OM Blog + Press

By Jill Emich, Spirit Warrior and Owner of Shine Restaurant and Gathering Place www.shineboulder.com

Grief is a word that invokes emptiness inside. It conjures loneliness and feeing forsaken, forlorn, lost – a sadness so deep that it feels palpable and overwhelming.

Most of us have felt this at some point or another in their lives either from personal experiences or from witnessing another in emotional pain. The first time I experienced grief was when I realized that my dear brother Dennis was born a twin and my mother had lost one at birth. I hadn’t known this until my early teen years when my mom shared her story. Being a triplet myself (yes my mom was just very, very fertile), I felt such a sense of grief for my brother and my mother’s loss.

The fact that my brother shared a womb with another spirit and another body and then surfaced into this world alone was heartbreaking. What affect did it have on his little soul then and what affect does it have now? I will never truly know because my brother is mentally and physically challenged. The only way he communicates is through his powerful huge smile, through his facial expressions, his tears, and those eyes…..

So I grieved for him and with him. I felt all those overwhelming feelings and then I decided to shift it.

I started to recognize the gifts. First and foremost my brother Dennis is still here with us and he has taught me and my family about compassion, patience, acceptance and unconditional love. His story and his existence has made me a better person and I want to share that love and compassion with others. I also know Dennis has a powerful twin angel on his shoulder, protecting him and whispering sweetness into his ear. And, my brother is the glue of our family. He has kept the love strong between all of us and has kept us united. The very rare disease he has gives a life sentence of approximately 25 years. My brother is 44 and his doctors attribute his liveliness to his amazing care, love and his inner strength. His loss has made him strong, it has – this I know.

The other way I am able to transform this feeling of grief is by reaching out to others, sharing the story and hearing other peoples story of grief and how we can transform it through community and family. This is why I know the Grief Support Network is such a powerful and important organization.  It is something I am so proud to help support.  We need one another to heal, to grow, to share, to see a new perspective.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and to learn more about Grief Support Network.  We hope to see you at Shine on September 20^th for GSN’s Gratitude Celebration & Fundraiser!  

To get your tickets for the VIP farm-to-table dinner and/or the live auction and entertainment CLICK HERE.

by Ombassador and Spirit Warrior Jill Emich

I am a rebel. I am a master of my destiny. I live my truth. I choose. I choose not to dwell in any shame but instead celebrate. I choose not to focus on my weakness but transform them in to strengths.

I turn 40 this month and lets just say, some parts of my life I adore and some I may have a different opinion about. I am a single woman. I have no children of my own. But I love my work and I live passionately and from the heart. I am so proud of what I do bring in to this life and the gifts I have to offer. I am not going to say I do not have longings, because I do. I am not going to say that I didn’t wish I had a beautiful authentic connected partner in my life, because I do. But I can also celebrate the reality without having it have to match my plan of what others or I think it should be because as it turns out HERE I AM.

This longing is nothing more then me wanting to experience my own divine nature. It is only calling me into my best light.

I know this and I celebrate this.

So I am a rebel. I respect my individuality. It is neither less then nor greater then because we are all so unique that it is impossible to compare. A rebel does not mean I act out, it is more my essence-MY WAY. It is my way of respecting myself as an individual with my very own blueprint and very own path. I respect my own freedom and the freedom of others. I believe what life has in store for me is just for me and will lead to my own personal life transformation and experience. As is for you.

I live from a place of balance, acceptance, freedom, joy, and abundance of what IS.
I love my work. Shine is a place for all of us to congregate, celebrate, transform and heal together as individuals and in community. It is a blessing and a gift on so many levels.
I feel blessed to a triplet and having a deep soul connection to my two sisters and their beautiful families.
I have loving and supportive parents.

I have a brother who is mentally and physically “challenged” and he teaches me patience and unconditional love and acceptance every single day. And that is his path.
I am love. I am light. I radiate love and joy. I experience magic all around me every day.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.  

Love After Love

The time will come

When, with elation,

You will greet yourself arriving

At your own door, in your own mirror,

And each will smile at the other’s welcome.

 

And say, sit here. Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart

To itself, to the stranger who has loved you

 

All your life, whom you ignored

For another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf.

 

The photographs, the desperate notes,

Peel your image from the mirror.

-Derek Walcott

Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” ― Brené Brown

In honor of the heart.

This is an invitation for you to explore. Make this a journaling or meditation exercise to help open your heart and make you shine.

I was having a conversation with a dear ex-boyfriend of mine and he pointed out that sometimes I sit on the shore in a place of worry, feelings of not being good enough, and doubts, instead of swimming in the sea of everything I am and desire.  Well, it got me thinking (the visual was very helpful), and I decided I want to swim in the sea of everything I want to bring in to my life including prosperity, abundance, success, love, passion-YES, I want to bathe in it!  All of the sudden I was picturing basking in the sea in the feelings of all of these things that I am calling in and it really lit me up!

Hosting tips from OMbassador Jill Emich, owner of Shine Restaurant & Gathering Place on creating a perfect intentional gathering for the holidays, New Years Eve, and throughout 2014!

Gone are the days of the huge blowout drunken bashes where we all drink waaaaaay too much and make poor decisions we regret later. What the world needs now is connection sweet connection. Entertaining with the purpose of connection is where it is at these days and it is a bit of an art. With people’s busy lives and the social media and texting obsession, people crave quality face-to-face time. We need it now more than ever.

Here are my tips on the four elements of great intentional party to help you and your guests connect for a memorable nurturing experience.

Photo by Alive Studios 

It is that time people, the time of year we look forward to in some ways and loathe in many many other ways. It’s the holiDAZE! I want to give you just a few of my humble experience on how to not only survive, but rather THRIVE.

In my huge Italian family (my mom is one of 12 kids!), it was usually mayhem and flat out weirdness. Snapshot…I have one uncle that is 72 with a 35 year old girlfriend who happens to be my brother’s, who is mentally challenged, nurse, which of course pisses my mom off.  A few of my other uncles are recovering addicts but have some personality issues happening.  A few others haven’t quite hit the recovery stage yet. My mafia (yep) uncle (not blood related, but married to my mom’s sister) always fuels family drama over family money when he shows up. The millions (it feels like) of cousins are running around haphazardly, half of which I don’t know. One year we even had illegitimate cousins that found my uncle over the Internet show up, much to my Aunt’s (his wife) dismay.  And me, mid/late thirties, single, no kids, which is, practically blasphemy to my East Coast Italian roots. Yes, this is my amazing, dynamic, family whom I absolutely (now) adore.

The holidays are not about gifts and over indulgence, but rather are meant to be a time to connect and celebrate with family and friends many of whom we don’t get to see very often. While it has taken some time, instead of loathing the whole experience, I decided to set myself up for success. 

After much practice, I learned how to ROCK the holidays and here are 7 tips to help you navigate this holiday season.