About A Brighter Year and me.

A memorable first guest

We’d been prepping all day for MTHR Retreaters on a perfect July Summer day. I gathered my supplies for Reiki sessions and the wellness workshops I was leaded for the weekend, giving these working Moms a way to unwind, release and enjoy themselves.

Gathering on Cape Cod, the road zigs and zags towards the sea, the retreat center popping up where the marsh-meets-ocean. The Massachusetts coastline chops the waves in a timelapse like a black and white movie. Retro ungroomed beaches create waves that never had a chance to find low tide here. Cape cod’s shoreline reminds us that a break is necessary or else we’ll all smash into the sea wall, boulders, pebbles, parking lots that line the waterlines. Ironically, I’ve never seen such rough waters without a storm surge and yet the safety lines mark off swimming zones, keeping us in our safe boundary. At the beach, not far from the hotel, all ages enter the water, planting one foot in front of the other, maneuvering between rocks and seaweed. The Cape ocean is so gray, swimmers walk blindly into the sea, confidently unaware of what’s near you in the water.

A women’s retreat is like that murky July ocean. You aren’t sure who you will meet, why they are attending, why they need to be there or who they came with. Social awareness is at a tipping point, hoping you’ll find a new chosen family member. Is this true of work, a party or a school volunteer event, too?

As I helped prepare for the retreat weekend with the MTHR team, I felt like a hostess waiting for the first guest to ring the bell.

The first guests are memorable for being first, if nothing else. Shanti and her best friend, Julie, flew in from Austin. They arrived with the calm confidence I hoped I was bringing as the Wellness Lead. As if I knew since seventh grade, Shanti and I connected after the retreat for a multitude of reasons—reiki check ins, a laugh about a shared moment, learning from each other and memes, tags and texts.

A women’s retreat kula brings forth a connectivity that’s like being on a sports team—a shared winning in wellness. But not all humans share the same kindness, yet Shanti’s humanness makes her one of the most fun women out there. Her style, love of truth and calm made me watchful. Frankly, Shanti could brag about her rise in the entrepreneurial world but she didn’t.

I knew we’d do something fun together, something ease. Following a more business like email about about a coloring book for adults who love a little woo, a little magic but might be working 20 hours at a desk. I asked, “Can we create a 7 chakra coloring book to help soothe the nervous systems of women who need a quick break?”

Julie, her bestie in Austin and her MTHR Retreat roomie shot us a note telling us to collab! “A sign,” we thought.

Only two other collabs have been this simple, Tetris tiles fitting together. This Clarity in Color is filled with grace, respect, fun and simplicity we all need more of entering 2024.

I have a deep knowing, as does Shanti, that coloring can reset your nervous system enough to find holes of clarity. Coloring with SIMPLE designs, not elaborate ones, can reduce stress, anxiety to open your brain to fluid stream of consciousness.

My beliefs are routed in calmly, quietly creating with space. Like my collab partner, Shanti believes that overcomplicated designs create stress while simple, easy coloring formats, on old school paper, allow for space to redefine a moment.

Now, get coloring.

a sample page, colored by Shanti, Clarity in Color

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