This morning I rise

Gratitude fills me up

For the beat in my heart

For the hope of this new day

For all that is yet to come

Are you embracing this season of thanksgiving? Or is it simply another month?

Since the month began I have been meditating on gratitude and thankfulness.

Did you know that by definition gratitude is the quality of being thankful (Oxford Dictionary).

It is my desire to provide a space for the remainder of the month where people can come, connect and be filled to the brim with gratitude.

Today moving forward I will be posting on the Beeper Holland Facebook page what I am thankful for. This is my personal invitation to YOU to come and join.

Join me by reading the responses, by adding your own responses and lets fill our hearts with the thankfulness that we each have for the big things in our lives and the small things in our lives.

Will you join me?

I am so glad we decided to extend it for a whole week because it’s hard to be limited to just one day.

This is the perfect week to reminisce about my last great adventure in nature and dream of the NEXT one!

In September of 2018 I had the honor and privilege to teach yoga in the mountains! Gretchen of the Wolf Den in Twin Lakes, Colorado hosted a Yoga + Hiking retreat where I taught yoga and meditation. The retreat was three nights and four days long and full of wonderful women, yoga, hiking, scenery, food and massages.

As I mentioned, I was able to teach two of my very favorite practices: yoga and meditation.

For those new to meditation, we discussed meditation and the benefits it can provide to your daily life. For those who have already incorporated meditation into their lives we broke down some of the typical “rules” of what your practice should be like or look like. Prior to the retreat we asked that everyone read The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz and discussed how the four agreements in his book can actually be utilized in a meditation practice.

The two full days at the retreat each contained a hike. We eased our way into it by hiking to the Interlaken historic resort the first full day of the retreat and on the second full day we challenged ourselves even more by hiking just over 4.5 miles on Lost Man Trail.

On top of spending a long weekend in Twin Lakes, Colorado with awesome women, hiking, yoga-ing, meditating you also get to take the time to wine down at night, sit around a fire with s’mores and indulge in a massage by Erin from The Massage Connection.

Whether you are new to yoga and meditation or a seasoned practitioner in one or both this retreat will benefit you!

If any of this post speaks to you and evokes your desire to run away to the mountains and spend time in nature while also practicing yoga, meditating and hiking then claim your spot now at one of the two Wolf Den Yoga + Hiking Retreat weekends in September 2019.

If it was perfect would it mean as much to me as it does?

Would I have experienced as much growth as I feel that I have?

Little did I know it was the beginning of what I never knew I needed. 

But what if we go back even further in time for just a minute? When I was a young girl I took up running. It was the first time I felt such a connection to my breath and realized how my breath was fuel for my body. That I had the power to control my breath, but at that age I could not comprehend the depth of that power, that ability.

At this current stage of life I cannot even recall what I use to think about when the word meditation was uttered, however, I am not even sure I can put into words what all it means to me now.

On February 7, 2016, I was a mother to a 1.5 year old little boy who was starting yoga teacher training with Soul Motivation Yoga School. I remember that day I was the either the first woman in that room to really introduce herself or I was just the first woman to cry during my introduction. I admitted to my Teacher and this brand new to me group of women that while I loved motherhood I did not love the anger I found within myself as a result. My ability to quickly turn my tone and feelings to anger was actually scary to me. 

What I found in meditation was the ability to slow my breath. 

The ability to quiet my mind. 

The ability to find peace that transcended into my daily life. 

Therefore, lessening the anger I had been experiencing.

Before I would finish my yoga teacher training in August of 2016, I would be pregnant with my second son. As I sit here reflecting on this anniversary of mediation for me I am 35 weeks pregnant with my third son.

What I am trying to tell you is quickly after developing a meditation practice I knew my meditation practice would be years away from fitting into a perfect box of getting up every single morning before anyone else in my house and getting that quiet meditation time in for the day.

In certain aspects of life I have a need for perfection and if I cannot do it the right way, well, then what is the point?

My ideal way to meditate has had to be altered because the practice itself is so incredibly beneficial to me, my life, and my family whether I do it first thing in the morning or squeeze it in during nap time or even the last thing I do before bed.

I am a better human because of meditation.

It has created an ability to open my heart even more.

To open my mind even more.

To find gratitude in not just the big things but the small things.

As humans we are forever changing and I want to keep growing. I want to be the best version of Beeper that I can be and meditation is one vital tool I use.

What daily activity has become a life changer for you?

Giving you the the story of where my nickname originated from seems like the right place to start. Here is your warning thought – it is not that exciting of a story.

But first I would like to say that I am so pleased to have this space to share yoga, meditation, beauty and what is yet to come with all who are interested, so thank you for being here!

Back to the story, I am the youngest of the three children and also the youngest out of all the cousins on one side of my family. On that particular side I have to boy cousins which my siblings and I attended the same school as them and even lived in the same neighborhood as them for awhile. As the story was told me, because its origin predates my earliest memory, my oldest cousin and brother would ask about me and I am making an assumption here but I am willing to bet like most little kids Beth was actually pronounced “Beff.”

This was back in the early 80s when the Wendy’s commercial with the two old ladies asking “Where’s the beef?” was popular. Eventually oldest cousin and brother started referring to me as “Beef”.

After hearing this new name for me, my sweet mom worried that I’d be a 13 year old girl who had the nickname Beef and began her case of having the nickname changed. After all, what 13 year old girl wants to be called Beef?

Somehow they decided on the Beep which led to Beeper and as a result I have been called Beeper since the age of 1.

Being the youngest I never had to introduce myself so when it came time for college I wasn’t walking around introducing myself to everyone as Beeper. So there is a chunk of people from that part of my life that do not know me as Beeper. My husband actually refuses to call me Beeper.

There you have it the story of Beeper. What do you think? Was that story a let down?