Serendipity's Garden

nurture your Source connection, support sacred self-care, celebrate abundance, and honour the joy and beauty of conscious living.


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Create Sanctuary From Circumstance

Life can feel intense and overwhelming right now. Staying aligned—grounded in what truly matters—can seem almost impossible when circumstances feel bigger than our choices.

Today, my oracle card offered a simple truth:
“I can’t control the world, but I can choose how I perceive it.”

Serendipity’s Garden exists for moments like this.
It is a sanctuary. A refuge. A gentle portal inward—where you can rest, be received, and reconnect with wisdom, guidance, and expanded perspective.

These are not times for shrinking.
They are times for conscious adventurers—those willing to tend their inner landscape with devotion and care.

Here, we cultivate the ability to land fully in the body.
To soften the nervous system.
To respond rather than react.
To nurture our energy so we can meet life with presence, clarity, and grace.

My vision is an empowered, conscious community—women choosing alignment over autopilot, devotion over depletion, and joy as a sacred responsibility.
A community rooted in inner wisdom, guided by values, open to abundance, and willing to share their gifts with the world.

No choice is meaningless.
Attention is powerful.
As Mary Oliver so beautifully reminds us, “Attention is the beginning of devotion.”

If tending your inner garden, creating sanctuary from circumstance, and fully blossoming into the most impactful and joyful expression of who you are resonates, I warmly invite you into Serendipity’s Garden.

You can begin by:

Each is an invitation to slow down, listen deeply, and remember what you already know.

May your day be touched by quiet moments of reflection, gentle revelation, and deep acceptance.

Thank you for being here.
My name is Carolyn, and I’m the founder and steward of Serendipity’s Garden.


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Winter Reflection / Gentle Noticing

Winter invites us to pause, observe, and honour subtle shifts within ourselves.

Where does your energy naturally ebb?
Where does your body whisper for warmth, your mind for quiet, your heart for stillness?

Notice these places with tender curiosity, without judgment.

This is a season of rest, reflection, and renewal, and your awareness is a sacred gift to yourself.


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Creating an Inner Hearth: Practices for Comfort and Safety


There is a place within you that has never been hurried, never been harmed, never been asked to become anything other than what it already is. This place is your inner hearth—the quiet center where warmth is steady, light is soft, and belonging is unquestioned.

In a world that often invites vigilance, productivity, and self-improvement, tending the inner hearth is a sacred act of remembrance. It is the practice of turning toward yourself with the same tenderness you might offer a beloved child or a cherished guest. Comfort, here, is not indulgence. It is medicine.

Creating an inner hearth begins with simple, sensory devotion. Warmth matters. A cup cradled in your hands, a shawl wrapped around your shoulders, the glow of a candle at dusk—these are not small things. They speak directly to the nervous system, reminding the body that it is safe to soften.

Safety also grows through rhythm. Gentle rituals—lighting a candle each morning, placing a hand over your heart before sleep, breathing slowly as you arrive home—signal continuity and care. Over time, the body learns: there is a place to rest.

Perhaps most essential is the practice of allowing yourself to be as you are. No fixing. No refining. The hearth does not ask the fire to burn differently. It simply offers containment, warmth, and presence.

When you tend your inner hearth, you are not retreating from life. You are strengthening your capacity to meet it. From this place of comfort and sacred connection, resilience arises naturally, not through force, but through belonging.

May your inner hearth be a place you return to often—especially when the world feels cold.


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For those drawn to devotion, inner listening, and grace

Serendipity’s Garden is a quiet space devoted to remembrance — of our innate wholeness, our capacity for presence, and the gentle wisdom that lives within.

I’m beginning to offer small, online Sacred Circles rooted in beauty, grace, nervous system care, and devotional presence. These gatherings are especially supportive for those who love someone dealing with substance abuse issues, and are open to anyone longing for rest, grounding, and reconnection.

There is nothing to fix here.

No story you must tell.

No version of yourself you need to become.

If you feel drawn, you’re warmly invited to learn more about upcoming New Moon and Full Moon Circles here:

https://serendipitysgarden.wordpress.com/new-moon-sacred…/

You’re welcome exactly as you are.

— Carolyn


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Day 6: What Makes Your Heart Sing?

I’m so grateful that these last few months have been a study in what makes my heart sing.  With the end of a significant relationship and an unfamiliar (yet welcome) sense of expanded time, I’ve chosen to let Spirit flow through me and illuminate my passions and desires.

I’m drinking 1.5 litres of water a day, every day.  I’ve joined Curves and work out at least 4 days per week.  I’ve allowed myself the “luxury” of pure, organic food and body care products.  I’m honouring my body’s cues for food intake, and I’ve developed quite an appetite for Greek yogurt and chopped dried fruit sprinkled with cinnamon hemp seed granola, drizzled with pure maple syrup – for breakfast.

I’m choosing what feels GOOD more often in every day. Water, food, shelter/environment, relationships, commitments, everything…and it’s all improving on the daily, as my daughter would say.  I awaken early and spend time in sacred ceremony and journaling every morning, appreciating my amazing view of Lake Ontario and the changing skies of sunrise.   I record my day’s successes and inspirations in a “Positive Evidence Journal” before bed.  I am posting EVERY DAY (well, except for the first one 😉 ) in this Daily Blogging Challenge, which is really completely amazing.

I’m giving myself the invaluable gift of support via mentoring and community in Brenda MacIntyre’s “Step Into Your Birthright” program.  And although I appreciate the inspiration of many wonderful guides who have inspired my path here on this lovely blue plant, I have an especial appreciation for Abraham-Hicks.  Abe’s wisdom helped me to traverse the path of my son’s recovery from his serious auto accident and my daughter’s crazy adolesence.  As a result of these experiences, I know for a fact that my children are Divinely blessed and protected, and I also know in my bones that my attention and intention are powerful tools.

Creating my own heartsong music?  Flowing, cooking, singing, writing, dancing, loving, sweating, laughing, soothing, uplifting, feeling, being in Sacred Circle…that’s music to me.

What makes your heart sing?


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Day 5: Now is the Time

Every now and again, I find myself paddling madly upstream against the prevailing current of well-being, most especially when I’m judging myself for being human, imperfect, flawed.

Today, I choose I to celebrate my imperfection as the adventure of living, knowing that, as Thomas Drier so wisely reminds us, “Today should always be our most wonderful day.”

I so enjoy being here now, in this physical body – to love, to laugh, to delight in the beauty of this natural world and to flow juicy orgasmic energy to what aligns with my soul…that which nurtures and sustains and uplifts me.  I appreciate the opportunity to express my authentic gifts, to show up here on the page naked and unadulterated and seemingly vulnerable.  I’m seeing the value of being here fully in the moment, forgiving myself for being less than perfect, socially awkward, not up to my own standards.

I acknowledge that my harsh self-judgment is neither productive nor inspiring.  So I choose to remember that enjoying life is about being able to re-member to live in the now, recalling the true essence of BEing in this moment.

And so can you.

heart vortex


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Day 4: The Language of Kindness

I grew up with a lot of religion.  Not the “God loves you” kind of religion, the “you’re going to hell if you don’t repent” kind of religion. When I was five or six I remember lying awake at night wondering what I had to do to get “saved” so I wouldn’t go to hell. (Children are a lot smarter than adults give them credit for, many times.)

Then my parents joined a different church that celebrated a Saturday sabbath, which meant that from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown we weren’t allowed to do anything other than go to church, pretty much. There were a LOT of rules at that church, everything from what you could wear to following all of the biblical Old Testament dietary laws and holy days.  After my dad died when I was 14, I stopped going to church altogether.

I felt at that point I’d had enough religion to last a lifetime. When I met my husband-to-be at the age of 18, his mom was a churchgoer and I (more or less) got coerced into teaching Sunday school for about a year.  I escaped as soon as humanly possible; it just didn’t feel authentic to me.  I’ve always felt that spirituality and religion aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, but one doesn’t guarantee the other, either.

I’ve always believed in a higher power, a higher intelligence, a greater love than we’ve been able to manifest here on earth so far, with a few notable exceptions.

Now,  I resonate with what the Dalai Lama says, “This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”  Imagine us all treating each other (and ourselves!) with love and respect and kindness, what an amazing world it would be.

The metaphysical path has also been an enlightening spiritual journey for me. It has taken many years and much reflection and growth for me to acknowledge myself as a spiritual being, loved and worthy and celebrated just as I am.

And so are you.

heart vortex


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Day 3: Seeing the Good

My first introduction to the self-growth and personal development field was nearly twenty-five years ago while working a temporary job at a major book publishing company. Boxes of new titles arrived at the office weekly, and among them were newly released offerings by Louise Hay and Susan Jeffers.  I learned about the importance of positive thought and mindset and intention as I was in the midst of making – let’s just call them “questionable”  – major life choices.

Fast forward a good number of personal growth books, courses, and affirmations later, and I became a mom for the first time at the ripe old age of 29.  My own mother had given birth to me (her only child) at 41, a fact which I was to regard with some awe and much greater respect later in life.  I remember thinking at 45, “I can’t imagine having a 4 year-old at this point.”

Motherhood dramatically changed the way I looked at life and the possibilities ahead. After my daughter was born (four years after her older brother), I left their biological father and began a new chapter.  I remember journalling every day until there were no more tears left to cry, releasing all of the anger and grief I felt at losing the dream of our happy family.  It never really was, though…I recall the peace I felt when he finally moved away to another province and left us to rebuild our lives.

I’ve always considered myself to be a pretty upbeat person and I continued to work on positive affirmations and goal-setting.  But I didn’t experience as much success as I’d hoped for – I allowed a lack of support from my then-partner to tank my network marketing business, I gained a LOT of weight, and I came to a point where I needed to rethink my whole outlook and lifestyle.  I left my job and started a virtual assistant business for coaches (after being introduced to coaching through bartering my services for free coaching sessions.)  I learned a great deal about the law of attraction, the business of coaching and the steps for success. Around that time I also discovered Abraham-Hicks, whose uplifting message absolutely resonated for me then – and still does today!

But even though I “knew” intellectually what was required for success in health, relationships and wealth, and I had done a personal excavation and was (at least somewhat) aware of what was holding me back, I didn’t experience the success I was seeking.  After long years of study and application I was still doing battle with debilitating fears that kept me playing small.  “Not smart enough, not good enough, just NOT ENOUGH” was the mantra I would hear every time I attempted to step outside of my comfort zone.  I isolated myself and wondered why, no matter how great my desire, I couldn’t translate theory to reality.

Truthfully, it wasn’t until I allowed myself to seek soulful support – which specifically helped me transform my long-held fears and blockages – that things really began to shift.  I began to understand how to actually put into practice the concepts I’d learned, and how to finally release the limitations that I’d permitted to hold me captive for so long.  The incredible changes that have taken place in my life in the last couple of years  (and the last few months in particular) have left me feeling as though I’m living in an entirely different Universe.

And despite the sometimes rocky journey it took to get here, I’m seeing the good in all things.

And so, I believe,  can you.


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DAY #2 of the Daily Blogging Challenge!

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Image credit: Snowdrop http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Snowdrop.JPG

Welcome to Day 2 of the Blogging Challenge!

Wait, where is Day 1? Sadly, day 1 has been procrastinated away, diminished by negative self-talk and multiple self-induced distractions.

Previously, I would have just dropped out of the challenge and pretended it (my registration and commitment) never happened.

But since last November, when I left a certain relationship for the last time and moved to a new city a two-hour drive away, I have invested the luxury of time to myself in Sacred Self Care and inner reflection. In that time I have surrendered to the knowing that not doing things perfectly does not equal failure.

I have discovered that my overarching theme in 2014 is authentic self-expression and soul connection. This blog is a part of that; I don’t even know, sometimes, if I have the necessary courage to commit to 31 days of writing.

But then I remind myself that I’ve already completed one other 40-day daily exercise, and I won Gold & Bronze at the local Curves® for number of workouts and inches lost during their Olympics competition. These recent events are fueling both my desire and the momentum to continue growing and stretching and celebrating my uniqueness.

These next 29 days of the March Blogging Challenge will be about my inner and outer journey, with the intention that those who resonate with my message may be uplifted and inspired, and those that do not will happily drift away.

In my posts I will be sharing my favourite resources and inspirations, my joy, my stories, and my Energy. I will be sharing my experiences and what has uniquely shaped this human existence for me. I will be exploring the question of how I can best express my gifts at this time in my life, and how my path meanders along the way.

And I am inviting each of you who may feel called to share this journey with me to respond – please do send me your feedback on Serendipity’s Garden blog posts or anything else your sweet heart desires.

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