Why my 2018 theme is important for you, too.

I feel like I opened pandora’s box of possibility. I have been in anticipation to write this since day 1 of this year. I hope you find this valuable and inspirational! 

Having a theme or main focus for the year instead of resolutions is a game changer. If you haven’t tried this yet, I highly suggest you try it this year. Instead of setting yourself up for failure (like ‘working out 3x a week', 'losing 20 lbs', 'making $100,000' or 'finding your soulmate’) you can focus your energy on what you want to feel or experience from those possible goals which could yield even bigger results and experiences than you imagined (like ‘energy’ ‘strength’ ‘prosperity’ ‘love’ or ‘intimacy’). You’re able to take action from a more empowered, grounded, exciting and clear place. If you really want to amp it up a notch, consider getting a Goddess of the year reading.

So, as I do every year, I asked myself lots of questions to figure out mine…

• What do I need more of? 
• What qualities do I need to develop within myself the most?
• What am I ready to heal? 
• What would have the biggest impact on my goals?
• What is underneath what I want to experience?
• What would feel like a gift to wrap myself in all year?

...And as January 1st came, I decided to explore the magic of nature and intended to find my theme word for the year by walking around my favorite local magic spot by the bay, a place that always inspires me on a profound level…

As I was pondering all that I want to accomplish, feel, heal and master at this point in my life, I breathed through the confusion and allowed the beautiful surroundings to guide me. I took a new route on my sacred walk, thinking “let me start by taking a new path to walk down and accept the uncertainty with enthusiasm as a metaphor for the year.” 

I thought of my desire to expand my work and service in the world with greater impact and what it means for me to be a powerful leader. I thought of the shadow qualities of the Muse goddess archetype (the goddess I am most like), avoidance, impulsiveness, scattered focus and distraction that I’m totally ready to release + transform. I thought of how my previous year's themes of courage, connection and liberation have prepared me through VERY deep and challenging work for a level of living that I have been wanting for some time now. I am always willing to go deep and do the work, but I’m ready for a little softer, more playful and exciting theme that will still help me grow exponentially. I continue to believe in the importance of ease, however, I need to truly harness responsibility to expand my reach, impact and financial capacity. I want to USE courage, connection and freedom this year somehow to learn what it means to cultivate exquisite abundance and prosperity. I want to work on true commitment and consistency so I can experience everything I desire. I must utilize my creativity and innovation in order to set myself apart in this crowded industry. I need to be in strong integrity in order to propel, connect, commit and lead. I need to develop massive discipline to make the greatest impact that I can. “But, UGH, none of that sounds FUN!” says my Muse-y self. “I can’t focus on those words, they feel like resolutions and daunting chores to overcome.” 

Just then, my whole body became warm with tingles as the element air supported me by confirming a truth in me with a gust of wind as soon as I realized PRESENCE was the precursor to all of that. 

I can’t be in integrity without being fully aware of who I am and what I want.
I can’t cultivate discipline without being EXCITED to fully show up.
I can’t innovate without putting myself in flow, from being fully connected with the needs of my tribe or without accessing the magic of the moment.
I can’t lead without being attune to my power.
I know presence pretty well, but now it’s time for me to master it.

My strategy this year is to prioritize presence.

Everything else will fall into place through supporting words and themes. AHHHHH this feels like a blessed relief and exciting endeavor.

Maybe presence can be a supporting word for your theme or perhaps a main focus. Either way, here’s why presence is important for you to tap into this year:

POWER

We all have natural abilities in these human bodies from our unique DNA and ancestral patterns, which I have done extensive research and development in. For women, it’s what I call the Feminine Power Principles. These beautiful traits that are within all of us like intuition, compassion, playfulness, flow, softness, etc can only be accessed when we are in our body. We can better discern what we need to do, think or be. We will better know if we need to take action and be productive (a masculine quality) or if we need to go inward and process something (the feminine version of productivity). Discernment, which only happens through neutral presence, allows us the ability to gain clarity on how we can make the greatest impact right now. Anxiety and depression take us out of the moment, trap us in our heads and are coping mechanisms for un-accessed truth. When we succumb to the modern society standard of overthinking, overanalyzing, trying to figure it out or relying on what we think we should do, we have no power. Our body wisdom has the best answers, and when we are truly present, we can access this.

LEADERSHIP

Consistency, integrity, innovation and presence are all qualities of a leader. We have to show up and be willing to do the hard shit first, before we can expect others to tag along. The only way to channel the courage to do that is to be present to the fact that we are willing and we believe we can. Being present in our body helps us trust ourselves and therefore take risks that are necessary to growth to make a bigger impact. We only truly know what to do, what will be best for us or others in each moment. 

BOUNDARIES

Being connected to ourselves and our desires is the only way we know WHERE to set boundaries. When we have the power and leadership abilities from our presence, we are able to be strong enough to protect and uphold what we value most. Boundaries are key for happiness and relationships of any kind. 

HEALTH

Presence helps us access our body connection, as I mentioned, so what we put into it can be controlled more easily rather than when we are in the throws of busyness or allowing ourselves to get caught up with distraction. That’s usually when we overeat, ingest toxic substances or choose to be lazy because of our exhaustion from said busyness. The simple question of “what does my body need right now?” can empower us to make profound shifts in our health from self-care to weight loss to mental clarity.

MORE MEANING

Rituals and routines are important to create deep transformation. They help us change habits and shift our mindset on so many levels and they add huge doses of meaning to the process of change. But if you’re anything like me, they have to be FUN in order to do them. I am not the type to do things just because, so presence grants us access to the magic that exists within and around us. It gives us awareness of possibility and shows us that we have everything we need in the moment and we can take one step at a time. Presence always makes us feel more grounded and authentic, and a key factor in better-overcoming something that might seem boring or challenging. Presence actually helps us do things that we’ve been avoiding. Additionally, presence adds more meaning to all relationships, so we can deepen into intimacy (platonic or romantic) and thoroughly enjoy the quality time spent.

HAPPINESS

While present, we can find more gratitude, the cultivator of happiness. In presence, we can relax into safety, even if for a moment. As I mentioned also, we can feel more grounded and authentic when we are present, quieting our inner critic and seeing more of what we like. Happiness is generated in each moment, it’s not an end result, so of course presence is a huge part of this. 

YOUR TURN! 

What is your theme for 2018? How can presence support you this year?

If you need help figuring this out or want to inquire about working with directly through coaching, EMAIL ME! 

What Makes or Breaks Success: Your Identity

Last week I shared about the importance of processing and how that serves you deeply in the success of your future. The week before I shared about the power of intentional living and how that is my #1 tool for success. There is a theme here, beauty, if you haven’t noticed…and there is a flow that I am creating that is taking you on a journey in a specific way that aligns with this specific time of year.

The one thing we all want is happiness. To me, what I hear underneath that is success and personal power…because how can we GET happiness without those two? Happiness is something we create from the inside that affects our experience on the outside. It’s a direct result of the transformation that occurs within our soul or a shift in our perception.

I know now that external circumstances have NOTHING to do with our happiness. I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor and everywhere in between. The happiest I’ve been was when I was the most poor because that forced me to focus on what REALLY mattered, who I really was and what I was actually capable of. I am in no way advocating that a low income = happiness, but what I know is that our low points offer so much perspective that have the potential to amplify our internal power which catapults us into a stronger, wiser, more resourced version of ourselves. 

Since part of my purpose is to support women in cultivating sustainable power, I have to address the big elephant in the room that really sets the tone for our level of happiness: Our Identity. 

What and who we identity with directly impacts our quality of life and happiness. 

Our identity determines our success.

If I had identified as “poor” or a big ole “victim” when I was broke (and I did lean towards those a few times), I wouldn’t have risen up to the level at which I needed to in order to create the future I was desiring, speaking spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically. 

If I had identified as part of a “broken home” after my parents got divorced, I wouldn’t have been able to find true, meaningful love or experience the marriage I am in. 

If I had identified myself as fat, ugly or too big in physical terms, I wouldn’t have gained the confidence in myself that I have nor would I have the lavish experiences that I did with my girlfriends. 

See, there’s a difference between thinking some of these thing once in a while (normal) and identifying with the persona. The identity that we choose comes from what we think over and over as our internal dialog, which affects our belief system, who is really steering the ship (our subconscious). 

We all have blocks that are holding us back and I believe we all need to consistently re-evaluate what we are thinking, doing and being that can heal our past (old, outdated patterns + beliefs) and serve our future (inspiration, pleasure, action). 

I am by no means perfect in this area, but I am active when it comes to doing the work that is necessary to move past these outdated identities. I don’t ever want to hide behind my old persona’s like “party girl”, “dumb blonde”, “fat girl” or “poor”. I know they are not really true. I know I am way more than that. I also know that they were what I secretly identified with back in the day and totally kept me down because they crushed my self worth.

What persona are you secretly identifying with? 

What persona or identity would you LIKE to identify with? 

I honor the clarity that is coming up for you. Know that whatever is meant to come up, will. If it is coming up now, you are meant to be dealing with it now. You have the support, knowledge, know-how and resources to shift the identity that is steering your ship into one that creates success and sustains your happiness. 

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And, beautiful sister, if you live in the Bay Area, I would like to invite you to work through this with me, LIVE in person for a women’s circle and workshop on the magical 11/11/2016.

I am hosting this event with my soul-sister Dawn Bennet (a highly skilled bodyworker + homeopath) called LIVING FROM THE HEART which is built to assist you in releasing those old, outdated patterns, beliefs and stuck emotions and provide you with the tools, space and support to claim your new identity that will lead to your desired happiness and success. We have carefully curated a magical day to serve your highest evolution and to help you uncover your deepest truth + learn the power of intentional living. This is your chance to transform your identity into who you are meant to be, strengthen your sense of self and reconnect to your heart’s desires so you can create the quality of life you deserve.

We have a special early bird registration investment which is incredibly affordable for what you will receive. Or if you know of anyone that you’d like to invite, please help us spread the word.  ALL OF US NEED THIS! Thank you so much in advance. 

If you do not live nearby, we are hosting a live complimentary virtual women’s circle as a teaser to this event to answer questions and get you thinking about your identity on Wednesday October 26, 2016. You can RSVP here. 

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YOUR TURN!

With so much deep love for you, sister, to be on the journey with you, wherever you are at. I’d love to hear what came up for you after reading all of this. Where are you at with your identity and is there a gap in who you want to be? Please comment below and tell us. 

Predict Your Way to Happiness

You know the feelings well: Getting bummed out by a negative response someone said to you when you were really hoping for a positive conversation. Running around all day pissed off because annoying stuff keeps happening everywhere you go. Planning, promoting or running a big time event that you worked your ass off for only to get overlooked in the credits or suffer through an unpleasant experience.

Many times we are disappointed due to the sheer lack of attention or focus towards our enjoyment. I have found that complete clarity around what we value and what we want to feel sets the foundation for getting what we want. That clarity blossoms into present awareness so we can recognize if it’s happening or not in the moment. Next, we can navigate to our desired end result (happiness and enjoyment) by what we say or do.

Recall those situations where you felt that expectation hangover. How much effort did you really put into making sure you got what you wanted?  

Ask yourself…
What could I have said? 
What could I have done? 
What boundaries could I have implemented? 

Reflection is a powerful life tool because it helps create your future. We can learn from our past and shift our approach for an intended feeling in the present. This shows us our preferences for every kind of situation. We learn what really want to hear, what we really want to feel, how we want to show up or what it means to be happy. 

Don’t underestimate your past! 

Use it as fuel to co-create your reality now. Use it to shape all of your conversations, events, activities, relationships, etc. 

What do you now know you want to experience emotionally, physically, spiritually, energetically or mentally?

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Hold up, let’s squash some things that might be popping up for you…

Is your head thinking “Isn’t that manipulation?”  On the contrary. This is about integrity. This is about owning who you intrinsically are through authentic communication. Why shouldn’t you get everything you ever wanted? You deserve it! 

There’s also the argument of “But the other person might not get what they wanted if It’s all about me”. There is always a way for everyone to get what they want. I whole-heartedly believe in win-win scenarios. Win-lose simply is not sustainable. If I get what I want and you do not get what you want from the same situation, there is a block in abundance. The person who doesn’t get what they want now has to deal with limiting beliefs around lack and people pleasing antics, which perpetuates unpleasant experiences for everyone. However, when we both win, we both are happy and more willing to help each other continuously creating universal fulfillment. Which cycle would you rather create? Know that you are creating something either way by your decisions, requests and actions.

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Now, come up with situations in the near future that you know you will be experiencing. These examples could be as big as you having a baby, changing schools in the middle of your term, moving cross-country or retiring. However, I would suggest to start small with examples like the fact that you’re going to school in the morning, have to get a project done by Friday or cooking your significant other dinner later tonight. 

Ask yourself how you can create the experience you want by predicting all the possible obstacles that could be in your way during that particular situation. Then come up with solutions! It’s that simple. Think of predicting as utilizing possibilities for success.

EVERYONE is going to tell you what you should name your baby. You are not necessarily going to be welcomed with open arms at your new school or neighborhood.  Your partner always complains about your cooking. 

These don’t have to be negative obstacles, either. They could be situational facts that you just haven’t taken advantage of yet.

The cute guy at the coffee shop is always there on Tuesdays. That last sliver of paper with the personal trainer’s number on it is still there on the community board. Your Mother always wants to talk to you. It’s summer! It’s fall! 

For every upcoming scenario, ask yourself…
What do I want? 
What do I need? 
What won’t I stand for?
What would I like to feel?

Awareness around this kind of co-creation is beautiful! On the deepest (and most cliche) level, we all just want to love and be loved. We can start that process by loving ourselves enough to ask for what we want and predict what could be in our way based on our knowledge right now. 

To enjoy the unexpected, you don’t need to be psychic, you just need to be strategic. (TWEET THAT)

Carpe Diem, loves! 

Michelle