Hello lovely humans,

Clearly, I’ve stepped away from the blog here and wanted to give you a quick update on what I HAVE been doing (which is a lot).

After the podcast ended, I spent much of 2017 dealing with my health issues (I’m okay) and my daughter getting very, very sick. (Thankfully she’s okay too, but they were scary times). Along the way, the universe handed me an opportunity to do something that’s been a dream of mine for decades…make a documentary film.

I sat with the idea for a long time, slowly sharing it with my husband and a few friends. Everyone was encouraging and excited. One of those friends loved the idea so much, she decided to raise enough money for us to get started!

A feature length documentary, Listen Closely, is an examination of how the quality of your listening affects the quality of your life. (Woah – right?)

A year and a half later, we have 10 expert interviews filmed and just a few more to go before we start post-production. This film is a dream project and I can’t wait for you all to see it sometime in 2019! It’s going to change lives.

In the meantime, you can find out all about it over here. Make sure you watch the teaser video – I’m so proud of how it turned out. You can also join our film community and get bi-monthly updates with the latest on the film, helpful listening info and behind the scenes sneak peeks right here.

I’m still working with returning clients, though I can’t guarantee my normal 72 hour turnaround on energy clearings. If you have questions, want to check in about anything else, or just want to cheer us on, please feel free to reach out via the contact page.

with love,
Alana

I love the turn of the year because it feels like cracking the cover on the latest book in my favorite series. I don’t think of it as a fresh start because I haven’t changed overnight – nor do I want to – but there is a sense of anticipation I enjoy. A sense of wonder at where life will take me next.

Because I also use the Chinese system of astrology called the 9 Star Ki, where the new elemental year begins in early February, I feel like I have this month of grace. A month where, after the fullness of the holidays, I can turn inward and take stock of where I’ve been, where I am now and where I’d like to go; of how I’d like to feel; of what I’d like to focus my attention on.

This week we will be uploading to this website all of the podcasts that originally aired on WebTalkRadio. If you are signed up to receive blog posts via email (you are if this landed in your inbox) you’ll be getting an extra email from me over the next few days. It should just be one email per day with all the new posts. You can simply delete them or look through to see if there are any podcasts you’d like to catch up on. If anything goes awry and you receive more emails than planned, feel free to unsubscribe (link at the bottom of every email) and please accept my apologies.

with love,
Alana

P.S. I hope you’re taking care of yourself over there. The week since the US election has been intense. It’s by no means “business as usual” over here. I simply haven’t found the words to say what I want to say yet. Know that I will continue to stand for and act on behalf of love, equality, liberty and justice for all.

Based on the December 21st Create Your Magical Life podcast, I’m (slowly) writing a series of posts on how to strengthen, hold on to and shine your light when it seems like the world around you is falling into darkness.

Step 2: Be the Light

When you find the places where you feel the most pain, you’ve found the places you can make the most difference.

There are as many ways to be the light as there are people on this planet. You can love your friends and family as best you can. You can smile at strangers and hold doors open. You can write letters and sign petitions and make phone calls for the candidate or the issue you believe in most. You can sign up to give $10 a month to the charity or advocacy group of your choice. You can pick up litter when you see it on the street. You can make 3oo sandwiches or pack purses full of hotel toiletries and sanitary pads and hand them out to the homeless. You can mentor a child, foster an animal, start a sanctuary, teach someone a skill, sing in retirement homes or simply hold someone’s hand and listen.

My biggest pain points are around children and animals. Stories about abuse are like being pierced with white hot rods. I still cry when I think about a story I read about the mass killing of sled dogs after the Vancouver Olympics. I give money when and where I can. We sponsor a child through Save the Children.We regularly pick up trash on our beach and we do our best to live in environmentally healthy ways. I do my best to walk through the world as kindness and compassion embodied. Sometimes I do this beautifully and at others I’m tired and somebody pushes my buttons.

I’m also learning to be a better ally to people of color and to the LGBTQ community, in more concrete ways. I’m deepening my understanding of my own privilege and working to uncover my hidden biases. It’s uncomfortable and it feels so important. In these places I’m dependent on the light of others to guide my way.

I can’t do it all. Neither can you. But if each of us does what we’re most called to, it adds up and makes a difference. You might contribute in a really big way (like Natasha Wozniak rebuilding villages in Nepal or Sonya Passi at FreeFrom.org, who is working to change the legal system for survivors of domestic violence), or you might do something that seems small (like this vet or this hair stylist). Both are vital to our collective well being.

And of course we can all reflect the light of others, which is my goal with the podcast, with the stories I share on Facebook, with the links above. We can let people know when they’re glowing, when we love and appreciate them, when we see their light.

How do you want to be – or reflect – the light today?