07 Jan

An Odyssey of Trust

 

Happy New Year, dear friend! 2025 has arrived, and with it comes a blank canvas for us to create something extraordinary. What is calling you this year? What lights you up? What do you want to leave behind from 2024, and what do you want to carry forward into this fresh new chapter?

As I reflect on the past year, I recognize it was a year of transformation—the best of times and the most challenging of times. 2024 asked me to trust in ways I never thought possible. In the middle of this tumultuous journey, something extraordinary happened. I experienced what I call a “miracle meltdown,” a moment of rage and frustration that transformed into profound peace. That peace came when I reached out, in desperation, to a dear friend who has passed on. Her presence enveloped me, and the clarity I had been longing for arrived. I knew it was time to leave Victoria, my beloved home of 22 years, and embark on a pilgrimage of trust.

With each box I packed, I knew that I was being guided on this new path—even if I didn’t know what lay ahead. Trusting that inner guidance, I found myself at a writer’s retreat north of the Malahat, surrounded by the tranquility of nature. Here, I’ve begun revisiting a book I started years ago but had put aside – “If You Only Knew, A Book of Healing Letters”. Now, the words are flowing again, as if the universe has cleared the way for this project to emerge.

And as if to affirm this journey, miracles keep unfolding. Marci Shimoff, author of Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul and Your Year of Miracles, has graciously agreed to endorse my upcoming book. Her belief in my work is an incredible gift and a reminder that trust and faith open doors we cannot foresee.

This journey has not been without its challenges. I’ve had to let go of my cherished home and step into the unknown, which, as a Cancerian, has been no small feat. Home has always been my sanctuary, a sacred space where I create, dream, and share love with others. Yet, as I’ve released my attachment to the familiar, I am learning to trust the process and embrace the unfolding mystery of life.

A Call to Reflect and Create

As we step into 2025, I invite you to join me in reflecting on your own odyssey of trust. Take out your journal and write about your 2024. What lessons did the year bring? What moments of growth and grace stand out? And most importantly, what do you want to create in this new year? Write it down. Lock it in. Then, give thanks for the wisdom and opportunities that brought you here.

Remember, the light you seek is already within you. As you write your intentions for the year ahead, let your inner light guide you. Trust that you are exactly where you need to be.

An Invitation

If you’ve ever dreamed of writing a book, I’d love to support you in bringing it to life. My Author Mentorship Bootcamp retreat is happening this January 26-30 at the Bethlehem Centre in Nanaimo, BC.

It’s a transformative experience designed to help you overcome fears, embrace your unique voice, and take steps toward publishing your work. Whether you’re writing a memoir, a legacy piece, or something entirely unique and different, this retreat offers the space, guidance, and inspiration to bring your vision to fruition.

Learn more about the program and register here.

As I sit in this sacred space, preparing for what’s next, I am filled with gratitude for the journey that brought me here and for each of you who continues to walk this path with me. Together, let’s embrace 2025 with open hearts and a willingness to trust the unknown. Who knows what miracles await us?

Please share yours with me – big or small, and I’ll promise to do the same. I am hoping my newsletters will become a reciprocal exchange. It means the world to me when you respond. It’s starting to happen more and more, and I can’t thank you enough.  

With love and blessings,

Junie

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17 Mar

God Winks—When We’re Ready to Receive

serendipity-clouds
Thank you!

“THANK YOU” does not come close to expressing the gratitude I feel for everyone who has shown me so much kindness and generosity in the past week since I wrote about my vision problem, the cost of the treatment, and my GoFundMe campaign. Your financial contributions and/or notes of love have uplifted me in ways I can’t even express. Bless You!

And now it’s YOUR TURN to receive. And it comes from your very own creativity. Your gifts to the world.

Creative expression is what makes our spirits soar. It is innately who we are; we are creative beings. We are born with the gift of imagination.

Doing one’s art often transforms suffering into beauty. It prevents a person from dying with their song still inside them. When we lose our impulse to create, whether it is painting, writing musical scores, designing landscaped gardens, writing our book, photography, whatever our talent is, something inside of us slowly begins to die.

When we get it back, we soar! Life has new meaning and purpose. We are in the flow of Life and Love. And all is as it was meant to be.

“One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.”
—Helen Keller

Getting in the flow is as easy as ABC

So how do we get back into the flow of life, and honour our heart’s promise, when we may not know where to begin?

It’s a simple A, B, C formula (simpler than we think):

A. Sit quietly and with deep sincerity, ask the angels, God, Universal Intelligence, Spirit—whatever you wish to call that which grows the flowers and births all life—“Please show me the way. What do I need to know in order to take my next steps?”

Hold the intention to receive clarity about your next steps and expect to get it.

B. Stay awake for signs that will point the way.

Open to receive unexpected messages from books, people, events, signposts. There are no limits to where guidance will come from.

C. Follow the guidance you are given.

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.” —Goethe

Each step, no matter how small, could lead you to magical opportunities. Serendipity isn’t a miracle. It is within the natural order of Life.

“God Winks”, as I like to call them, are universal gifts to us that are available everywhere and at all times. Say YES to yourself and watch the God Winks show up in places you would never have thought to look!

What if it’s a book?

Do you have a creative impulse to write a book? Is it serendipitous that you’re reading this now? Only you will know the truth of this.

Has anyone ever said to you…

“I think you should write a book.”

And you said, “Me? I don’t think so.”

Yet it sparks something in you that resonates deeply but you brush it aside. Or perhaps it has been a secret desire you have had for years but you don’t know how or where to begin. Maybe you are already in the midst of writing a book, blog, play or short story, but can’t seem to stay focused, so you stop.

Check out these two scenarios:

Scenario #1

You want to write a book

You don’t know how or where to begin

You don’t think you are good enough

There are things you know about and care about

You are hesitant to say them out loud

You are afraid of what people might think or say

There are other reasons too

You begin to shrink

You stop

Your dream ENDS here.

Scenario #2

You want to write a book

You don’t know how or where to begin

There are things you know and care about

You are hesitant to say them out loud

You are afraid of what people might think or say

There are other reasons too

Still, you say to yourself, “I am willing to feel the discomfort,

put my fears aside and GO FOR IT.”

Your dream BEGINS here.

It is here that you will step into the magic of Universal Mind and Flow. You will no longer be burdened by whatever kept you stuck. Instead you will be doing what you have dreamed of, and as you move toward your life’s purpose, you move toward your divinity. And this is the gift you give yourself, by answering the call of your creative impulse, your heart’s promise.

“As we move toward our creativity, we move toward our Divinity.”
—Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

I have successfully coached many individuals to move from writer to author. In the process, they have also found their authentic voices which, in many cases, had been silenced for years.

Author Support Group

Starting April 13th, 2016. Join now!

Wednesday evenings, 6:15 – 8:45 pm

8 Weeks, April 13 – June 1

“I had the opportunity to attend Junie Swadron’s Author Support Group earlier this year. My manuscript, Julia’s Secret, had been stuck in a drawer for a couple of years at that time. I received amazing support and guidance from Junie and from the group. Junie is a wonderful facilitator—honest and heartfelt. The sessions were full of fun and extremely encouraging. Julia’s Secret is now finished and just waiting for the illustrations! My blog is out there too. The Author Support Group was a brilliant kick starter. I recommend it 100%—with all my heart.” —Anne Sture

Please contact me for a free consultation to discuss your writing dreams, and after our call I’ll send you my preliminary Author’s Questionnaire to really get you excited about moving forward with your project!

Limited space; register now. Early bird price ends March 23rd. Read more and register here.

Writing Prompt

Today, I am ready to commit to my heart’s desires. I am choosing…

OR

Today I am not ready to commit to my hearts desires. I am choosing…

Both prompts are valid. Whatever applies to you is rich grist for the mill. Perhaps the second prompt will lead to the first one. I’m dyslexic. I love to reverse orders!

 

As always, please leave a comment below or join us at Junie’s Writing Sanctuary to join the conversation.

All blessings,
Junie

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05 Apr

Write Yourself Home One Day Writing Retreat

A Fun & Profound One-Day Writing Retreat

Do you think you can’t write? Well, you can!

Do you think your negative beliefs and attitudes toward writing
can’t change in a few hours? Yes, they can!

Do you think life affirming transformation can’t happen in a day?
Yes, it can!

Come, let me show you how to come home to your heart through the joy
of writing.

Writing has the power to stop time, cut through the extraneous and take us
home to our heart. This absolutely fun experience will engage the writer within
and may surprise you by eliciting prose, poetry, song lyrics or simply stream of
consciousness writing in “no apparent form”. You will learn the fundamentals of
moving past the head and into the heart of writing.

You will be led gently into story and into the soul’s inner landscape where
clarity, creativity, passion, originality and truth are revealed. With
encouragement, safety and the freedom to jump in, you will open to the joy of
where writing can take you.

The sweet whisperings of your soul meet you on the page and something shifts.
You strengthen. You begin to stand taller and one day you notice that your voice
on the page has become your voice in the world.
For those who have never experienced my 8-week writing workshops called,
Sacred  Writing Circles, also known as “Write Where You Are” or Re-Write Your Life, this will give you an excellent opportunity to be introduced to the experience.

 

“When I arrived here I was completely stuck. I felt self-conscious,
worried, couldn’t even think about reading out loud to the group. By the time I
left at the end of the day, words were pouring onto the paper like years of
uncried tears. I read out loud to the group and felt proud of the things I had
written after it was received so warmly by the group. What a personal
transformation in 1 day!”

Gillian Pierson

Saturday, April 7, 2012
Time:  9:30am – 5pm

Location:

Church of Truth
Community of Conscious Living
111 Superior Street
Victoria, British Columbia V8V 1T3

Cost: $125

SEE YOU THERE!!

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