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Weekly-ish stories for humans seeking depth and meaning.

I'm Janelle Hardy and at some point you signed up for this 3-4x/month newsletter on memoir-writing, somatic (body) healing and stories. If you'd like to unsubscribe, just click the unsubscribe link at the bottom.

"What's my name Beau-Beau?" I ask. I cajole. I tease.

"No!" My three year old nephew shakes his head, purses his lips and scowls his eyebrows, then looks for his mom.

"No."

"No!"

"No."

I bend down and peer closer at the parts of him peeking out from around his mom's legs. Ask again.

"No." He retreats his feet, legs, belly, head, till he's almost entirely hidden from my gaze.

This little guy makes you earn his attention.

We play this game for a while.

Finally, "What's my name Beau-Beau?"

"Gingerale."

And again.

"Gingerale."

Hurrah! He knows my name.

So, let me introduce myself. I am no longer Janelle. I'm Gingerale.

Not as strange a stretch as it might seem. Try it. Try saying Janelle with a little kid's diction, working on wrapping air and shapes around your tongue and sending it out of your lips and mouth as sound.

For Beau, it comes out as Gingerale. Sometimes as Jonna. And, sometimes, since he's got a sassypants sense of humour once you win him over, he calls me "Sauna."

Because the weekend I worked on getting him to love me 😅 was the weekend he, his older siblings, his mom (my sister), my mom and three dogs spent at our family's wilderness teahouse and family-built sauna on the banks of the Yukon River.

So, I'm Gingerale.

I'm Sauna.

I'm Jonna.

And I'm Janelle.

😂

May we all be named and renamed.

May we all have curious, obstinate, delightful children in our lives.

May we be always in the process of becoming, of discovery and of delight.

And if you need a little support with tapping into curiosity and delight in your life and stories, I have some offerings that will support you. See the list below to explore.

xoxo,

Janelle

🌻 🌱 Work with me 1-1🌻 🌱

🌻 One-on-one somatic healing and/or creativity coaching sessions with me. 3 spots left for 2023. Learn more and sign up here.​

🌻 🌱 Upcoming workshops & programs 🌻 🌱

🌻 Keep Writing is my annual autumn writing circle. 12 sessions in an intimate process, where we write, we read, we never critique. It's a beautiful process. It'll help you get back into the flow of writing and creativity, and many circles adore one another so much they continue to write together after our 12 weeks. We start the 1st week of September.

🌻 Healing Through Writing Festival. A free 4-day virtual event. Move forward on your healing journey with supportive writing processes and simple memoir-writing techniques from 20+ skilled healers and writers. October 10th - 13th. Get on the waitlist here.

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