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! 

Own Your Season of Life

How present and in the moment aware are you?

I find that it's all too common for us to live in the future or the past instead of enjoying what we have right here in the present. Unfortunately, there are more risks involved with that than we think.

Time for a change in thinking...

In America, we are conditioned to be nostalgic, rely on past patterns, stick to family traditions out of obligation or please others first. We are bombarded with pushy marketing to speed up, buy more and consume as much as we can. As a society, we are trained by each other to worry about money, take pills for anxiety, sabotage efforts of ourselves or others and become accustomed to settling for less than what we want. I think it's about time this ends.

I want to call you out of the trenches to rise up and be the person you actually want to be with the life you actually want to live. 

I said goodbye to that kind of life over a couple of years ago when I signed up for an exclusive life coach training program. It changed my life, yes, but it also made me finally realize shit needs to change NOW.

What we all need...

There are a myriad of lessons, routines and tools I could tell you about, but the biggest one of all that I am still learning how to master to this day is presence. With all that conditioning mentioned above, it's quite challenging to break those habits, right? Constant awareness and reminders have to be set to remember to be present. It's important because that's where all our power comes from, the present moment.

We give our power away when we live in the past or future. (TWEET THAT) 

That's when life goes downhill and we keep riding that roller coaster called overwhelm and unfulfillment. Let's not let life pass us by. Let's get off that roller coaster and meander along, soaking it all up.

Before we can do that, we need to shift our perspective to the present moment and the season of life we are currently in.

Reflection is a powerful tool for success, but presence is even more powerful. As I look back on the different times in my life, I definitely regret not enjoying them more. I have always wanted what I can't or don't have and in the fastest way possible. This obviously kept me from happiness and truly growing into myself naturally. Sometimes it takes a few re-dedications and flipping the switch to catch yourself and get off that roller coaster. I realize it's not about perfection, but, rather living in tune with every moment. Just like meditation, it's about bringing the focus back when we wander off. It's about honing THAT skill, as opposed to beating ourselves up that we aren't good at being present. How do we hone the skill of awareness and harnessing the present? By owning our season of life. 

What's your season?

Examples of seasons of life are: being a toddler, pre-school, elementary school, middle school, high school, college, studying abroad, month long backpacking trip to Europe, your 20s, volunteering on a politicians campaign, any job, being on tour, dealing with an illness, living in a certain neighborhood/city, being pregnant, raising a young child, raising a teenager, empty nesters, retiring, extended travel, retreats, unemployment, taking education courses, getting married, going all eat-pray-love, physical training, being in a relationship and the list goes on.

The actual events going on, people you are hanging out with, job you have and overall circumstance is your season of life. Sometimes seasons of life overlap. In other words, we have multiple seasons of life at the same time. We don't always know how long our season of life could be, but one thing is certain: it is unique to you and you will NEVER experience this season of life again. So ENJOY it! Relish this time, even if its hard. Savor the moments as much as you can, notice more, let arguments go, get out of your comfort zone, be with your loved ones and do what feels right at this time. Your bucket list will always be there and everything is in divine timing.

So, the question is, how can you cherish your season of life so that your daily experience is amazing? (Click to Tweet)

Actual Seasons

Also, as you may have guessed, the actual physical season we are in affects the quality of our seasons of life. That means taking full advantage of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Even when it's a season you hate, get into it. It will expand your enjoyment and overall happiness when you get out of your comfort zone and embrace what Mother Nature is givin'. This will help you be more present and elevate your experience.

Personally, I hate summer. I'm not a heat person, and I feel like my body shuts down when it's hot. I get grumpy, sweaty and triggered easily. What I know, though, is that these irritable signs are clues to where I need to grow. I am aware that my lifelong lesson will forever be "letting go" in some way or another and making it magical. For me in summer that looks like wearing really flowing clothes, savoring cold, delicious food, noticing breezes, going swimming, enjoying farmers markets and staying active. Air conditioned movie theaters are a beacon of light at this time for me, too. 

How can you harness the blissful moments of the physical season you are in now?
 

Now, I'd love to hear from you personally. 

Do you recognize what season of life you are in? What would be ONE thing you could start doing or being aware of that will enhance YOUR experience?

Tell me in the comments below or shoot me an email. 

Here's to owning where you're at!