Journaling Reflection: Returning to Ourselves

This week on Episode 4 of Meet Me at the Highland™, Octavia teaches us that rest is not the end of the work—it is the work. That stillness is not absence, but presence. That slowing down is not giving up—it is making space for what is sacred to arrive.

Take a breath here.

Let it fill you.

Let it soften what has been hardened by urgency.

Consider this: where in your days do you hear the quiet invitation to stop—but keep going anyway? What might happen if, instead, you paused?

Octavia reminds us that when we lay down the burdens that were never ours to carry, we make room for what is truly ours— joy, connection, and the deep knowing that we are already enough.

As you listen to this episode, take time to pause in between moments that raise your awareness, your curiosity, your wonderings. Spend some time journaling after the episode or connecting with a friend on these offerings:

* What is one thing I can lay down today that does not belong to me?

* How does my body feel when I give myself permission to rest without guilt?

* What part of my legacy am I embodying when I choose stillness over speed?

Remember: you are not falling behind when you pause—you are arriving.

Until we meet again at the Highland – sending love,

Gabrielle

****

Dear Octavia,

There is a hush that enters the room when your name is spoken. Not silence, but presence. A deep exhale. A remembering.

You have taught us that rest is not a reward, but a sacred right. That stillness is not what happens when the work is done—but the work itself. That coming home to ourselves is not an escape from the world, but the first act of transforming it.

In a world that glorifies urgency, you offered a slower way. A softer way. A sacred way. You reminded us that rest is not retreat—it is ritual. It is repair. It is remembrance.

Because of you, we remember those time tested words: to be still is to know. To be still is to hear. To be still is to return to the truth that has been quietly waiting for us all along.

You did not simply speak of rest—you embodied it. You created space for us to lay down our burdens, and in doing so, you helped us lay down what was never ours to carry in the first place. You ushered us back to our breath. Back to our bones. Back to the community of care that has always been our birthright. Back to the reminder that liberation is not a destination, but a return. A re-membering.

You taught us to be soft and sovereign at once. That slowing down is not giving up—it’s getting free. That resting is not laziness—it’s listening.

You reminded us that when we rest, we are not missing out—we are tuning in. To our ancestors. To the land. To the quiet call of what is next.

You helped us reclaim time not as something to manage, but something to honor. You helped us remember that we are not machines—we are miracles.

And through your legacy, we have learned to gather differently. To sit in circle. To check on each other’s hearts. To create spaces where healing is not an afterthought, but the foundation.

Because of you, we have come home to ourselves—and found each other there.

Octavia, your future is a resting ground and a rising tide. You have shown us that the most radical thing we can do in a world that demands our constant doing—is to be.

And so, in this moment of awakening, we pause. We breathe. We bow.

Not in exhaustion, but in reverence.

Not in retreat, but in return.

Thank you for being a portal to the past, present, and future. Thank you for teaching us how to rest and rise.

Until we meet at the Highland – sending love,

The Future Octavias

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