spotting Rubs and A post-security, realizing I was going to make the flight WITH the forgotten snack bag in hand
the bouquet of roses and Sarah Bernhardt peonies from A waiting in our room
Reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo with the ocean in the background
Drinking coconut water straight from the coconut with A
swimming laps for the first time in many months
A spinning me around in his arms in the pool
The way the golden evening light hit the green vines through the archway in the Eze town
The way A and Rubs glowed in the evening light
The smothering smell of jasmine in the garden at La Chevre d’Or on our way to Les Remparts
The waiter bringing over a bowl of water for Rubs at breakfast
The vibrant Barney-purple-colored floral vines cushioning the walls of the road
Getting up from dinner to pose in the golden hour lighting amongst the flowers so A could take my photo
Coming back from dinner to find Rubs still sleeping
Watching Rubs swim for the first time
The immediate good vibes when checking in with the waiter at Les Garçons in Villefranche sur mer
The community energy of the people standing and sitting on the tiny street in villafranche sur mer watching the men’s French Open final outside a cafe
Playing frisbee with Rubs on the lawn before breakfast
Rubs whipping her head left and right with the frisbee in her mouth
Messing around with A tickling each other with a grape vine on the plane
Ok! Time to go relax and reflect and welcome in this next year. My birthday doesn’t feel like such an event this year, but in a sort of beautiful way. I just feel grateful for a marker that entices me to reflect, set intentions, and show myself love. It feels peaceful.
Sending you a super big squeeze. May you feel the warmth of the light I’m sending you, along with the force of your own light.
Love,
Syd