Through the Looking Glass
Slipping into my second skin
I’m writing to you from a place that’s nestled itself into my heart, an old but lovingly restored home near the mountains of Mexico. Our family of 4 lived here for 3 months last year and the smells and sounds of this place crept right into my cells. Returning here feels like stepping out of some ill fitting part of me and slipping into a smooth, silky second skin.
Zipping on motorcycles, dipping in the salty sea, tasting and hearing things so different from my day to day in The U.S. creates a kind of joy I can only describe as relief.
In my last post I described our property in Maine, where wide open spaces lured me to live there for the last decade + of my life. A safe haven where babies turned into growing boys, where freedom and space allowed us to try our hands at raising ducks, chickens and rabbits [a-hem, I am decidedly not an animal farmer]. On sultry summer nights I gaze out at cherry and apple trees, lilac bushes and grape vines.
At the hard work and love we’ve poured into our land.
In those moments, I also feel joy. The kind of joy that comes from being deeply committed to something and watching it change, develop, flourish.
It’s difficult not to hold these two places in polarity and with an eye of comparison. One offers silence, a retreat from the bustling world. The other is one of the noisiest countries on the planet, where I’ve grown accustomed to booming tubas at 12:00am and children playing late into the night, laughing and running fearlessly through the streets. Instead of feeling annoyed, the vibrancy of Mexican life washes over me with feelings of tenderness and comfort.
In 3 short days, I’ll return to silence and space. I’m absorbing all the noise and color I can, hoping to pull some of this messy, artful, delicious, cobblestone life back with me.
The Mentor Training Founder, Vienda Maria, describes in her article The Medicine of Opposites, how she creates “greater capacity for more, bigger, beautiful, evolving and confronting experiences by reaching for the medicine of opposites.”
“It is believed that to be healthy, one needs to balance the yin and yang forces within one's own body.
This is not only true for our bodies.
It’s true for our minds, thoughts and life experiences as well.
At its very core the medicine of opposites states that all is energy and all energy needs to be in balance to achieve well-being.”
Those words contain bone-deep truth. While my mind is currently reflecting on the polarity of place and how different climates and cultures reveal different parts of me, the concept applies everywhere in life. Eating only one food group creates deficiencies, exercising only one part our body leads to atrophy elsewhere.
Stagnancy can very literally cause mental and physical distress.
In my current life experience I feel at a crossroads, deeply appreciative and grateful for all the seeds I’ve planted, now so vibrant and alive [humans, plants, and otherwise]. But I’m also itching to discover other “skins” to slide into, feel out.
With a handful of decades behind me, I’ve learned there are years of much needed quiet, tranquility and refection. Those times deepen me. There are seasons dedicated to building a new construct, either internally or externally. Those years challenge me. And there are years for expansion and play in the broader world, to be infused with new sensory experiences. Those moments fuel me.
We truly are a landscape of opposites. At The Mentor Training, we help train you to lead lives in resonance with your inner truth, to consider ideas like “the medicine of opposites” and gain solid footing in the message you are meant to bring to the world. We then equip you with the tools, processes and exercises on how to hold space for others on their journey.
If the thought of supporting, guiding and holding space for others in both private and group settings is something that lights up your heart, but you aren't sure how The Mentor Training is for you.
Early bird enrollments are still open! At a softer price. Get 20% off with the code: EB2024 at checkout. Class starts Monday, April 1. Enrol here. Early bird enrollment closes on Sunday 25th February, at midnight.
Learn more and enroll here.
P.S. At the time of posting this article I’m back in the U.S., and I couldn’t help but notice that while the cultures couldn’t be more different, rolling mountains exist in both places. To me, they’re like watchful guardians - strong and consistent even when I am not.
This newsletter was written by our relations director and mentor Anne Holloway.
Anne Holloway
Relations Director & Mentor
Alongside child-wrangling, travel, gardening and losing herself in books of all genres…
Anne has worked in almost every role within the online business management, marketing, and communications industry and manages the external mycelium of TMT. She raises awareness for the organisation, plans and delivers campaigns, manages relationships and builds the delivery framework for TMT.
Anne also leads the corporate in-person training in North America, supports our TMT community and is a lead mentor in our online training.
Anne holds a Master's Degree in International Education and currently works as an Integrator for a Creative Entrepreneurship brand and is a founding member of the Mentor Training Collective.