This morning as I was walking my labyrinth, these are the thoughts that come through my mind.
Looking back on my life I had often wished that many things would have played out differently.I wished that I would have grown up with parents who raised me together in a home, loved and respected each other and given me a solid foundation. I wished I would have had a sibling that was born close to my age with whom I could more intimately share some of life’s challenges.Being half New Yorker (father’s side), I dreamed that I would have been able to grow up in the city, attend the highschool of performing arts and go on to Juilliard or Manhattan School of Music. And I often wished I would still have my spleen and have a stronger physical constitution, so I would not have dealt with as many health issues throughout my life.
Yet, had my life transpired in such a manner, chances are I would not be writing you this letter from beautiful Tucson, Arizona, nor would I have experienced the trials and tribulations that shaped me.
Instead, thanks to my parents divorce I grew up bilingual, on two continents, and had the opportunity to embrace the best of two cultures.Thanks to my father’s second marriage I have two younger sisters, one of which I was honored to help raise and the other who gifted me two beautiful nieces.
Thanks to my mother being in the organisation of the Jazz Festival Bern, Switzerland, I spent my formative years listening to and meeting many of the Greats, such as Ella, Miles, Dizzy, Dr. John and Carmen McRay and more. This eventually led me to move back to New York City in my 20’s where I had the opportunity to study with the masterful Jazz vocal coach Nanette Natal. She did not only help me find my voice but trained me in inner child work. This furthered my emotional development and ushered me on my healing path. So instead of going to an ivy league music school, I learned to become a soulful singer/songwriter and more of a “mensch” (Yiddish for emotionally intelligent human Being).
Thanks to my compromised immune system (no spleen), I spent the majority of my life exploring, studying and practicing various healing modalities and spiritual teachings that helped me further heal my emotional and physical body. Because of this, I become a life coach, a teacher and an energy healer, and finally created Kate’s Magik - a company that provides healing tools to support people on their life-path and invoke positive changes by uniting the power of intention with the beautiful aromas of earth's sacred and medicinal plants.
Kate’s Magik gave me the opportunity to discover my profound passion and gift for natural perfuming which has given me the opportunity to work on mastering this art.In addition, I have three studio albums of songs I wrote, a working band that gives me the opportunity to play music and further my craft as a musician.
All that said and as rosy as it sounds wrapped up in a package, there is still so much for me to learn, challenges to overcome and shadows to face. My life is not easy, and I continue to work on taking responsibility for what I create and the thoughts that roam my head. However, what I call ZOOMING OUT always helps me get perspective. When I take the time to count my blessings and review how far I have come, GRATITUDE seeps in and creates a better day, a better week and a better life.
So there it is. As we approach the days leading up to Thanksgiving, I think about how grateful I am for the life I have been given, just as it is. I am so blessed to still have my dad, a brilliant thinker and professional writer, who introduced me to literature, wit and film. And my mom who exposed me to some of the greatest music ever made and never ceases to love and support me. I miss my grandma who loved me unconditionally like no other, but feel thankful to have had her in my life as long as I did. I am beyond grateful to have a spiritual partner who loves, inspires and challenges me (important) and shares my infinite quest for the mystical and the magical, my loving family and friends, the fur children who keep me grounded and present and the beauteous desert I get to call my home.
May I inspire you to zoom out and look at your life in this way?
What challenges have brought you some of the greatest gifts?
It is undoubtedly a tough time planet earth on this sacred planet of ours and we need each other's support and love and understanding to get through it. Finding the gratitude and the blessings in our own life can help us be more present and bring us to a higher vibration.
I thank you. I thank you. I thank you for being part of Kate’s Magik and my web of life!!!
In Gratitude,
Kate
Comments will be approved before showing up.