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! 

How Your Halloween Costume Helps You Be More Successful

Happy Halloween! I dressed up as a Magical Muse Goddess, although someone commented that I could also be the Snapchat flower crown filter. Ha! 

Who or what did you dress up as, and why? 

What I LOVE about Halloween is that it’s just an excuse to dress up! If you know me by now you know that fun and playfulness are muy importante in my world. It’s a time to try things out, get creative, tap into another persona and explore how we can adorn ourselves in a beautiful way. Exploring beauty is an exciting part of a woman’s life. We were bred to cultivate beauty of all sorts and I believe our greatest purpose as women is to be fully expressed. 

Halloween allows us to playfully express ourselves through another identity. Consider it “practice” for your own expression because there’s a reason you chose that costume. There is something about that character that you like, something you want to tap into a little more.

Since I am always on the lookout for what helps us stay successful and be more powerful, I noticed something that I thought would be a valuable perspective for you.

Here’s how your Halloween costume can help you become more successful:

Makes you smarter

When all rules are out, the sky’s the limit when it comes to creativity. Some costumes require a lot of details and planning, inviting our most resourceful self to come forward. When we are in a creative space, full of excitement and inspiration, our brain works at its optimal level. It’s kinda like problem solving… putting all the pieces together to create an outcome. Scouring the internet or stores for the perfect attributes to our costume or coming up with unique pairings that makes up something new are all creative ways that heighten our ability to problem solve and inevitably, be successful.

Connects you to others

If you are dressing up, chances are you will be around people. I’m a big cheerleader for connection (with it being my theme for the year and all) because we have WAY more power, impact, pleasure, happiness, confidence, contribution and growth when we are connected to others. During Halloween events, we get to experience camaraderie and bond over all the interesting costumes ideas. We inspire each other, laugh together and enjoy a different side of one another that isn’t normally present. This allows us feel supported, accepted and inspired which helps us feel safe enough to innovate and authentically create success.

Strengthens your confidence + skill set 

This is why I wrote this blog. When we dress up, we tap into a new identity and basically become that character. We use the mindset they would have to do, say + think differently in order create an experience that is the costume. Do you see how amazing that is? We can literally become another persona or identity if we wanted to. We can “borrow” their values, quirks, ideas, confidence, mannerisms and power. 

This is exactly how archetypal coaching works. Archetypes are simply personas that are within all of us which we can use in any moment to create what we want or need. Common archetypes are the Lover, the Warrior or the Wizard. We don’t have to have been this person before to know what makes them powerful. We can obviously see the traits that make them so, and cultivate those traits in ourselves when we need it, to balance out a situation or simply to have a bigger impact on our life or someone else’s. 

Maybe we have to go through a tough situation with a friend who is dealing with a loss of a family member, so we can use the Lover’s soft and compassionate energy to support them best. Maybe we need to tackle a very big dilemma that requires way more productivity than we are used to, so we can tap into the Warrior’s energy to get it done. Or maybe we are having trouble problem solving in some way and need the energy of the Wizard to help us stay curious and creative. Do you get why Archetypes are so powerful now? Think of your costume as an archetype. No matter how small, silly or creative your costume is, there is power in it’s identity. Find it’s power and see how you can “borrow” or use its power in real life for your own challenges. 

So, that’s why I love Halloween. It helps us test the waters on our expression and allows us to understand the power of identities. 

Speaking of Identity, have you seen the free virtual women’s circle I posted on Facebook recently? It was a prequel to my upcoming Bay Area in person women’s circle and workshop on 11/11 called Living From The Heart. It’s all about releasing the outdated identity that we might be holding on to and truly claiming that identity that will serve our success moving forward. It’s going to be SO much fun and transformative. My co-leader Dawn Bennett, who is a Homeopath and Bodywork, and I are locking in all the details to make this a phenomenally magical day. Click the button below to learn more about it and to register, there are limited spots available. 

YOUR TURN!

Do share what your costume was and what power that identity allowed you to see.

Cultivating SAFETY So You Can Feel Powerful

Happy 4th of July!!!!

I am vibing high this past week and super amped up about what is to come during the rest of my year. WEEEE!! So, of course, as the embodied Muse goddess, I am here to inspire you from this place of joy!  (+ special invitation for you below)

Part of the in-flow, in-sync and in-alignment feelings I've been having are also contributed to the Mars retrograde that just ended, and Mars is now direct! Mars, who rules Tuesdays, is in charge of all things action oriented and masculine-type energy. So, lots of newfound energy should be surfacing!

What I've noticed this week is that my integration of the masculine and feminine energies, what I teach, has truly evolved and deepened over the past year. It's beautiful to look back on and see the evolution. I saw where I kept falling short, where I always leaned back into old patterns and where I didn't allow myself to shine. Now I see myself embracing the doing again because I know how to balance. Notice I didn't say I am always balanced, I said I know how to balance. What a different, amiright? 

Part of that balance and the evolution that I, as well as many of my fellow sisters and colleagues have experienced, is the cultivation of safety. 

You see, our dedication to doing is an imbalance when we are chasing the award or the badge of honor (which could in some cases BE all the doing to get there). But when our doing, the action steps, are in alignment with our truth, in service to our future, in balance with our feminine power and feels EXCITING, it's integrated and it makes us whole. But I also understand that getting to the place of the latter can be confusing, which is where safety comes in again. 

When we are focusing + relying on things outside ourselves (the busy schedule, blaming other people for our problems, all the bad stuff that happens to us or the job description), there is no way we can feel safe. When we don't feel safe, we cannot be vulnerable nor do we want to practice new habits (because they are too scary). When we feel safe, we allow ourselves to be seen, we can SHINE, we can lead, we can do things we never thought we could! We can create something new. That is power. 

Watch my recent video on cultivating safety so you can have that power you dream of. I also talk about why your inner REBEL shows up and what to do about it. 

YOUR TURN! 

Please share what you loved about this information and what it has inspired you to do.

How Perspective Gives You Permission to Feel

Do you ever judge your emotions? Like you are feeling down and then feel like there is something wrong with you? Or you hold back your tears to not let someone else see you cry, because what will they think?!? Well, I grew up like this, and I have a feeling you can relate big time. I want to share with you some insight on how perspective changes everything. 

Right now we are experiencing some major shifts in the world here on earth, cosmically speaking. You know I follow all that jazz regularly, especially the moon cycles, because it really gives us a new perspective. When I read about how the planets are affecting us here on earth, I’m usually like “OHHHH, that explains it. Ok, I can get through it if everyone is going through it too.” That one shift of knowing that we are all going to go through the same kind of changes makes it 1. easier to deal with and 2. easier to understand why I am feeling what I’m feeling. 

What sends most people into a negative depressive spiral is feeling empty or alone, that no one understands them or that they are the only ones going through it. One thing I have learned is that whatever anyone is going through, someone else is going through it at the same time, and most people have gone through it at some point on some level. I don’t believe anyone is ever alone or the only one that knows how it feels, whatever “it” may be.  Common “It’s” can be fear, feelings of unworthiness, abuse, feeling not good enough, lack of motivation, feeling left out, feeling betrayed, etc. 

I believe we are all one, that we are all sharing the same human experience with the same emotions. The people that are in our life are either at different levels so they can support us or they are feeling the same so they can share in the feeling with us, making us feel connected and whole. Both of those scenarios are to give us perspective, just like the cosmos do, but on a more relatable level. 

How would we know who is going through what? Well, we share what we are going through, of course! Then let others respond, so we can hear their perspective and choose to move from there.

Most of us are taught and trained to hold our feelings back, suppress “ugly” emotions and push through the pain because they are deemed weak in society.  You will look like a sissy if you cry. There is something wrong with you if you can’t get it together and shape up. You can’t be trusted if you show emotion publicly. You won’t be taken seriously if you are really honest about how you feel. You won’t be successful if you let others see your emotions. If you’re sad, nobody wants to be around you.

FUCK THAT! 

I call bullshit on the patriarchy that is squashing the power of our femininity. This ain’t the 50’s anymore, honey, so let’s revolutionize our life experience by FEELING FULLY.

My good friend Kelley Cooper said it the best I’ve heard yet: “Feeling is a gift”.  It is a powerful and natural ability, especially in women. Feeling is part of our human experience, so why should we honor half of our feelings, the “good” ones and not the “bad”? And let’s just eliminate the label “good” and “bad” from emotional explanation. Feeling is feeling, it’s what we do! When we try to NOT do something that is inherently human, we block our own energy flow and therefore twist our fate in the process. What I mean by that is something automatically becomes stuck and unsustainable inside us once we deny our feelings on any level. IMMEDIATELY. On the contrary, energy flows again once our feelings and emotions are felt fully, activating our souls magnetism which produces opportunities we actually want.

Feeling is thriving. 

Learning how to feel fully can be scary so make sure you surround yourself with those that can support you. Share with them, so they CAN support you. When you share your feelings, you give others permission to feel theirs more. When you are in a safe space, you have permission to share freely. If you don’t share, there is no way of getting support and you might be doomed to go through the process alone, which you don’t have to! By communicating your feelings, you tap into your power and allow others to give you a new perspective from their experience. However, don’t share with anyone that you think won’t have your back.
 

Full disclosure: I cried 3x this week! And it was exhilarating at the same time as it was painful because I had major support through it. I moved through it in a flash because I let it all out and had the safety net of loved ones to bring me back to neutral.  I allowed myself to feel fully and be supported. It was definitely not comfortable. Now, I’m feeling unstoppable! It is a powerful feeling when you look back on this kind of experience.
 

True power is how much you can OWN your truth. Sometimes that is through massive action, energetic passion or helping people. Sometimes, though, it may be anger, fear or sadness. Neither is better than the other and both have their purpose to help us grow. When we own our truth, we take full responsibility, feel it fully and allow ourselves to experience it with respect to others. Owning our truth means we express while operating with boundaries and not pushing our truth onto others. They get to feel and respond how they want. This kind of mutual respect is sovereignty and It’s what I live for. 

So the next time you are feeling some of those “bad” emotions, love, take a beat and breathe into it more than you have been. Breathe into the fear, the sadness, the tears, the worry, the confusion and the doubt. Acknowledge it and let it move through you. Know that IT’S OK to feel these, sister. If you find a safe person or safe community to share with, even better. Acknowledgment is what will help the feeling dissolve. Then, see what manifests in your life soon after.

YOUR TURN!
I would LOVE to hear what hit home for you from this blog. Will you share with me in the comments below? 

Curious about this whole feminine power thing? How can feeling be a power principle? You're in luck: I've got a FREE gift for your that explains just this and I will show you what feminine power really means and how that can bring you the life that you really want! Get it here.