As we rapidly approach 2020, many of us are wiping our brows and exclaiming ‘what a year!’. After twelve months of ups and downs, of pauses and acceleration, we are wrapping up the gifts of the year, and wrapping up the end of the decade. 

The year has meant something different to each of us, and we have all taken different paths to reach 2020. Yet, here we are together, ready to begin a new decade, the next chapter of our stories. 

At UPLIFT we have been so grateful to be given the privilege of travelling through the year with you, whether you have been with us the whole time or are only just now connecting with us. To honour the year past, we have compiled some of our most inspiring moments. 

We humbly invite you to revisit these inspirations with us, and if you feel called, we would love to know what has touched your heart in 2019. 

Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls. ― Joseph Campbell

Read ‘Grief, Presence and Coconut Water’ HERE >>

Grief, Presence and Coconut Water

When someone is in the all-consuming grasp of grief, how do we help? What can we say? Many of us flounder when caught in this situation. We desperately want to ease their pain, their burden, but instead find ourselves awkwardly unsure of how to act. This touching true story shows how a simple moment has the power to make all the difference.

Read ‘Coming Out – An Inward Journey’ HERE >>

Coming Out – An Inward Journey

If we do not fit into a set mould society expects us to let the world know, to place a label on our chests. Yet, as is explored in this story, we are all ‘sparks of consciousness’ and so much more than could ever be defined in any label. Here, we delve into an inspiring personal experience of how ‘not’ coming out was the defining moment for one man. 

Read ‘Paving the Way for Reconciliation’ HERE >>

Paving the Way for Reconciliation

Are there limits to forgiveness? Can we really move past an experience that deeply wounded us? In this article, we uncover the incredible healing journey of a woman and a man after the ultimate betrayal of trust. 

Read ‘What I Learned Teaching in Prison’ HERE >>

What I Learned Teaching in Prison

All it takes is just one voice, that one person who gives you permission to be who you truly are. For many people, it is a teacher, friend or relative. This woman went to teach incarcerated women; turns out they taught her about life, choices, and responsibility. 

Read ‘Purple Nails and the Man Box’ HERE >>

Purple Nails and the Man Box

A man walks past you on the street – he looks ‘normal’ except his nails are painted bright purple. Do you look twice? A tale of how a simple act sparked a change in this man’s relationship with masculinity.

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This brings us to the closure of our final article for 2019, we hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as we have enjoyed compiling it. And as we turn the last page of the year, bubbling with anticipation for what is to come, the words of Paulo Coelho come to mind: 

None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have Faith.

With Blessings, Trust and Best Wishes for the New Year (and decade!),

Team UPLIFT 

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language

And next year’s words await another voice.

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

― T.S. Eliot