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Empowerment
So I had a really interesting experience this week. It's opened me up to so much growth! It's really interesting because in sharing my truth, I still pissed off some people LOL and really touched and blessed others 😊. So it just continues to prove my point 😊.
I hope you have a moment to listen to my message and remember that you too don't always have to be great or perfect or liked by anyone for that matter, but definitely not by everyone. 😊
Here's to staying as happy as you can !
So finally, the timing was right and my second podcast episode happened! I created I Thrive to give inspiration to people (women especially) who are overcoming depression and anxiety. and thriving despite it. I took a tiny break and now I am jumping back in :-). This episode is about the benefits of learning your personality type and how that has affected my life. I would love for you to give it a listen, subscribe and share it with someone! Thank you!
P. S. It's also findable on Spotify, Apple and Google music :-)
I had an experience a few days ago that jolted me into introspection. A new friend of mine was interested in some herbal remedies for a particular ailment and had reached out to me knowing about my herbal background. I wanted to help her and so I dived into research and re-remembering mode. Ultimately though she ended up going with the advice of an employee at one of our local health food stores. Her retelling of the conversation is what sparked the introspection that had been creeping around the background of my mind for a while.
I realized that I have not been sharing all that I know. I have not been telling people about herbal nutrition. I have not been telling them about plants as food as medicine. I have not been the teacher of these things in a while.
Also, since I’ve focused on empowerment and depression and anxiety coaching, I have not taught about skincare and all of the amazing natural ingredients you can find in your kitchen or your garden for beauty and wellness. I haven’t shared what I know about chakras and crystals. I don’t talk about aromatherapy and essential oils.
I know all of these things. All of these things are in my head and a part of my life. All of these things are the things that jazz me up with so much light. So why am I not sharing them?
The simple answer is of course, because Leah you can’t do all the things. But that’s not actually true. I love designing graphics for instance. The universe graciously created a platform whose sole purpose is displaying them (Instagram). So I can teach about these things that I love through pictures for one. And not from the perspective of “will anybody care about this?”. But instead from the perspective of “I’m sharing because I care about this”. It’s for me more than for anyone else. It reaching anyone else is a beautiful bonus - but a bonus still.
I realized that the tug of angst and FOMO that I feel when I see others sharing all that they know (even the things that they’ve just learned) is really the gentle nudge for me to share more. It’s the nudge for me to break my perfectionism in half and share more imperfectly more often.
Authenticity is valuable. Lighting yourself up with the joy of the journey/creating/moment is necessary. Doing it for YOU is always the best starting place.
What have you been stalling on doing for YOU lately?
If you are in Little Rock on March 24th (it was postponed from this weekend because of our rain showers), please join me and a couple of other FABULOUSLY inspiring women as we tackle the hard question of what it takes to have the WILL to CHANGE.
WINFit is a the brainchild of one of my dear friends, Holly Fish. She has not ever shied away from encouraging others to dive deep in order to inspire real change and this is going to be one of those events! Check out the details on FB and at www.winwoman.org. I hope to see you there!
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/553583668347378/
Written 2/9/2018
Wow, today has been so full. I started the day in a weird middle place. I wasn’t too high and I wasn’t too low. I was optimistic though and by the time I finished my morning meditation, I felt at peace.
And then the day threw me for a loop. I had an experience that was well-meaning but knocked me clear off my rocker. I realized through some pain just how fragile my confidence in myself actually was today. I found myself deep down in some familiar places lamenting what I can’t do, how much I’ve tried, how hopeless it is and how I should just give up.
But my anchor was this beautiful little whisper of “things are different now and you are different person now”. You see, I was getting the most stuck in the fact that the things suggested to me in this particular well-meaning conversation were things I’d tried in various ways many times before. The good-intentioned advice just pricked open a wound and dug a dagger deep into it. But because of that little whisper, I was able to hold on to something that kept me from the spiral. I was able to take care of myself.
And it wasn’t so much that I knew in that moment what I needed to do to take care of me. What I did know though was that I needed care.
This is a major shift worthy of noting. Leah of past years would still be spiraling right now. That hour that I spent in despair today would have been a week or at least a few days of despair. And it would have resulted in a dead stop in my momentum. Flying high Leah would have crashed to the ground with broken wings and broken bones barely able to inch along.
This was my pattern for so many years. I can only now look back on it and see what was happening. Manic highs and depressive lows that could be triggered by anything. And that no one else noticed except to comment on the fact that “Leah is so moody”.
Acknowledging and acting on that whisper is what gave me the greatest gift. Do you know that I’ve ended the day on an amazing high? I’ve seriously upleveled today. Because of that pain and because I’ve grown enough to recognize when I need care, I was able to put myself in the flow of the best, most perfect care.
I went from a situation that stripped me bare and left me feeling naked to one where everyone ran to me, covered me, consoled me and uplifted me. And reminded me who I am.
And because of that, I was able to go out in my next important moments and BE me. I stepped into my knowing and my power in a way that I have not before. Today they came that much closer to being just facts for me.
My way is becoming so much less of a worry and truly a path before me. And that’s what I want for you too. For you to have so much faith and ‘knowing’, that although you may falter and you may need support, you never dead stop again.
Photo by Wolf Schram on Unsplash
Trust me, I know what it feels like to have a dream and to not be sure if that dream is worth holding on to. Should you be relentless in the pursuit of it no matter what or is there a point where you should just let it go? Life can often feel like it's standing in the way, thwarting you at every pass. You take some steps forward and then boom, another road block. You get a burst of energy to chase your dreams again and it feels like something shows up to knock you right back down. Or worse, you feel like no real progress is being made at all.
I have dreams like that. A lot of them are dreams about my dance career and the things that I wanted to happen.
When I first started dancing, I danced purely because I loved it. I *had* to go where the music was. I was your classic salsaholic. The opportunity to express a part of myself that had been hidden and packed away most of my life was intoxicating. Finally feeling beautiful, sexy and powerful all at once - that's what salsa did for me. You have to remember that I was a chemical engineer who always felt awkward doing almost anything phyiscal. Except for dancing - I was your closet mirror dancer every day. So when salsa welcomed that part of me out into the light - wow, the transformation couldn't help but begin.
I wanted to give this part of me full reign to express everything that I was feeling in the music. And when I was invited to join a dance company, I joined because it was the opportunity to do learn more so that I could express more. And so all of my dance dreams were built around learning and performing new choreographies because within choreographies, the whole idea was to express something. I wanted to work hard and perfect my skills. I was willing to be in the studio everyday for hours, just for the opportunity to dance. I loved it that much. And I loved working on choreography and performing that much.
But I slowly realized that in my current situation, I was not going to be able to fulfill those dreams. My team director chose another dancer as his main partner and all of the other partnerships I tried to create never materialized to what I envisioned. And so because I was determined, I made the difficult decision to leave the team and my hometown - all to chase my dream.
So how does one do that? How do you make a choice to chase your dreams at all costs? How do you know if it's even worth the sacrifice? How do you keep unwavering faith when it looks like you are nowhere close?
Below are a few key ways that I've done it.
One of the most important things for me has been checking in with myself. Dreams can change and dreams that were once really important can lose their luster. From experience, you don't want to be chasing a dream that doesn't even matter to you anymore. Some dreams are just meant to be bridges to get you to other phases and circumstances in your life. The dream itself was never meant to be fulfilled; it was solely about the path that it led you down. Check in with yourself first and often and see if the desire for that dream is still constant. If yes, great, continue on. If not, it's time to do some soul searching to figure out what you *really* want.
Even though this is second, it's probably the most important shift I've made. Learning to forgive myself for my perceived shortcomings (whether I've pointed them out or someone else has) has been life-altering. Think about all the tension you've built up thinking that you *should* have gotten somewhere other than where you are right now. The stress and anxiety that comes with that is just one more road block in your way - not helpful at all. Instead, learn how to forgive yourself and celebrate what progress you *have* made. Celebrate your tenacity and appreciate your ability to persevere. If that dream happens to no longer be that important to you, forgive yourself for that also and forgive yourself for not getting it done while it was important. It's really ok :-).
This one has probably been the most paradoxically difficult. Sometimes we want to hold fast to the exact way that we envisioned something happening. If it changes in any way, we see that as a failure. What's more helpful though is seeing that change as evolution and even possibly refinement. I've had to really work with this concept to grow into believing it. As an example, I'll use one of my dance dreams of moving to Montreal to work with a team I admired. Things just didn't work out for that to happen. At the time, it felt devastating. But in hindsight, I see how much of a blessing that was. It forced me to shift my dream a bit and it resulted in me remaining independent in my dance career choices. I ended up developing a whole other set of leadership skills that I'm not sure would have came about otherwise. Most importantly, it forced me to get to the core of the dream while allowing the actual details to shift. And that's the process of reinvention. I willingly allowed myself to reimagine how I might achieve my core dance dreams and that's when new opportunities opened up for me. It was all about my perspective and what I was and wasn't placing value on.
These are just a few of the keys that have helped me to stay true and relentless in the pursuit of my most coveted dreams. This only touches the surface though, since knowing what to do and knowing *how* to do it are two completely different subjects. That's a topic for another blog post but, if you feel like you want to jumpstart that process now, feel free to click here to schedule a clarity session chat with me. I'll gladly share with you the techniques and strategies I've developed over the years to have unshakable faith and vision and we can explore how I can help you develop that within yourself.
In the meantime, don't forget to join my email list if you aren't already part of the family! You can sign up here.
2018 is already a year of momentum! I’ve been spending a lot of time contemplating my word for the year: ease and letting it be my guiding light. Already, it’s helped me make easy choices that have led me to insights and experiences that I’m giddy about. One of them is finally starting my podcast!
Yes, you read that right - after at least a year of thinking about this podcast, it’s finally a reality! You can now tune into I Thrive: For Those Healing from Depression and Anxiety here: http://pca.st/7WVO
I found a great *easy* platform to begin on and my first episode is now LIVE!
I would love for you to check it out, give me feedback, subscribe and share it! You can find it in the ITunes store and on Spotify or listen on your favorite podcast player. Just click the link below and it will take you to a page where you can click ITunes or RSS feed (scroll to the bottom). The RSS feed will take you to your podcast player (so be sure you have one installed if you are listening on your phone).
They also have an option to listen within your browser if you download Pocket Cast. So tons of options my friend!
Again, I would love your feedback so please pop back over here after you listen and let me know your thoughts! Check it out here: http://pca.st/7WVO
Big hugs and big love <3!
Happiest of New Year’s siStar!
Can you feel the excitement of the new year? Every email I’ve received and post I’ve seen is all about the new year and new goals and resolutions and the like. Everyone is on this beautiful high. It’s wonderful to feel and contagiously uplifting. I’m loving it.
I’m loving it particularly for myself. Already this year has filled me up with awesome instant manifestations. And it’s only Day 5! (Btw, can you join me in wishing my sister Jeanette a Happy Birthday today?? I know she will feel the love :-).) I’ve been inspired into some beautiful eaasssy action that is taking me on a lovely journey already. I’ve linked up with just the right motivation and guidance and next steps and finally, that sense of *rightness* is settled in. I just *know* it’s all working out into my dreams lightening fast all of a sudden. I *know* that my signals antenna is primed and active. I know that they right next steps are easily laying out in front of me. And what’s probably the best feeling - is that I know I’m going to be wonderfully fine and happy, regardless what comes. Accessing my happiness when I need/want to regardless of the circumstances? Yes, that muscle is strong within me these days. This past year of *active* exercising of this muscle has most definitely paid off :-D.
Magickal? Yes! So much so that when I was thinking about how I wanted to best kick off this year and pass on some of this goodness to others, two ideas rose to the surface.
Today I’ll share the first one. Tell me what you think!
On the 17th, the day after the New Moon, I’m offering something unique.
You probably know already about my spiritual/psychic nature. It’s something that I’ve had to learn to embrace in all of my circles, not just the ones that I think would *approve*. But I’ve been laying out cards and reading for others since 2002 - it’s one of my most innate gifts and something that just comes easy. So as a part of my ease this year (2018’s Word), I’ve decided to share it more with you all.
That evening at 7:30pm, I’m inviting you to a group online Psychic Guidance Session with Yours Truly. Everyone that joins the session will be able to ask a question and receive a reading. Because of this, I’m keeping the number of participants very small so that everyone feels heard and helped.
Our focus in this session will be drawing upon divine insight on how to use this New Moon energy to set your new year off on the right track in whatever area you are most concerned about. I know that everyone can not afford a 1-on-1 reading or coaching session, so this is a way that everyone can have access to these invaluable services at a price that is easy to say yes to.
The price is $22 and the magick number is 5. With me included that will be 6, a calming and comforting number of good memories that can take us into a bright and more fulfilling future, if you let it.
If you are in need of some guidance for your new year, this is perfectly timed just for you. You can reserve your slot here via PayPal.
Once I receive your payment, I will send you the call details.
I am beyond excited about this! It’s something that has been on my heart for ages. I can’t wait to connect with you!
A few weekends ago, I hosted the 4th meeting of my local meetup group Confident Women Move Mountains. Each meeting I’ve had a different group of ladies attend and each time it’s been magickal in a way that gives me a beautiful boost to plan the next one.
I’ll admit, it feels like a lot to have taken on running a physical in person group while running multiple online groups and making my businesses work and grow as well. But this year, especially towards the end of it - I have been working a lot with the idea of expanding instead of shrinking. It’s very easy to shrink - it’s very easy to say that you can’t do one more thing - that the one more thing will surely break you.
But I challenge you to really think about that. Is that absolutely true? We know that my favorite thing is to look for the evidence for yay or nay. Is it really true that one more thing will break you. I mean it *could* break you, but is it a definite that it will? When we are honest with ourselves we can admit that it won’t. What’s more at play here is some hidden choice that we are making to *need* to break. Maybe it’s that we actually *need* a break. Maybe we need a pause and we haven’t been investing in our selfcare and so we need a crisis moment to get us there.
Maybe we need to feel like someone cares and so being the victim of our ambitions, goals, dreams and accepted responsibilities is a way that we’ve learned we can get care from others.
It’s so interesting what comes up when we let ourselves step past the thoughts that we usually let ourselves end with.
What’s past your habitual thoughts of overwhelm? Of victimhood? Of things never working out?
Trust me siStar, I’ve done and am always in the process of doing the same deep dive. I know wonderful life altering change is on the other side of that. I’m sure you know it to.
It just requires some courage to shepherd yourself to the other side.
If you are looking for support in this unveiling of your limitations, I invite you to join me in these two spaces.
****Local siStars can meetup physically at least once every two months for empowerment, deep diving into our truths and fellowship. Click here for more info: Confident Women MOVE Mountains
****Online siStars let’s meet up virtually in I Thrive: Healing for Women Overcoming Depression and Anxiety.
I will see you there <3!
