It is a crisp December day, and sunny as I walk. The surprisingly loud honks of geese can be heard over the crunch of gravel under my boots. I am alone at the moment, but I live on a farm with my husband, and lately our only visitors are coyote, deer, and the geese I mentioned already.
Stepping onto the grass, hard with frost, I head toward the creek, its rocky bed visible despite the rushing water. Its coldness I feel, even without lowering my hand for a touch. This creek flows into a pond, and then continues South, meanderingly, through Ohio, near my sister’s home, almost sixty miles away. I wonder if she is walking her dog, and if he stops for a drink from the water that only hours ago was just here.
Usually my December days are filled with holiday gatherings and trips downtown to enjoy the holiday lights, meet for coffee, and shop for gifts. While many of us are ready to roast 2020 like chestnuts over the open fire, and missing the festive connections we normally make during the holidays, all of us at Mind Body Align are paying attention, and creating content that supports a life of peace. In our schools, teachers are collaborating with us to employ mindful social-emotional learning to adapt to changes that are coming daily, and helping students do the same. We all work together, with intention and purpose, to navigate healthy lives.
Let Mind Body Align be a part of your quiet times by using our playlist and our new holiday audio meditations. The meditations are free when you use the promo code HOLIDAZE2020. This is our gift to you, and we hope you will share it with a friend.
Not too long ago, I realized that the water from the creek near my farm flows to the Mohican River and beyond to the Ohio River; it flows into the Mississippi River and all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. This same water, carrying fish, fallen leaves, and sticks, bumping over rocks, can bring peace to me, to my sister, to her friend in Mississippi, and to the fisherman in the Gulf of Mexico.
We are all connected. I notice this with awe, peace, and gratitude.
Sending joy and warm wishes!
Annamarie Fernyak
P.S. Let’s get together in whatever way we can. Check out Mind Body Align’s blog, mindful living tips, and on our website here. Chat with us on social using Facebook and Instagram.
Annamarie Fernyak is the founder and CEO of Mind Body Align LLC based in Mansfield, Ohio. She is a certified life coach, mindfulness meditation teacher, and serial entrepreneur. The development of the MBAwareness Education Program was conceived while Annamarie was volunteering to teach mindfulness in a local middle school and found that the teachers and students were struggling to grow calm for their guest teacher, students seemed unable to pay focused attention, and the teachers were growing frustrated.
Annamarie’s focus was to create a program that would transform the lives of the students. She focused on hiring a licensed teacher to create and instruct the mindfulness-based social and emotional learning curriculums to elementary and secondary school students and teachers. Due to the challenges associated with global health concerns, Annamarie’s mindfulness education program is further now evolving into online mindfulness education focusing on teaching tools that reduce stress and support a life where people can feel more at ease. We also teach as a part of corporate wellness programs.
In 2017, Annamarie launched Align Mindfulness which is a FREE app downloadable from your app store that sends prompts a few times a day, bringing attention to what’s happening in your world. Intentionally simple, these reflections help you build a well-rounded “mindfulness” muscle by offering variety in where you place your awareness.