I Hosted A Garden Party!
This past Saturday I hosted a Garden Party featuring friends, flowers, fancy champagne and all things dainty!
The initial idea was built on wanting to intentionally share some fancy champagne I’d received as a Christmas gift in 2022 with my close group of girlfriends.
I had this idea for over a year before stumbling across the infamous cat picture that inspired a more formalized vision back in January. 
As the planning unfolded, I began to incorporate a theme of gratitude into the party after being inspired by the following quote from Melanie Ann Layer:
“Celebration is a party thrown in the name of gratitude”.
Everything unfolded better than I could have anticipated, which, we know from last week’s message, required some internal processing on my part after I wondered if my friends were on board with my “party homework” for showing up with the intention to share something they were each grateful for when I never heard back from them about my request.
If you missed last week’s message, definitely go back and check it out as I shared a pretty in depth lesson on taking radical self-responsibility for my inner state.
So many lessons came from me having to understand my reaction to not hearing back from them.
P.S., We only extract these lessons when we’re willing to take responsibility for our reactionary nature; otherwise we unconsciously blame external things (people and circumstances) for how we feel.
It revealed my dependence on their response to feel safe and secure as the lack of it triggered some unconscious vulnerabilities around rejection and disappointment.
Rejected for feeling ghosted and disappointed for not feeling matched in my excitement for the gratitude component of the party.
My soul was calling this lesson to me whether they meant to play a role in it or not (which, btw, they, in no way, meant to play this role!).
This is what happens when we decide we’re on a path of awakening.
Higher Self uses any situation to show us our edges. If we have a strong reaction to something, that’s our edge.
It’s a ring a fear that must be seen through, so it’s no longer a false perception operating in us.
In writing last week’s message, you know I had fully cleared the charge around my initial reaction and was back in a state of love and grace.
In the days that followed, I also began to see another lesson, regarding the difference between “creating” and “making” as described in The Way of Mastery, a spiritual text I read from daily.
Creating is a true expression from the heart, unobstructed from ego, whereas making is ego’s approach to doing something because it wants something out of it.
The Garden Party started as an inspired idea that wanted to be birthed from my heart.
But it got tangled in ego as soon as as I got attached to wanting the theme of gratitude to unfold in a certain way (i.e., I wanted my friends to show up and participate in this part of my idea, and when I didn’t hear back from them, it threatened my attachment to that idea).
As we can see, the words “threatened” and “attachment” are not expressions of the heart.
In recognizing this, another layer was released.
The Way of Mastery also talks about the 5 Keys to the Kingdom (i.e., unconditional love) being: Desire, Intention, Allowance and Surrender.
I sunk back into my overall desire to be loving no matter what arises, my specific intention for the party to be a conduit for love, allowing what needs to be released to be released (the lessons I mentioned) and surrendered to the unfolding of my desire and intention without “trying to make it happen”.
By the time the party rolled around, I was centered in the above. And some of the most beautiful things unfolded…
When I went to open the first bottle of champagne, they prompted me to share what I was grateful for.
They were on board with the gratitude plan!
I mentioned that there was no pressure in sharing if you didn’t feel moved to do so and referenced the lesson I’d learned last week (without going too deeply into it) about letting go of the gratitude idea so each person could enjoy the party however they envisioned it.
One of my friends had read the blog, which prompted her to say she felt bad when she read I felt ghosted by them (that wasn’t my intent, but it got everyone’s attention).
The last thing I wanted was to change the vibe of the party by going into that so I said they could read the blog when they had time and made sure to reiterate that I took full responsibility for my reaction.
The afternoon unfolded with laughter, tears and a deeper level of sharing than I could have ever anticipated.
Everyone felt moved to share on something they were grateful for, where each share led to a deeper conversation on the topic.
I ended up “fully undressing in front of them” regarding vulnerably sharing my deeper lessons around initially feeling ghosted on the text. 
I shared it from the perspective I’ve written the last two messages from: taking full responsibility for my inner state but vulnerably sharing what I experienced.
I never expected I’d be doing that at the party, but it just felt right. And, in doing so, I believe it brought us closer.
Over the last year or so I’ve learned that even though I’m more than willing to take responsibility for my inner state (my reactionary state), when I vulnerably share what was happening in my inner experience, from the perspective of taking responsibility for it, the sharing still brings me closer to the other person without them having to change anything.
I’m not putting anything on them. I’m just sharing without an expectation, because I’ve already taken responsibility for my experience. It’s the sharing that still creates a closeness.
There are a lot of times when I just own something on my part without sharing my inner experience about it. That works, too.
But sometimes you may be owning your reaction against something that has no basis…
Like assuming there was a reason for being ghosted when there wasn’t (my conscious mind knew it wasn’t intentional, but my unconscious nature believed there could be…the sharing confirmed what my conscious mind knew).
If it feels good, I encourage you to “fully undress” in front of the people you’re close with, either from already taking responsibility for your reaction or with the intent to take responsibility while learning about the other side of the story.
I really believe it will bring you closer to the ones you’re sharing with.
There are lessons available to you wherever you’re open to them.
The Garden Party was the gift that kept giving, on multiple levels.
It was wonderful to experience and it offered deeper lessons for me to contemplate and move through.
I hope the Garden Party inspires you to follow any similar inspirations you may have and I hope the lessons my higher self brought to me through this experience serve you in the highest.
Always Shine Brightly,
Shanna
P.S., Here are some more pictures from the Garden Party to give you an inside look into it!
We transformed the mantle from a western theme to full on floral!
I was gifted a bottle of Veuve Clicquot from one of my best friends to have at the party! It was my first time trying it and I loved it! (Thanks, Lindsey!)
I splurged on these dainty pink coupes for the party!!
The beautiful table setting! The china (courtesy of my friend Suzie!) featured fuchsia flowers and was gold rimmed matching the frame from the infamous kitty cat picture.! I also ordered a set of “goldware” to match!
No party of mine is complete without the World’s Best cheesecake bites from The Celia Jacob’s Cheesecake Experience in Austin!! (Thank you, Kimmie and Phyllis!)
The kitties weren’t the only cuties featured!
The best part was creating another beautiful core memory with these besties!
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