Last year was my first year going to Isla Mujeres, Mexico. I was invited to join this group of amazing seasoned psychotherapists from around the world. Mary Goulding (one of my teachers) started this group more than 25 years ago. The warmth and care that has gone into keeping this group going is inspiring. And, it took boldness, as several people told me.

It’s not generally easy for us human beings to adopt new habits. One thing that helps is to make them easy. Noticing is a habit made easy by my seventh grade teacher and Dick Olney.

Living in Turkey, it was natural to hear the call to worship several times a day. A teacher at the time invited our class to pause whenever we heard it, be quiet, still our bodies and notice. That stuck. When I moved back to the states, sirens and red lights and now the sound of an airplane overhead invites that same pause –modern mindfulness bells.

Such a good holiday. Leaves, Family, Laughter. Now it’s back to it.

There are some things I want to tie up before the end of the year. One thing is to have clarity on where my 2018 goals fit into my calendar and begin chopping away at any of the ways I might get in my own way. I’m not alone in this, right? Am I the only one who sets a goal to find it slips between my fingers? That experience can become so noxious that we just avoid the whole experience and trundle along with eyes half closed.

After a weekend of rest, reflection and time with family, I’m ready to get back to it — these last few weeks before the holidays always feel like a sweet wind-down to me. This year, celebrating the graduation of the 2017 AAIT Fellowship Training Group and I’m a bit ahead of the curve in planning my next year’s calendar.

Phew! What a ride! For the past ten months, a stalwart group of practitioners has met, studied and diligently practiced Acceptance and Integration Training. Working to learn new skills and shift paradigms from the clunky searching for insight and trying to make behavioral changes to helping clients untangle from the fundamental polarized energetic charge that drives pain and dysfunction, takes time.