I started 2020 with the greatest hope and anticipation. I rang in the New Year with a new boyfriend. I had thought ahead and planned out some good, intentional goals. I was developing projects to grow in my writing skills and creativity. Then a global pandemic hit. Everything I had plotted out and was ready to tackle very quickly changed.
Now, as 2020 winds down, my world looks much different than it did a year ago. I am watching my dad slowly die of a rare neurological disease. The writing project I hoped would turn into a book deal was denied. I broke up with a man who turned out to be emotionally unavailable and am putting myself out there in online dating yet again.
And all those goals I imagined for myself? Well, let's just say the year went very differently from how I imagined it twelve months ago.
Maybe your 2020 was a year of flourishing and personal growth. Perhaps you had breakthroughs on some of your goals, dreams, or creative pursuits. But maybe this year was hard and lonely, as it was for many of us in the human family.
Regardless of what our last twelve months looked or felt like, here are five questions to help you think, reflect, and look ahead to a focused 2021.
1. What worked well ( and did not work) for me in the last year?2.What new things did I learn about myself?3. How have I personally grown?4. What resources helped me grow?5. What do I want to do differently in 2021?
Read more about each of these questions at Verily . . .
2020 may not have been the year any of us imagined, but that does not mean it was all a waste. If we take time to reflect and look at all we learned from this year, it can help us live with more focus and intention as we head into 2021.
Sending each of you light, love, and peace as you begin 2021!
There is something powerful and beautiful about a well-told story. Some of my favorite memories as a little girl were listening to the stories of my grandmothers, aunts, and mom. What experiences formed and shaped them, how they became the women they are today; questions like these always left me wanting to learn more from and about the women I most admire and looked up to in my own life.
Enter the documentary The Girl Inside.
This new mini documentary gives viewers a heart-wrenching and heart-warming glimpse into the lives of a group of women awaiting sentencing at Cook County Jail in Chicago, the largest single-site jail in the United States. Through these women's stories, filmmaker Kate Bryan, in partnership with production company BEHOLD, expands on a theme of Bryan's 1 Girl Revolution podcasts: the truth that every can make a difference with her life.
Sadly, the voices of incarcerated women are often overlooked or not considered as valuable or important. With the numbers of incarcerated skyrocketing in the United States - the population of incarcerated women has increased by more than 700 percent over the past 40 years - there is a desperate need to educate, empower, and help women heal in the prison system.
The documentary follows incarcerated women as they participate in a life-changing academic course taught by Dr. Laura Biagi, an interdisciplinary voice artist and teacher whose work focuses on teaching others to use their voice for personal and social change. Through "Storytelling as a Healign Art" class, the students learned about the power of every person's voice and then Dr. Biagi led the women through a series of storytelling exercises and vocal warmups.
The culmination of the course and documentary comes when Dr. Biagi gives the women a writing prompt, "I am your voice, and this is what I want you to know . . ."
The vulnerability, hope, and empowerment these women share by their own voices and stories is transformative and beautiful to behold.
Read the rest over at Verily . . .
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