Loving Reflections of 2021
Words have power and magic

2021. Age of Aquarius. When Jupiter and Mars align. Dawn of a new age. A vaccine to a hopeful rescue. Fed-up with the lockdown. Everyone is living behind the mask. The whole planet shifted.
While all of this was swirling around me, I chose my word(s) for 2021. Dare to Lead, based on Brene Brown’s book of the same title. (Brown, Brene. 2018. Dare to Lead. London, England: Vermilion.) This question prompted my midpoint reflection:
“If you’ve chosen to focus on a particular word for the year 2021, what are your experiences and insights from embodying and reflecting on this word for the past half year?” Bingz Huang
Acknowledging the true power of a word, step back with me to New Years-2020. The magic word for 2020 was SELF. To commit me even further, I vowed to follow my acronym for GOALS — Good Orderly Actions Leading (to) Success. Created centuries ago, I never entirely committed whole-heartedly to action steps. Having a long, difficult conversation with myself, I had to admit that I let way too much step in the way of honoring myself. My relapse into my co-dependency and trauma responses had buried my inner self again. Mid-point of 2019, I took the first baby step and didn’t look back. I immersed myself in my spiritual practices with metaphysics and studied mindfulness, the law of attraction, and my new 12 steps — the 12 spiritual laws.
The 2020 word of self, empowered me, just like the tagline of my business. I held my first workshop on leap day of 2020. It was a success, and they asked for more. Then COVID hit. But I kept up my promise to myself. I took action each day toward my goals. While I work in healthcare and my job is essential, I still devoted time and energy to empower myself. An extreme amount of choices and decisions in 2020 were based on recovering my SELF.
Now here we are mid-point of 2021, and my dare to lead word(s).
Brene’s tagline for Dare to Lead is Brave work, tough conversations, whole hearts.
For the past six months, I have honored myself and fell in love with my life again. I’m braving the work, having the tough conversations, and living with a whole heart. Empowering your mind and muse is the tagline for Miz Mindful. I have a Master Mindset coaching certification along with mindfulness, meditation, spirituality, therapeutic art, and life. I stepped away from YouTube to regroup. I opened two online stores and self-published at least a dozen low content journals. I tried numerous social media platforms and found medium via a video post by Gary V — entrepreneur extraordinaire. All of it lead me back to me with my art, creativity, business sense, and blogging.
Brene says, “Vulnerability is an emotion we experience during times of uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.” Her four components for outstanding leadership are:
· Rumbling With Vulnerability.
· Living Your Values (Rather Than Simply Professing Them)
· Braving Trust (And Being The First To Trust)
· Learning To Rise.
· . (Brown, Brene. 2018. Dare to Lead. London, England: Vermilion.)
Braving Trust is where I am halfway through my year of daring.
In my mindful state of awareness, my old triggers and patterns were previously based on mistrust. Not just of others, but more so of myself. My ability to put me first. I am setting appropriate boundaries that I can keep. I think before I respond. I found I was only trying to relieve the anxiety and fear I felt by jumping to a response. I learned the art of building foundations and slowly pacing myself to let it sink into a habit. Someone reminded me today of Mr. Miyagi from Karate Kid and how he supported the student’s confidence when it seemed useless or boring. It then reminded me of Brene Brown’s approach. Each book has built upon the other — vulnerability, courage, imperfections, connections, and daring.
Mindful minutes practiced throughout the day change your thinking. Not judging our thoughts change our mindset. Awareness and focused attention let you see where you belong.
True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are. — Brene Brown
At the midpoint of 2021, I am no longer a mindful misfit, but I am ENOUGH to Dare to Lead!
