A Look Back at 2018

Category: Blog, New News
Author: heartbodyandsoul

The Roman God Janus is always depicted with two faces — one looking backward and one facing forward.  (Janus – January – the whole start-of-the-new-year-phenomena – suddenly it all makes sense!)    So in the midst of all our fresh starts and new diet/work-out resolve, we think it’s worth taking a page from Old Man J’s playbook and pausing just a millisecond for a look back.

We did that at our last Coffee & Convo of 2018 and it was pretty interesting to hear the highlights and  low points, the lessons and hard-won-insights of the year, whether overall folks considered 2018 a pretty good year or one they were happy to kick in the backside on its way out the door.  That last conversation of the year prompted me to take a look back at our other conversations of 2018.

For those of you not already familiar with it, we host a Coffee & Conversation every Saturday morning of the year at 10:30 a.m. We provide the coffee, the topic, and someone to facilitate the discussion.    MJ provides goodies, (blessings be upon her talented head).  And you — the tribe of folks who gather on those Saturday mornings — provide the conversation.  And some fascinating conversations they were!

Over the course of 2018,

• We talked about forgiveness and ‘if-only’s’.
• Dreams and astrology.
• And fairies.
• We explored what it means and feels like to live fully in our own bodies, what it means and feels like to ‘have a calling’, and how we go about grounding transcendent experiences back into daily living.
• We explored mindfulness and gratitude, karma and devotional practices.
• We learned about Tibetan Buddhism and Shamanism.
• And Ayurveda.
• And Conjure.
• We debated the power and perils of labels,  the differences between personality and attitude,  judgment versus discernment.
• We discussed who ARE the Gods anyway and what are Solfeggio frequencies?
• We got introduced to the the faces of the Tarot and the lessons of Lilith.
• We talked about climate change and evolution, played with energy, and listened to tips on how to get published.
• We reminisced about the dog days of summer and shared stories of labors of love.
• We shared ghost stories and Halloween traditions, discussed rituals around death, and learned about Ancestral Healing.
• We talked about the good and not-so-good memories and feelings that Christmas brings up for us, and how we take care of ourselves in the physical and emotional craziness of the holiday season.
• We laughed about the worst gifts EVAH and then —
• We looked back together at 2018 … which prompted me to do the same here.

Not too shabby a list, is it??  This is our second full year of Saturday morning Coffee & Conversation — 104 conversations shared over countless cups of coffee and MJ’s treats.  We have debated and disagreed, pondered and contemplated, cried and laughed together as we explored a never-ending range of things-people-don’t-often-take-time-out-to-talk-about.  The Saturday morning group shifts and changes.  Some are regulars, seldom missing a Saturday, without regard to topic.  Others drop in when they can or when a particular topic catches their eye.  Some just happen upon the conversation as its happening and pull up a chair to join in.  All are welcome and there is no cost to participate — though we do appreciate donations to the Good Karma Coffee Fund to support our charity of the month!

Saturday morning Coffee & Conversations is one of our favorite things at HBS.  We’re always on the lookout for good topics, so if you have some ideas, please grab somebody who works at HBS the next time you’re in and let us know.  And if you haven’t yet dropped by on a Saturday morning — consider adding THAT to your list of New Year’s resolutions.  If nothing else, MJ’s brownies are guaranteed not to disappoint.

Until then, Happy New Year to each and every one of you from those of us here at HBS.  May 2019 bless us every one.

Cat & Deb