6 Lessons Nature Taught Me About Growth & Successfully Reaching Big Goals (without burning out!)

Everything useful I’ve learned about growth, I learned from Nature- NOT from mainstream society.

In fact, I didn’t stop spiraling in anxiety and burn-out enough to making any real, lasting progress towards my bigger dreams and goals until after I started UNLEARNING all the toxic BS about growth that our capitalistic, hustle culture (which breaks every natural law) brainwashed me to believe!

One of my most beloved teachers of growth lately, has been the robin. Each Spring, my backyard becomes home to lots of very vocal robins ready to find mates and raise offspring.

And for the past several Springs, I’ve had the sacred honor of watching mama robins build their nest and nurture their babies beneath the roof of an old well, just a few feet from where I sit for my morning meditation! And each year, I witness her growth process unfold like this…

After finding her mate, she spends days persistently gathering twigs and dry grass to build her nest. When she begins spending entire days in the nest, I know she’s laying eggs and working diligently to keep them safe and warm until they hatch. Once she leaves the nest and starts her daily flights back and forth carrying worms and berries, I know her babies have been born and she’s gathering food for the hungry little hatchlings!

And finally after weeks of this intensive food foraging, I notice her perched in various spots around the yard watching over her babies who’ve now grown into fledglings learning to fly. A couple times over the past few years, I was lucky enough to witness the precise moment a fledgling awkwardly tumbled from the nest and adorably bopped around the grass (not quit having the skills to fly just yet), while mama and papa stood on protection duty, day and night, until their little fledgling had grown up enough to fly and fend for itself.

This whole grow process takes over a month. And then after a short break, where the nest lays empty, mama and papa robin eventually return to repeat those same growth efforts one or two more times throughout the Summer.

Here are 5 lessons about growth that I learned from observing Nature and especially my robin neighbors as they successfully grow offspring year after year.

LESSON #1: Growth requires PERSISTENT ACTION

As I watched my backyard robins persistently show up for months and take the necessary actions to grow their offspring, I was awed by how much work went into the whole process, and yet how they were able to ENDURE from start to finish (without the long episodes of breakdowns or burn-out that seemed to plague me every time I pursued a big goal).

🤯 And then it hit me- a huge reason I was struggling to reach my bigger goals and dreams was because I hadn’t yet figured out how to SUSTAIN persistent action long enough to reach my goals!

Instead, my actions always felt super sporadic and inconsistent. I’d start out strong for a few weeks, but then quickly get stuck in long periods of anxiety, overwhelm, procrastination, or “self-sabotage” patterns that would derail my momentum, and make me feel like I was constantly starting over from scratch!

🧘‍♀️After this realization, I began contemplating:

❓What is the secret to mama robin’s persistence? And how can I sustain persistent action, without constantly breaking down or burning out before making lasting progress towards my goals?

And then I heard an answer 👉 Growth must feel EASEFUL.

LESSON #2: Growth must feel EASEFUL & NATURAL to be sustainable

In watching mama robin, I was struck by the grace and flow she seemed to possess despite the very real work her “goals” required, the constant threat of predators (like the blue jay perched on the fence looking for its next meal), and the unexpected hardships she experienced (like her little fledgling I discovered laying motionless in the grass the morning after I watched it leave the nest!).

But none of that stopped mama robin from continuing to persistently show up for her ultimate goal of raising as many offspring as she could. Because the actions she took to ✔️build her nest, ✔️incubate her eggs, and ultimately ✔️raise her babies, must have felt relatively NATURAL and EASEFUL enough for her to sustain, for as long as she needed to, without being so hard or overwhelming that she couldn’t complete each task.

In that moment I had a couple big AHA’s🤯 …

First, I finally admitted to myself how UNNATURALLY HARD it almost always felt for me to pursue my goals, and how so many of my daily tasks were met with massive resistance- that I had mistakenly assumed was an inevitable part of the growth process, but was actually a sign I was striving towards my goals in unnatural and unsustainable ways (and headed towards burn-out).

Unlike mama robin, I’d been drinking the hustle culture kool-aid that brainwashed me to believe the lie that growth was supposed to feel hard! And so I was operating from toxic mindsets like, “no pain, no gain”, or “growth can’t happen in your comfort zone”.

And second, I was reminded of the Buddhist concept “Right Effort”, which in a broad sense says that if we have to sacrifice our peace and joy to do things, then we are using “wrong” (or unaligned) effort to pursue our desires and will continue to suffer.

I then knew that if I truly wanted to reach my goals without burning out all the damn time, I must INSIST on discovering ways to pursue them that felt easeful and natural for ME (that honored my own unique values, visions, needs, strengths, nervous system capacity, etc.).

Just to be clear… I’m absolutely NOT saying growth work will always feel easy and without resistance. It won’t!

Creating anything new often brings us to our own growth edges to do some uncomfortable inner healing work. Not to mention, just trying to survive in a late-stage capitalistic society requires absurd amounts of money and effort (which is why the end game for all of us must be to dismantle these unnatural oppressive systems and build more equitable ones)!

What I am saying is this…

If the pursuit of your goals always feels like an uphill battle of forced striving that constantly causes anxiety, “self-sabotage” patterns, or burn-out (or requires you to push yourself forward with intense willpower or harsh discipline), then you are stuck in “wrong effort”. And you will always feel like you’re sacrificing your peace and joy for success, and will never be able to endure long enough to create the bigger growth and changes you desire in your life (and the world).

As someone who was self-diagnosed as autistic and adhd late in life, I’ve suffered deeply trying to pursue my goals in ways that 💯 did not work for my neurodivergent brain (all the while feeling resentful from constantly sacrificing my peace and joy for any sort of progress!).

🧘‍♀️After the realization, I began contemplating:

❓What makes mama robin’s actions feel easeful and natural enough for her to successfully complete the long, persistent work of building a nest, incubating her babies, and nurturing them until they’re ready to fend for themselves?

And then I heard an answer 👉 You must learn how to be in right relationship with your resources.

LESSON #3: Growth requires you to be in RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR RESOURCES (both inner and outer)

Hustle culture teaches us that all we need to create growth in our lives is ✅a DREAM and ✅HARD WORK.

And so I’d set out towards my goals fueled with a hopeful dream, excitement, and enough willpower (and coffee!) to fuel my growth efforts for a period of time. But then, I’d hit a wall that no amount of coffee, mindset work, or shaming myself to hustle harder could overcome!

And like clock-work, I’d find myself frozen on the couch, for days or weeks, binging Netflix… too wired-tired to actually get the rest I so desperately needed… and beating myself up for being “lazy” and not working hard enough!

But eventually I learned from Nature that there’s a third crucial ingredient for growth. In addition to ✅a dream and ✅hard work, we also need (🥁🥁🥁drum-roll please)…

✅ADEQUATE RESOURCES to fuel our growth work!

For mama robin those growth resources are things like a mate, a safe space to build her nest, access to food and water. Without consistent access to these resources, no matter how much she wants to grow offspring or how hard she works at it, she won’t succeed!

For us humans (beyond housing, food, and clean water…. which costs way too much under capitalism!), we must also consider resources like how much time, energetic capacity, mental/emotional bandwidth, money, skills, and support we have as we pursue our goals.

And rather than following the lead of Nature and staying in right relationship with our resources as we pursue growth, so many of us under the spell of hustle culture:

❌ never stop to realistically assess the resources we NEED to sustain our daily lives + reach each specific goal. And if we do…

❌ massively UNDERESTIMATE the amount of time, energy, money, skill, support, etc. it’ll take (like why do so many entrepreneurs think it’s the norm to build a successful business, from scratch, in a year…. while working another full time job?!),

❌ massively OVERESTIMATE the actual level of resources WE HAVE ACCESS TO at any given moment (like why do so many folks create plans and expectations that require 💯 energetic and mental capacity, and then feel shocked when their capacity fluctuates, they’re not at full productivity every day, and a goal takes much longer to acheive than they thought?! Oh, it’s because ya’ll forgot you’re human and not machine 😂).

❌ feel a constant sense of FALSE URGENCY around reaching our goals- which makes us extract our resources way too quickly without any rituals to regenerate them each day & week (and taking a short vacation a few times a year is probably not enough to regenerate you if you’ve been burning the candle at both ends for months!). Thus causing ourselves very real financial scarcity, time scarcity (aka. urgency), or energetic scarcity (aka. burn-out) that can take months or years to recover from.

Whether we’re talking about backyard robins or human, the truth remains the same…

‼️If you don’t ✅have access to the right resources that your goals need to grow and ✅maintain a healthy relationship with those resources, no matter how badly you want to reach your goals or how hard you hustle, ❌you simply won’t have the capacity to endure the long journey to fully create them!

🧘‍♀️After this realization, I began contemplating:

❓ What’s the secret to staying in right relationship with my resources (so I have the fuel I need to sustainably take action for the months or years it very well could take to reach my bigger goals and dreams)?

And then I heard an answer 👉 Growth is CYCLICAL & SEASONAL (not linear). / Growth happens CYCLICALLY & in DIVINE TIMING.

LESSON #4: Growth is CYCLICAL (and can’t be rushed)

Hustle culture teaches us that growth is linear and comes from forcing ourselves into a perpetual growth season of constant action-taking, productivity, and progress. But hopefully you’re beginning to understand that this is 100% unnatural and unsustainable (and quite frankly, deeply extractive and harmful) for all of nature (which includes YOU- because humans are nature too!).

And that👆toxic mindset is exactly what kept me stuck on the hustle-burnout hamster wheel for YEARS, fueling my crippling anxiety and almost making me give up on the pursuit of my dreams all together!

Nature, on the other hand, teaches that in order to maintain a healthy relationship with our resources and for growth to be sustainable long-term (aka. you’re not constantly burning out or breaking down before achieving your goals), growth must be approached CYCLICALLY- not linearly.

In other words growth happens as we consistently flow through a 4 “season” cycle:

1. we PREPARE for the growth work as our resources become more abundant (aka. SPRING),

2. we mindfully SUSTAIN the persistent growth work without depleting all our resources and burning out (aka. SUMMER),

3. we COMPLETE the growth work, or we PAUSE IT when resources become too depleted to persist (aka. AUTUMN),

4. we RECEIVE REST + REGENERATE OUR RESOURCES (aka. WINTER).

One night during some ADHD fueled googling, I learned that adult robins typically have 1-3 separate broods (aka. nests of eggs hatched at one time) per year. The factor that determines whether they’ll lay 1 or 3 broods in a year, is the amount of resources they have access to. If resources are abundant enough, they’ll stay in a “Summer” growth season longer and have up to 3 broods. But, if resources become too scarce, then they’ll stop having offspring, and start to shift into a season of rest to allow resources to regenerate until next Spring.

You CAN NOT rush growth by forcing yourself to stay in a constant “Summer” season of persistent action-taking and progress-making (aka. linear growth).

Trying to rush or force bigger, faster growth this way will only slow you down in the long-run, because you’ll spend much of your time and energy trying to recover from breakdowns and burn-out (and repairing the harm you’ve done to yourself and your relationships from taking unaligned actions rooted in ungrounded, depleted states… ask me how I know 😬).

The most natural path to successful growth (aka. aligned growth that lasts) is learning to recognize and honor your resource levels and the season you’re in at any given moment… and then allowing yourself to flow through each of those 4 energetic seasons (over and over again) until you fully manifest your bigger dreams.

And in fact…

Most of our big dreams and goals are more like an apple tree 🌳, that can take several years (and dozens of seasonal growth 🔄regeneration cycles to produce fruit and reach full growth.)

But we treat those big goals more like tomato plants 🌱, unrealistically expecting to see the fruits of our labor and full manifestation in months. And so we approach our resources (eg. time, energy, money, etc.) with an EXTRACTIVE mindset, thinking we can just go all in and hustle hard enough to reach the finish line fast, and then sit back to rest and enjoy our success.

But instead we end up depleting all of our resources before we reach the finish line, sending ourselves into a pre-mature “Winter” season where we’re forced to abandon our half grown “apple tree” goal before it can produce fruit (and then mistakenly assume we failed because we’re incapable of accomplishing that goal, instead of acknowledging that we simply used our resources unsustainably, and burnt-out).

🧘‍♀️And so, I began contemplating:

❓ How can I stay connected to my bigger far reaching dreams that could take years to grow, while staying in persistent action towards my goals AND in right relationship with my fluctuating resource levels and natural growth cycles each day and week- all without getting totally derailed by everyday obligations, distractions, or dysregulation?

And then, the answer came to me 👉 You need an ALIGNED, SUSTAINABLE PLAN

LESSON #5: There is no personal growth without COLLECTIVE CARE

This is the newest lesson I’ve been learning over the past couple years. Nature teaches us that we exist and grow within collaborative, reciprocal ecosystems- not as individuals in a vacuum. And so it’s both a sacred responsibility and necessity to consider the impact of WHAT we’re working to grow, and HOW we’re choosing to grow it- to ensure that we’re not harming others or our planet in our growth pursuits.

If everyone attempted to live by this lesson, so many of our world’s problems wouldn’t exist!

When you harm the very ecosystems that provide you with the resources you need for growth, you inadvertently hinder your own growth capacity.

Mama robin gave me a lesson in collective care as I watched her work to grow offspring all those months. One day I saw lots of these little red berries dropped on the well her nest was built above. I remember thinking how cool it was that I had wild raspberries growing in my yard, and I went to search for them. Sure enough, growing right next to her nest and farther away in the woods just beyond my yard, I saw all these wild berries that I’d never seen before!

I later learned that as birds drop berries while they fly and poop, they disperse seeds that help those plants grow. So by gathering food to nurture her babies mama robin also cared for her ecosystem, which then provided her and her family with more food the following year. RECIPROCAL, COLLABORATIVE GROWTH!

Our hyper-individualistic hustle culture, encourages us to “lift ourselves up by the bootstraps” to grow our goals on our own, and to take as much as we want in the process, without considering the impact to our relationships or planet.

In doing this- we inadvertently create a scarcity of resources which leads to anxiety inducing urgency to grow and create more resources fast!

THIS IS NOT THE WAY OF NATURE, AND NOT THE WAY TO SUCCESSFUL, SUSTAINABLE GROWTH.

I love the way one of my business teachers, Simone Seoul, calls marketing a form of “community care” and encourages us to be generous with our free stuff, trusting in the power of reciprocity. If folks deeply benefit from your free stuff they’ll be more likely to buy your paid stuff if and when they’re ready, or refer you to a friend.

While many other business coaches (brainwashed by extractive, individualistic capitalism) encourage us to hold back on sharing too much for free, judge “freebie seekers” who consume our free stuff but never buy from us as “unaligned”, “not willing to do the work”, or “not worthy your time”. Yuck!

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CTA: FREE TRAINING: The Art of Aligned, Sustainable Growth: 3 Steps to creating a “Growth Plan”, that helps you sustain persistent, easeful action & stay in right relationship with your resources so you can reach your bigger goals with out constantly sacrificing your joy, burning out, or breaking down!

Sign up to get access to my [free Summer Series + workbook] “5 STEPS TO CREATING AN ALIGNED, SUSTAINABLE PLAN (that allows you to reach goals and manifest dreams, without burning out first!)”

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[skip and just add above 1 sentence CTA???]LESSON #6: Growth requires a PLAN that feels aligned & sustainable to You.

When I thought about mama robin, it occurred to me that she clearly had a plan on what needed to be done each day to ✔️find a mate, ✔️build a nest, and ✔️nurture her babies from egg until they could survive on their own. She wasn’t just winging it each day (no pun intended).

It made me realize how much I struggled with PLANNING!

I’d either spend so much time trying to create the perfect plan to reach my big goals- only to abandon the plan out of overwhelm, distraction, or frustration that it didn’t lead me to success.

Or, I’d abandon planning all together and just pursue random, inspired tasks, projects, and actions each day hoping they’d lead me to my goals.

Mama robin seemed to have an aligned, sustainable plan that allowed her to make persistent progress in a way, and at a pace, that deeply honored her resource levels and didn’t constantly overwhelm her or keep her reacting from a state of fight, flight, or freeze.

It took me many years to figure out how to create the type of deeply aligned, sustainable plan that did all that👆

But I finally feel like I’ve figured it out, mostly (there’s always more to learn, right? 😉)

And that’s exactly what I’m going to be sharing in my free series this month.

Stop Obsessing over To-do Lists & Start Focusing on Support Systems!

For those who are serious about creating change and building dreams in our lives this year, the month of June is important because it combines the powerful energies of both Spring and Summer which help you prepare for the fiery hustle of Summer (that will make or break your success for the year)!

🌱SPRING🌱 helps you tap into the energy of excitement and possibility so you can get inspired and determine exactly WHAT (aka. the big dreams and visions) you want to create over the year, and nudges you to start experimenting with HOW you might create it.

☀️SUMMER☀️ helps you tap into the fiery energy of focused, consistent action, and so you’re forced to decide exactly HOW you want to show up and strategically create your vision/changes this year (so you don’t burn-out or give up before creating them… which is what happens to many)!

And as June combines these Spring + Summer energies 🌱☀️, it’s time to…

✔️ REFLECT ON + INTEGRATE all of your experience and lessons from early Spring and the disruptive Eclipse season,

✔️and RECALIBRATE YOUR STRATEGIC “CONSCIOUS CREATION” PLAN to guide exactly HOW you plan to show up to consistently grow what you most want to manifest or change this year (this may have shifted from what you thought in January)!

And yet the ONE BIG MISTAKE I see so many people make that sabotages their ability to successfully create their dreams in the second half of the year is this…

👉They don’t integrate the feedback and lessons they’ve learned in the first half of the year to re-create a more strategic CONSCIOUS CREATION PLAN in June, before getting swept up in the fiery, action-oriented Summer energies.

👉And then they end up trying to non-strategically hustle their way to their goals and dreams, and burning-out way before they reach the finish line!

So what is a STRATEGIC CONSCIOUS CREATION PLAN?

First let’s talk about what a Strategic Conscious Creation plan IS NOT.

• ❌ it’s not a never-ending list of random goals, tasks, to-do’s, and ideas that just keep moving from one week to the next.

• ❌ it’s not a plan that triggers massive resistance, stress, overwhelm, or procrastination as you strive to take action each day and week.

• ❌ it’s not a plan that leaves you exhausted at the end of every day, so you never quite have enough time or energy left to create the bigger changes and dreams you excitedly put on your Vision Board!

❌MASSIVE & PERSISTENT RESISTANCE❌ is often a sign that you’re striving too hard and need to pause & PLAN A MORE STRATEGIC WAY (with more aligned actions) to build your dreams!

A Strategic Conscious Creation Plan IS a plan that:

• ✨ feels EASEFUL and allows you to show up and TAKE CONSISTENT ACTION in an ✓ALIGNED and ✓SUSTAINABLE way.

• ✨ allows you to feel GROUNDED, RESOURCED, and HAVE ENOUGH TIME + ENERGY to both maintain (and enjoy) your life, and build your dreams (without massive resistance or constant burn-out)!!

• ✨is comprised of EFFICIENT + SUPPORTIVE SYSTEMS that work together to conserve your time + energy (not random actions and to-do’s that waste time + energy).

A NON-STRATEGIC Conscious Creation Plan is ▷ inefficiently EXTRACTIVE😵, and it takes more time + energy than you have to give each day and week (which is why it leads to big resistance and burn-out)!

While a STRATEGIC Conscious Creation Plan is ▷ efficiently REGENERATIVE😎, and allows you the time, space, + resources you need to rest and replenish yourself each day and week.

A NON-STRATEGIC Plan ▷ has you working HARDER, not smarter🤕!

While a STRATEGIC Plan ▷ helps you work SMARTER, not harder🤓.

And finally, a STRATEGIC Conscious Creation Plan is ▷ built on STRONG FOUNDATIONS which allows it (and you) to adapt and endure through the natural ups, downs, and unexpected things in life.

While a NON-STRATEGIC plan ▷has little foundation or endurance (and falls apart easily!).

To successfully build your dreams this year you don’t need more goals or to-do’s. You need a strategic CONSCIOUS CREATION PLAN with more SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS & SUPPORT!

And so this June, I invite you to ask yourself…

❓❓Do I have a “Strategic Conscious Creation Plan” that will support me in taking sustainable, easeful, and joyful action to build my dreams through the rest of the year?

❓❓Or, do I have a non-strategic plan that constantly triggers massive resistance + overwhelm… and leaves me no time to both enjoy my life AND build my dreams, without chronic stress and burn-out?!

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Want to learn the 3 components of a “STRATEGIC CONSCIOUS CREATION PLAN” that will help you build your dreams and change your life, with more ease and success this Summer?

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this article (coming next week)! Or JOIN THE NEWSLETTER here, and I’ll send it right to your inbox!

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The Sacred Art Of VISIONING (Visions vs. Goals)

As a woman devoted to consciously creating my dreams, living in alignment with my purpose, and evolving to my fullest potential in life, February is my absolute favorite month! Because every February, I spend most of the month VISIONING everything and anything my soul longs to create over the coming year!

While VISIONING is such a critical step in consciously creating (or manifesting) dreams and change in your life, it’s also a step that’s often either skipped entirely, rushed through, or done ineffectively.

And so today I want to clear up all your misconceptions about the sacred art of VISIONING, so you can use this powerful practice to create the dreams and changes you truly desire this year (with ease, joy, and flow…. not stress & overwhelm)!

SO, WHAT IS VISIONING?

Visioning is a powerful practice that helps you DEEPLY CONNECT WITH YOUR TRUE SOUL’S DESIRES, longings, and purpose, to help ensure you’re consciously creating them (and not someone else’s desires).

A strong vision will REIGNITE and FUEL YOUR MOTIVATION, EXCITEMENT, HOPE, & COURAGE to show up and take aligned actions toward your dreams and purpose (when it feels really hard, impossible, or hopeless).

It’s one of my core beliefs that if more of us were truly living life from our purpose and soul’s desires, over time we would naturally heal ourselves, our communities, and our planet. And Visioning helps us do just that!

VISIONING VS. GOAL-SETTING

“Visioning” is often confused with “goal-setting”. And while they’re related (and equally important skills for creating change), they are most definitely not interchangeable!

While the power of ✔️GOALS✔️ comes from them being specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound… the power of 🔮VISIONS🔮 come from them being, well 🤔, pretty much the opposite.

In fact, one question I love to ask when helping people vision is this, 👉 “🔮If you had a magic wand, and time, money, or obligations weren’t a factor, what would you create in your life or the world??”

And while I rarely use the words “should” or “always”… I’m adamant that, Visioning should always come before goal-setting!

There’s a saying that a goal without a plan is just an unrealized wish. Well, wishes can’t harm people, but unaligned, and unrighteous goals can!

A goal without a righteous, soul-aligned VISION is at best, extra work. And at worst, the cause of harmful actions, products, or situations (for ourselves, others, or the planet)!

Most (all?) of the harmful actions, systems, products, movements, etc. in the world, were born from people who lacked a soul-aligned, righteous vision… and were really good at achieving their unrighteous goals! And the same goes for any harm you’ve caused yourself from wasting time, energy, money, or other precious resources on the pursuit of unaligned goals and plans.

And it’s for this reason that we each have a personal and collective responsibility to properly Vision what we want to consciously create in our lives this year, before creating goals or taking actions!

And so before you start planning, making goals, and diving into all the things you think you want to do, create, grow this year… please🙏 do yourself and the world a favor, and take some time to VISION and ensure those goals are rooted in the exciting and righteous desires of your soul (and not rooted in your fears, your wounds, or the toxic expectations of society).

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DON’T TAKE TIME TO VISION?

Remember, Visioning is what gives you the CLARITY and WISDOM to create soul-aligned goals that help create positive impacts in your life and the world.

Visioning is also what gives you the MOTIVATION, EXCITEMENT, and COURAGE to show up in the face of doubt and adversity, and take the often difficult and uncomfortable actions (that create those big beautiful changes you crave in your life and the world)!

And so when you try to skip, rush, or improperly vision before goal-setting, 3 things tend to happen.

1. You waste a lot of time, money, and energy taking actions that build careers, relationships, or other situations that don’t make you happy (and move you further from your purpose and soul desires).

2. You stay stuck in unfulfilling jobs, relationships, or situations that don’t light you up because you have no idea anything else is possible; you feel hopeless to create change; or you can’t muster up enough motivation or courage to begin creating the change you crave.

3. You get excited about a new idea or change (and maybe even create a plan and some goals), but quickly fall back into the cycles of busyness, distraction, or drama, only to maintain the status quo in your life for yet another year.

SO, HOW DO YOU VISION EFFECTIVELY?

Well the art of Visioning is something best taught through guided practices vs. a blog post. Which is exactly why I created my ART OF VISIONING WORKSHOP SERIES! I host it live every February, and enrollment is currently open (as I write this blog post now)!

☞LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ‘ART OF VISIONING WORKSHOP SERIES’ HERE☜

But for now, here are 5 tips to point out some of the most important aspects of Visioning.

5 TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE VISIONING

(1) Spend some time contemplating powerful “VISIONING” REFLECTION QUESTIONS that help you move beyond your mind and go deep to uncover the “righteous” soul-aligned Visions you truly desire (and not just settling for what your mind thinks you want).

You can start with the one I shared earlier👆 in this article! And if you’d like a workbook filled with powerful Visioning prompts, check out my “Art of Visioning” Experience here.

(2) Use visualization meditation to ENGAGE YOUR BODY, SENSES, and FEELINGS when you do your visioning (and not just your mind). This is why in “The Art of Visioning”, in addition to journaling questions, we also do guided meditation to help you activate your Visions in your body system (as well as your mind)!

(3) FOLLOW-UP YOUR VISIONS with an aligned plan, goals, action (and the support systems to safely take those actions), to ensure you can actually create your Visions.

Remember that Visioning is just one part of the conscious creation (or manifestation) process! I’ve developed a 5 step Conscious Creation System that helps you move from any soul-aligned Vision to the tangible creation of that Vision (and I share it in the “Art of Visioning” too).

(4) Create a visual reminder to RECONNECT TO YOUR VISIONS often! Especially when you lose motivation, inspiration, or hope; you get distracted; or you start to sink back into old patterns.

This is why Vision Boards can be so powerful! And why I create one every year (and why we create one together in the ‘Art of Visioning Workshop Series’)

(5) ALLOW YOUR VISIONS TO EVOLVE as you evolve! Don’t cling too tightly to your Visions. Remember they aren’t goals. They’re the exciting dreams and possibilities that are meant to inspire, motivate, and guide your goals and actions throughout the year!

And this is why I don’t just spend time Visioning at the beginning of the year, but do it often anytime I desire to start something new! I also share a monthly New Moon Visioning Ritual with members of my Moon Circle Community (to use the power of the New Moon to set new intentions each month).

5 Steps to Powerfully RELEASE Old Patterns & Blocks in your life this year

As we transition into a new year, I start to hear a lot about the importance and desire to “let go of what no longer serves you”.

And while I wholeheartedly agree that “Releasing Work” is necessary and powerful (so much so, that I spend much of my January immersed in it), I don’t see much shared about HOW to actually do deep Releasing Work, beyond simply repeating some basic affirmations like, “I release what no longer serves me, to make space for the new!”

Prayers and affirmations can be a potent part of the releasing process, but on their own they don’t do much (in my honest opinion).

And so in today’s blog, I’d like to share 5 steps that I use to do my own Releasing Work in January (or anytime I want to release a block or non-serving pattern). And since all the steps begin with the letter “R” (and because I love alliteration), let’s call them…

The 5 “R’s” of Releasing

Plus I share a ✨BONUS STEP✨below, to help Supercharge your Releasing work 😉

#1 RECOGNIZE the need for releasing work

The very first step to doing releasing work is to recognize WHEN it’s time to do releasing work. A few signs I notice when it’s time to do some releasing are:

• feeling really stuck somewhere (no matter how hard I try to get unstuck)

• Something that was once flowing smoothly, starts to feel overwhelmingly out of alignment, blocked, or like it’s no longer working (and may even be impacting other areas of my life)

• craving change or dreaming of something new, but feeling “weighed down by” or “shackled to” something (that won’t allow space for the new)

✨TRY THIS 👉ask yourself, “Am I experiencing any of the above symptoms in my life right now?”

#2 RESOURCE yourself

Once you recognize that there may be a block that needs to be released, it’s important to assess if you’re feeling RESOURCED ENOUGH to do some deeper releasing work, in that moment.

“Releasing Work” is not a passive, relaxing practice. It requires focus, intention, and energy, and so it’s important to make sure you’ve got the resources for it, before diving in.

Feelings of “stuckness” or resistance are often accompanied by difficult emotions. And, when difficult emotions are present and not skillfully processed, we can become dysregulated in our nervous system and disconnected from our body. And too long in that ungrounded and dysregulated state can lead to overwhelm and exhaustion.

And you never want to try to engage in releasing work when you feel dysregulated, ungrounded, overwhelmed, or exhausted (it won’t be effective and you’ll just drain yourself more!).

Instead, first make sure you’re adequately “resourced”. Meaning you:

• feel GROUNDED and “SAFE” in your body (not stuck in a fight-flight-freeze state)

• are CONNECTED to your inner wisdom & ability to make conscious choices (not stuck reacting unconsciously from fear or unprocessed emotions)

• feel relatively NOURISHED and RESTED (not overwhelmed, exhausted, or burnt-out)

✨YOU MIGHT TRY 👉resourcing yourself with mindfulness meditation🙏, getting outside to connect with nature🌳, breathwork🌬, a nap💤, a bath🛀, or even taking a break from healing work all together💃 to do something fun or rest deeply (without the need to “fix” or change anything for the moment)!

#3 REFLECT on what’s “RIPE” for releasing

And now, let the releasing work begin! Once you’ve recognized a need for releasing work, AND you’ve determined that you feel adequately resourced for the work… the next step is to clarify what feels RIPE (or ready) to be released.

This step is important! It’s the heart of releasing work (and sadly also the most overlooked part).

Just like fruit has a life cycle and stage of RIPENESS (when it’s ready to be consumed, digested, and expelled)… so do our “blocks” and “old patterns”.

You can’t release anything before it’s ripe and ready.

And things are most ripe to be released when 1️⃣you’re currently experiencing the negative impacts of it on your life (don’t try to release everything at once just because it sounds like something that should be released), 2️⃣after it’s served its purpose (aka. you’ve digested the wisdom and lessons from it). If you try to release something before that, it often just won’t work.

If When you work to release something and it lingers, it simply means you’ve either got deeper reflection work to do on the block, OR you simply need more time to release it (see #5 below). The important thing is… don’t beat yourself up.

Releasing is an art, and practice… not an exact science!

Also remember things you perceive as “blocks” or “old patterns” were likely created to serve you at some point in your life, when you didn’t know a better way. And part of the releasing process is also to HONOR the old, while slowly training your body to TRUST that the new way will also keep you safe (and serve you even better!)

✍️During this step I do a lot of deep REFLECTION and JOURNALING. And I consult with my favorite oracle system the I CHING䷊ (Tarot also works well!) to:

✔️UNDERSTAND the root causes + impacts of the blocks,

✔️CREATE A LIST a list of specific patterns, fears, behaviors, mindsets, relationships (or relationship dynamics), etc. that aren’t working or don’t feel aligned anymore.

✔️DIGEST and CELEBRATE the wisdom, lessons, and blessings from each one.

It’s important to take your time here. Get specific and get to the root of the block. If you’re too vague or superficial with what you want to release, it won’t be as effective.

‼️Simply saying, “I release procrastination” may not be as effective as taking the time to understand the deeper causes and effects of your procrastination habit. For instance, “I release perfectionism and my fear of being judged as not expert enough, that is causing me to get overwhelmed daily and procrastinate in reaching out to new potential clients.”

**NOTE: if you’re in any sort of toxic or unsafe situation, don’t worry about if there’s more to learn or if it’s ready to be released. You can absolutely physically “release” (remove yourself from) the situation, and then move through these steps to do more energetic releasing work once you’re safely away. (and in fact, you will often find that it is nearly impossible to do step #2 above until you’ve created a safe distance from the toxic situation anyway.)

#4 REPLACE the old with something new & aligned

Once you’ve got some clarity around what feels ripe to be released, it’s important to make sure you dream🔮 into what NEW THING you want to REPLACE the old one with + make sure it feels ALIGNED!

As you release something, an empty, fertile space is created. And if you have NO IDEA WHAT NEW THING (ie. mindset, behavior, system, relationship, situation, etc.) you’d like to replant in that space, you’ll often find the very thing you just worked so hard to energetically release, will re-sprout in your life once again.

Or if you CHOOSE SOMETHING TOO FAR OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE, or too unfamiliar to your body or mind, it may not stick either (and you’ll revert back to the old).

Again, that’s why I say releasing work is an art and practice, not an exact science! It takes time, intuition, and experimentation to truly discover ❓What’s ripe to be released, AND what’s the new thing that feels aligned to take its place❓

✨TRY THIS 👉 VISUALIZE the new behavior, mindset, or pattern you’d like to embrace.

• SEE THE IMPACT it has on all parts of your life, the lives of your loved ones, and the world around you!

• FEEL THE IMPACT in your body as you embrace and become the new.

• ASK: Does it feel aligned (ie. exciting, expansive, easeful, and maybe a little scary too)? Or does it feel unaligned (ie.contracting, terrifying, dreadful, or make you want to run or hide)?

• ADJUST accordingly.

#5 REPEAT in REAL-TIME

And not only do you have visualize the new pattern you’d like to replace the old with, you must also replace the old belief, behavior, or other pattern, with the new one in REAL-TIME.

Think of it like this. Your OLD PATTERN is like a plant🌱 growing within you now. You’ve been watering it for years and each time you choose that old mindset or behavior, it’s like you’re nurturing it to grow even stronger. You must stop watering it!

The NEW PATTERN you want to grow is like a baby seed {,} planted within you now. It has the potential to grow strong, but you must water it consistently by consciously choosing it instead of the old pattern, as much as possible.

This is how you train your mind and body to release an old pattern and embrace a new one! Through real-time, conscious repetition!

BONUS STEP: RITUALIZE it

This step is OPTIONAL, but I wanted to mention it briefly because a huge part of my personal releasing practice involves “RELEASING RITUALS”. They’re something I picked up in my college days of dabbling in witchcraft and spell-casting, and I’ve found them to be incredibly powerful when combined with the above steps!

Rituals are powerful in 2 main ways.

☝️Rituals help with CONSISTENCY (which as I mentioned above is essential in releasing work), because they can easily be scheduled as part of your regular self-care practices.

When you learn to work with energetic cycles and seasons as I have, you discover that certain times are more powerful for releasing work. And so, I tend to schedule releasing rituals in during these times, simply as part of my regular self-care practice.

For example ANY ENDING is a powerful time for releasing work, which is why I schedule releasing rituals each year ✔️during the month of January (which marks the end of a year) + monthly ✔️during the Waning Moon Phase (which marks the end of a moon cycle).

✌️Rituals SUPERCHARGE YOUR RELEASING WORK by powerfully channelling your energy through a set of symbolic actions or words (or sacred objects) + performed with strong focus and devotion for a specific intention (in this case, to let go of certain non-serving patterns).

This is where releasing prayers or affirmations🙏, fire ceremonies🔥, cord cutting visualizations✂️, drumming or sound healing🎶, and other releasing practices that you may have heard of can come into play.

Or even simply letting your body release in whatever way it craves- crying, yelling, hitting a pillow, shaking, movement, cutting up a picture of a past relationship, etc.

REAL TALK ON RELEASING WORK:

• Releasing work often takes a good amount of TIME, CONSISTENCY, MINDFULNESS (of both mind and body), and radical SELF-COMPASSION.

• The more attached you are to the old pattern (or the more connected it is to old trauma)… the more effort and/or professional support the process may require.

• It’s common for releasing work to happen over MONTHS, YEARS, or even LIFETIMES (like in generational trauma healing work!).

• It’s normal for releasing work to feel really awkward, uncomfortable, unnatural, and to bring up a lot of grief or shame. It gets a bit easier with time and practice.

• If you’re not getting any shifts on your own, don’t beat yourself up! REACH OUT (another “R”, ha!) to a professional to help guide you.

And finally, here are some signs that your releasing efforts are working🙌:

• you’re more aware of when you’re choosing the old pattern.

• you remember to choose the new pattern more (even just 1% more!).

• the new pattern begins to feel slightly less uncomfortable (and eventually more effortless).

• as you embrace the new pattern more, you start to experience the bigger changes you desire in your life!

Whoo! I didn’t plan to write this much, but this is a topic very dear to my heart and often misunderstood or watered down in the online space!

If you want more support around doing your own RELEASING WORK this month 👉 then I invite you to join the waitlist for a new Workshop Series I’m hosting soon! I’ll be walking you through a RELEASING RITUAL as part of the series!

Join the Waitlist

"ART OF CONSCIOUS CREATION: VISION BOARD WORKSHOP SERIES"

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February is the New January (Here's Why!)

Years ago I made the life-changing decision to begin my new year in February, instead of on January 1st (like everyone else around me), and I’ve never looked back! As others began posting about their ambitious New Year’s resolutions and sharing sweaty gym selfies the first weeks of January, I was still curled up on my couch relaxing in the stillness of Winter a bit longer.

And as the weeks of January went on and people started quickly ramping up their efforts to set and take action towards big New Year goals and resolutions, I focused my slow growing energy in a very different way (more on that below).

But rather than just telling you it’s better to start your New Year in February vs. January (and expecting you to take my word for it), let me share 3 reasons WHY I made that choice, so you can decide for yourself what to focus on in January.

3 REASONS WHY I START MY NEW YEAR IN FEBRUARY (and not January!)

REASON #1: Not every culture celebrates a New Year on January 1st

Do you know what January 1st, February 1st, and April 1st all have in common?

If you guessed that they’re all dates different cultures are celebrating their 2022 New Year, then you’d be correct!! Not to mention different cultures and people have their own unique rituals to honor a New Year.

🗓January 1st is the New Year here in the US (and many parts of the world).

🗓February 1st is the Chinese New Year.

🗓And, April 1st is the Hindu New Year.

(*note that the Chinese and Hindu New Year dates vary from year to year because they’re based on a lunar calendar, while ours here in the US is based on a solar calendar).

I hope you’re starting to see as I did, that there isn’t one “right” day or “right” way to begin your New Year,

You can choose when and what feels “right” for you, rather than forcing yourself to abide by some arbitrary date and rituals that society has dictated for you (especially if you live in a culture like ours that has developed customs more aligned with capitalistic values than the rhythms of the natural world around and within us).

REASON #2: When it comes to masterful creation & transformation, Mother Earth does it best

Once I realized that there wasn’t one “right” day or way to start the New Year and I gave myself permission to find my own flow and rituals, I came to discover that my own inner rhythms closely mirrored the growth cycles of natural world around me.

Which makes complete sense because Mother Nature is the first masterful “conscious creator” that we witness (and continue to witness year after year) in our lives!

And since January is still a dark, cold, and Wintery time around me (and Mother Nature is still in a state of rest, self-nourishment, and death/releasing… NOT new growth yet), setting ambitious New Year’s resolutions and diving into immediate action on big goals for the year just didn’t feel aligned for me.

And so instead I created new rituals, and January became my month to mirror Mother Nature and:

✔️fully REST & RECHARGE myself after a long and active year of growth.

✔️more actively focus on RELEASING RITUALS to energetically cut cords with old patterns, relationships, and other baggage that I didn’t want to carry into the new year (to make space for the new!).

✔️DREAM about the new desires and changes I wanted to consciously create in the new year, as I release the old (*note that ‘dreaming’ is a much more passive and relaxed process than the more active ‘goal setting’, which comes later).

Reading fantasy novels is one of my favorite ways to recharge!

And once I felt more fully recharged + energetically freed from the baggage of old patterns, February and March became my months to begin the more active work of Visioning, Planning, and Initiating my new, big goals for the New Year!

REASON #3: The aggressive January 1st “New Year, New Me” mentality didn’t actually seem to facilitate sustainable changes

I tried the ambitious New Year’s resolution strategy for many years (before adopting my new approach), and it never worked to help me create sustainable changes. Plus it always left me feeling frustrated, exhausted, and overwhelmed before the first quarter of the year even ended!

And others didn’t seem to be doing any better with there own dramatic goals and resolutions in January either. When I looked around, I noticed two main ways in which people were getting stuck (or some combo of the two). Let’s call them “Group A” and “Group B”.

“GROUP A” entered January psyched about the New Year, their resolutions, and what their life would look like when they created all the changes they craved! They ✔️set big goals, ✔️dove into action, and ✔️felt good! But after weeks or months of hard work, they started to find themselves in the same exact old relationships, situations, and patterns they swore they left behind in the previous year! Defeated, burnt-out, and stuck, they had no idea what went wrong.

Meanwhile, “GROUP B” entered January still exhausted from the previous year. But they ✔️believed the overly ambitious “January 1st, New Year resolution” hype and ✔️tried to keep up with it. And so instead of giving themselves permission to rest and recharge fully, they set big goals, couldn’t keep up, and felt like a failure before February even started (and also, had no idea why)!

Fun fact 👉 There’s even been a day named for these folks! The second Friday in January has been coined “National Quitters Day”, by a social network for athletes called Strava (after its research discovered that it was the the day most people gave up on their new year’s resolutions!).

And it’s because of those 3 reasons above that I truly believe,

If you listen to your own inner rhythms and follow the seasons of Mother Nature, instead of forcing yourself to go from 0-100 in January, you will have much greater long-term change & soul-aligned success (instead of burning-out or “failing” the first weeks or months of the year)!

And so as we shift into January, I challenge you to take a moment and contemplate:

❓When and how do I start my new year?

❓Why have I adopted the date, mindsets, and rituals?

❓Does how I begin my new year truly support my peace, flow, and long-term change + manifestation efforts?

Looking for a new way to begin your year, that’s more aligned with the wisdom and rhythm of Mother Earth (& allows you to consciously create the changes you desire this year with greater peace, joy, and flow)?

Then I invite you to join the waitlist below, for my “Art of Conscious Creation: Vision Boarding Workshop Series” that happens in February!

3 Steps to Get DEEP REST (even if you’ve forgotten how or don’t have time)

In this week between Christmas and the January 1st New Year holiday, more people than ever begin to realize that they crave DEEP REST. And even though on a primal level we all know rest is a very natural and necessary human need, we still constantly struggle to recharge and nourish ourselves enough to truly thrive.

Meanwhile, plants and animals who haven’t forgotten the wisdom and rhythms of Mother Nature (like we have), have now surrendered to the dark, stillness of Winter, to receive the deep rest and nourishment that they need for their next big growth cycle, beginning in Spring.

Today I’m sharing 3 steps that will help you finally get the deep rest and nourishment that you crave, during this Winter pause or anytime you need it.

3 STEPS TO GET DEEP REST (even if you’ve forgotten how or don’t have time)

(1) REMEMBER the importance and power of deep rest

The first step to getting deep rest, is to remember why it’s so damn important to make time and space to consistently rest, nourish, and recharge yourself deeply (because society is constantly trying to convince you that rest is a luxury, not a necessity).

Imagine what a cellphone at 100% charge feels like. And now imagine one that’s at 1%? Too many people are trying to live life with a 1% charge, constantly stealing those few minutes here and there just trying to recharge enough to not collapse. (can you start to feel a difference in your body just imagining what that feels like? I can!)

Try asking yourself:

• When was a time I felt deeply rested, nourished, and recharged? What did that feel like?

• How did I show up differently for myself, my relationships, my work, etc. when I felt deeply rested and nourished? (How do show up when I’m exhausted, burnt-out, and overwhelmed?)

• What would become possible (or change) in my life if I had a magic charger I could plug myself into to feel deeply rested, nourished, and recharged each day?

Once you reflect on those questions, you should start to have a better idea of why neglecting consistent deep rest and self-nourishment is so detrimental, and why it’s so important for you to heal your relationship with deep rest this Winter!

(2) UNLEARN the lies of capitalism and patriarchy

Have you ever wondered why it is that deep rest is so hard for us humans, even though it’s such a natural and necessary act (and even though plants and animals in nature seem to do it so effortlessly)?

It’s because as humans, we are living within the confines of oppressive systems (like capitalism and patriarchy) that have subconsciously programmed us with false beliefs and behaviors, that block us from prioritizing the deep rest we crave and need to thrive!

CAPITALISM has brainwashed you to believe things like:

• “It’s only your ability to be productive, work, produce tangible results, and make progress towards goals that makes you valuable and thus deserving of rest (but not too much rest… just enough to not burn-out, get injured, and become unproductive)”.

• “Rest (simply because you want it) without illness, burn out, or some terrible tragedy, is an act of weakness and laziness. And if you rest too much or for too long (without a damn good reason), then you must also be weak, lazy, and thus undeserving of abundance, success, and respect.”

Oh and let’s not forget about the lies that PATRIARCHY has fed you:

• “Individualism, self-reliance, and being ‘self-made’ is the ultimate sign of strength and success.”

• “And if you rely on community and others to help you, it’s just another sign that you’re weak, lazy, and a burden.”

Please know that these stories👆 are complete bullshit! And they create an extremely toxic culture that leaves most of us little time to rest, recharge, and nourish ourselves, as we work tirelessly to produce enough money for ourselves and families to survive (without expecting any support from friends, community, or our government).

And if you truly want to consistently get the deep rest you need (without feeling guilt and shame), you must begin to unlearn those toxic stories of capitalism, patriarchy, and any others that have been fed to you by family, teachers, bosses, or society.

(3) RELEARN the art of deep rest

Now that you know why it’s so important to regularly and deeply recharge yourself and what’s at stake if you don’t (step 1 above)… and you’re starting to see what’s blocking you from actually getting the deep nourishment you crave and need (step 2 above)… it’s time to re-teach yourself how to fully receive the deep rest that you need to truly thrive in your life this year!

Start by taking all of those toxic stories blocking you from receiving deep rest that you uncovered above, and reframe them into healthier beliefs and behaviors that support a consistent habit of deep rest and self-nourishment.

For example the toxic belief that,

“I only deserve rest after I’ve been very productive and gotten a lot done!”

Can be reframed into something healthier like,

“I deserve rest ANY TIME my body or mind wants it, no matter how productive I was or wasn’t today. Because when I am deeply nourished I can truly show up as my best self and experience more joy, love, and soul-aligned success.”

It’s also important to know HOW to actually receive deep rest and nourishment, so once you start using some of the mental reframes above you can follow them up with regular rest and self-nourishment rituals.

I see too many people that want to feel deeply rested and nourished, end up instead exerting more energy TRYING TO REST than ACTUALLY RESTING and recharging themselves. (sort of like plugging your dead cellphone in to charge for a few hours, only to return and find that, for some reason, it hasn’t charged at all!)

MAKE A LIST of all the things that truly nourish and recharge you. (my guess is it’s not collapsing on the couch exhausted, scrolling Instagram… even though that might resemble “rest”).

What are some things you can do to truly “fill up your cup”? And then give yourself permission to practice them this week, this Winter, and any time you crave deep body, mind, and soul rest!

I know that trying to maintain enough resources to keep food on the table, a roof over your head, maintain your physical health, care for your family, AND have enough time for deep rest and self-nourishment can feel like a daily battle in our current society!

And yet, I also invite you to work with the steps and questions above, and see what becomes possible when you bring a bit more awareness and effort into your “deep rest rituals” this Winter (and into the new year)!

If you loved this article and want weekly-ish tips, resources, and energetic alignment readings to support you in living a more soul-aligned life, sign up for my email community below.

Reawakening Your Feminine Powers: Part 3 {DESTRUCTION}

As we move farther into the dark half of the year (Autumn and Winter), this is the perfect time to contemplate the balance between your own inner "dark" (Divine Feminine) energies and inner "light" (Divine Masculine) energies.

The Divine Feminine (aka. yin) and Divine Masculine (aka. yang) are the two most elemental powers that course through our bodies and move us through our lives each and every day.

And in my years of studying Chinese Medicine, I learned that flow & health can only exist when the two energies of yin and yang are in a state of RELATIVE BALANCE.

And when they drift too far out of balance, stagnation and dis-ease ALWAYS result.

**HERE’S 👆A CHART I CREATED TO HELP YOU BETTER UNDERSTAND WHAT YANG VS YIN ENERGIES FEEL AND LOOK LIKE IN YOUR LIFE (THIS IS BY NO MEANS AN EXHAUSTIVE LIST).

Because we live in a excessively yang (and patriarchal) culture, we’ve been taught that it’s better to rely solely on our masculine powers to move through life each day (and neglect our feminine powers). This creates massive disharmony, with very real and often debilitating consequences for us (mentally, spiritually, and physically)… as well as causing harm to the collective and planet.

And so my intention over the next few weeks, with this “REAWAKENING YOUR FEMININE POWERS” blog series, is to help you:

• see how your over-reliance on your masculine powers is actually causing harm.

• and, reconnect with your feminine powers so you can create a healthier yin-yang balance, to experience greater peace, flow, and soul-aligned success in your life (without overwhelm, burn-out, or sacrificing happiness)!

In Part 1 here, we talked about your Feminine power of SLOWNESS. {click here to read it}. And in Part 2, we talked about your Feminine Power of GOING DEEP {click here to read it}.

And today, we’ll delve into what is arguably your greatest Feminine Power of all… your power of “DESTRUCTION”!

PART 3: Reawakening your Feminine Power of “DESTRUCTION”

We all love our Masculine (or yang) power of “ORDER”. “ORDER” is when all the pieces seem to fit neatly together. There’s a sense of clarity, certainty, and knowing. And with that sense of “ORDER”, we can construct and build things up. Or, we can maintain things as they are (situations, systems, relationships etc.) as they are. We like “ORDER” because it feels relatively safe and stable compared to it’s Feminine counterpart of “CHAOS”.

And as much as we’ve been conditioned to fear and avoid it at all costs, our Feminine Power of “CHAOS” & “DESTRUCTION” is one of our greatest superpowers!

“CHAOS” is when something (a relationship, a career, a system, an area of life, a plan, etc.) seems to be breaking down or falling apart. And this breakdown is accompanied by a sense of confusion and uncertainty. But with this sense of “CHAOS”, comes the powerful ability to “DESTROY” those systems, relationships, situations, etc. that are no longer healthy and working.

Without the Feminine power of “CHAOS” and “DESTRUCTION”, nothing old would die, and nothing new could be created. Without destruction, we couldn’t experience change or transformation in our lives!

In the words of Pablo Picasso, “All of creation is first an act of destruction.”

Here are some signs that you may be addicted to your Masculine power of “order” and disconnected from your Feminine power of “chaos” and destruction”:

• perfectionism

• a fear of being vulnerable (or looking emotionally ‘weak’ or unstable)

• constantly trying to fix situations that are toxic or beyond repair (vs. letting them fall apart and trusting something better will arise in their place)

• a desperate need for answers, clarity, and certainty (vs. being able to embrace a time of mystery, uncertainty and questioning… trusting that clarity and answers will arrive in their own time)

☯HERE ARE 3 TIPS TO EMBRACE YOUR FEMININE POWER OF DESTRUCTION FOR MASSIVE HEALING & TRANSFORMATION ☯

#1 Practice your MEDITATION TOOLS

While destruction and breakdown are powerful and necessary precursors to healing and change, they can feel scary and threatening to your nervous system. And so to let go of what you know and embrace the chaos, you’ve got to be able to regulate and navigate the challenging waves of emotions that come along with that fear and uncertainty.

And MEDITATION helps you ride the waves of the emotional storm that comes when things are in a state of breaking down, so you can get to the other side of breakthrough and transformation (with more self-trust, peace, and grace)!

But not just any type of meditation. I’ve found 4 specific meditation practices that, when used together, powerfully help you stay grounded, connect to your inner wisdom, and transmute a chaos and breakdown, into clarity and breakthrough!

**If you want to learn more about these 4 practices, you can join my free meditation challenge here! (I’m hosting it live from Nov 1-4th!)

#2 Gather your SUPPORT COMMUNITY

No one should have to suffer in silence, when you’re going through a difficult time. So while you strengthen your meditation tools, you also want to make sure you have people who can help support you through these breakdown periods. These are friends, family, and trained professionals who know how to hold safe, non-judgmental space for you when you’re struggling.

Some tips for gathering you’re support community:

1. Make sure you ask a person if they have the mental and emotional capacity to hold space for you, before you emotionally dump on them.

2. Make sure you’re actively nurturing these same relationships all year long! Not just reaching out when you need something.

3. And make sure you’re willing to return the favor, by holding space for them when they too go through a tough time (as long as you feel mentally and emotionally able to do so at that time).

#3 REST

Navigating times of breakdown take a lot of mental, emotional, and physical energy! So be willing to give yourself plenty of time for rest and self-care when something big in your life is in a state of “destruction”. This may mean asking for more help and/or delaying projects, until you feel better able to manage it all again.

✍️Take a moment to pause, and reflect on if anything in your life feels like it’s in a state of breakdown, chaos, or confusion. Are you allowing the breakdown or resisting it? Do you have the meditation tools & support to powerfully navigate the breakdown?

Want to join me for a free 4 DAY MEDITATION JOURNEY to help you unlock the vast Feminine WISDOM & POWER, that lies deep within you + holds the key to creating greater soul-aligned success in any area of life you choose?! 👇

Reawakening Your Feminine Powers: Part 2 {GOING DEEP}

As we move farther into the dark half of the year (Autumn and Winter), this is the perfect time to contemplate the balance between your own inner "dark" (Divine Feminine) energies and inner "light" (Divine Masculine) energies.

The Divine Feminine (aka. yin) and Divine Masculine (aka. yang) are the two most elemental powers that course through our bodies and move us through our lives each and every day.

And in my years of studying Chinese Medicine, I learned that flow & health can only exist when the two energies of yin and yang are in a state of RELATIVE BALANCE.

And when they drift too far out of balance, stagnation and dis-ease ALWAYS result.

**HERE’S 👆A CHART I CREATED TO HELP YOU BETTER UNDERSTAND WHAT YANG VS YIN ENERGIES FEEL AND LOOK LIKE IN YOUR LIFE (THIS IS BY NO MEANS AN EXHAUSTIVE LIST).

Because we live in a excessively yang (and patriarchal) culture, we’ve been taught that it’s better to rely solely on our masculine powers to move through life each day (and neglect our feminine powers). This creates massive disharmony, with very real and often debilitating consequences for us (mentally, spiritually, and physically)… as well as causing harm to the collective and planet.

And so my intention over the next few weeks, with this “REAWAKENING YOUR FEMININE POWERS” blog series, is to help you:

• see how your over-reliance on your masculine powers is actually causing harm.

• and, reconnect with your feminine powers so you can create a healthier yin-yang balance, to experience greater peace, flow, and soul-aligned success in your life (without overwhelm, burn-out, or sacrificing happiness)!

Last week I wrote about your Feminine power of SLOWNESS. {click here to read it}.

And today, we’ll delve into your feminine power of “GOING DEEP”….

PART 2: Reawakening your Feminine Power of “GOING DEEP”

Because of our culture’s addiction to “fast results” (as I wrote all about in last weeks post), we grossly over-prioritize the quicker, MASCULINE QUALITY of “SUPERFICIAL & SURFACE-LEVEL” ways of moving through life…. while disregarding our incredibly important 👉FEMININE POWER of “DELVING DEEP” in life!

☯HERE ARE 3 WAYS EMBRACING YOUR FEMININE POWER OF “GOING DEEP” WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE! ☯

#1 You’ll DEEPLY UNDERSTAND YOURSELF, your GIFTS, & your PURPOSE

When you’re stuck in the Masculine energy of “surface-level” living, you move through life with a lot of superficial assumptions (or ignorance) about ‘who you truly are’, ‘what you love’, ‘what you’re good at’, and ‘what you’re meant to do with your life’.

BUT, if you embrace the Feminine power of “GOING DEEP” (and allow yourself the time and space for regular, deep self-reflection and introspection), you’ll start to notice that much of what you thought you knew about yourself just isn’t true!

Once you understand that many of your so-called dreams and gifts aren’t coming from deep within your soul, but superficially from your mind (implanted by family or society long ago), you start to search deeply for who you truly are. And slowly, you start discovering your true self, your gifts, and your purpose!

#2 You’ll go beyond surface-level learning and INTEGRATE EXPERIENCE INTO DEEP WISDOM & MASTERY

When you live primarily in your Masculine energy of “superficial learning”, you tend to chronically collect and CONSUME INFORMATION. Addicted to intellectual learning, you take course after course, or read book after book, attempting to prove your mental smarts (only to forget what you consumed OR constantly feel like a ‘jack of all trades’ & master of none).

BUT, when you embrace your Feminine power to “GO DEEP”, you give yourself time to INTEGRATE and IMPLEMENT the mental knowledge you collect. And thus your intellectual knowledge mixes with real-life experience, and becomes DEEP EMBODIED WISDOM!

Most of us don’t need more information, but need A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING of the information we’ve collected. So rather than looking to accumulate and memorize more and more surface information, slow down and deepen your understanding of the what you’ve already gathered (through integration, implementation, experience, and embodiment).

And you’ll discover that instead of feeling like a jack-of-all trades (lacking in adeptness and expertise) you’ll start feeling more and more like an empowered master of the things you’re passionate about! And, you’ll start to see how your experiences deeply connect with your gifts and purpose in this life (so you can live with more purpose & soul-aligned success)!

#3 You’ll gain deep INSIGHT INTO THE ROOT CAUSES OF YOUR SUFFERING (and deeply heal them)

When you’re stuck in the Masculine “surface-level” living, you have a tendency to focus solely on managing the superficial symptoms of disharmony that arise in any area of your life (health, work, relationships, etc.).

You start to feel like you’re constantly putting out the same metaphorical ‘fires’ (or putting ‘band-aids’ over the same symptoms), over and over again, without any deep, systemic, long-term change (sort of like Bill Murray in the movie “Groundhog Day”!).

But when you embrace your Feminine power to “GO DEEP” (with introspection and reflection), you start to recognize symptoms as simply the tip of the iceberg of disharmony. And, you start to UNCOVER THE DEEPER WOUNDS, belief patterns, and behavior habits that need to be tended to for TRUE & DEEP HEALING to occur!

And when you do that, you stop having to deal with the chronic stressful symptoms of disharmony because you’ve healed them at the root. And not only does this lead to lasting transformation (in work, health, love etc.), you also stop passing those same deep wounds on to your children and other loved ones (and model how to create true, deep healing for them)!

And now, I’ll leave you with a quote from my favorite wisdom book, “The I Ching”, which beautifully embodies this feminine power of “going deep”.

“Cleverness and learning have their place. But ultimately the presence of deep insight [and understanding] rise above all else. It is only when we reach the deepest meaning… that we can properly render a judgement [and use it to create healing and change at the deepest level].”¹

✍️If you’ve read this far (and crave any of the above benefits), take a moment to integrate the information you just consumed by reflecting on where you can bring more of this feminine power of “GOING DEEP” into your own life right now.

✨And stay tuned for the final PART 3 of the “REAWAKENING YOUR FEMININE POWERS” series…Your Ultimate Feminine Superpower!!… coming soon. (and while you wait, you can catch up with PART 1 here)✨

Want to get each part of the series delivered right to your inbox when it’s ready? Sign up for my newsletter below👇!

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footnotes:

¹ Deng Ming-Dao, The Living I Ching: Using Ancient Chinese Wisdom to Shape Your Life

Reawakening Your Feminine Powers: Part 1 {SLOWING DOWN}

As we move farther into the dark half of the year (Autumn and Winter), this is the perfect time to contemplate the balance between your own inner "dark" (Divine Feminine) energies and inner "light" (Divine Masculine) energies.

The Divine Feminine (aka. yin) and Divine Masculine (aka. yang) are the two most elemental powers that course through our bodies and move us through our lives each and every day.

And in my years of studying Chinese Medicine, I learned that flow & health can only exist when the two energies of yin and yang are in a state of RELATIVE BALANCE.

And when they drift too far out of balance, stagnation and dis-ease ALWAYS result.

**here’s 👆a chart I created to help you better understand what Yang vs Yin energies feel and look like in your life (this is by no means an exhaustive list).

Because we live in a excessively yang (and patriarchal) culture, we’ve been taught that it’s better to rely solely on our masculine powers to move through life each day (and neglect our feminine powers). This creates massive disharmony, with very real and often debilitating consequences for us (mentally, spiritually, and physically)… as well as causing harm to the collective and planet.

And so my intention over the next few weeks, with this “REAWAKENING YOUR FEMININE POWERS” blog series, is to help you:

• see how your over-reliance on your masculine powers is actually causing harm.

• and, reconnect with your feminine powers so you can create a healthier yin-yang balance, to experience greater peace, flow, and soul-aligned success in your life (without overwhelm, burn-out, or sacrificing happiness)!

Today, we’ll begin by talking about your feminine power of SLOWNESS….

PART 1: Reawakening your Feminine Power of SLOWNESS

One of the most important feminine powers that we neglect is our power of SLOWNESS. Society doesn’t value “slowness”, and has convinced us that the opposing masculine power of SPEED (or “fastness”) is better.

“Faster is always better”, right?!

WRONG. The yang power of “fastness” definitely has its place. In fact it works really well for emergency situations where your physical safety may be in danger. Take too long to make a decision or take action, and you could be harmed! And so in this case, the power of speed is very important in potential survival situations.

The problem is, because we place so much value on doing things quickly, we never stop to ask ourselves if sometimes slower might be better.

Here are some signs that you may be placing too much value on the masculine (yang) power of “fastness”:

• a constant sense of URGENCY (ie. feeling guilt if you don’t respond to non-emergency texts/emails immediately, or expecting others to respond to you right away; placing unrealistic deadlines on projects or decisions, and then feeling stressed/rushed; having a never ending to-do list, because everything feels like an urgent priority; etc.)

• a constant sense of SCARCITY (ie. never feeling like you have enough time; always feeling behind or ashamed that you’re not farther along in life; feeling bad that you don’t have enough of something in your life, even when you do; etc.)

• constantly SACRIFICING PLEASURE for speed (ie. feeling like you have too much to do to slow down and enjoy life; or, when you do make time for fun/pleasure you’re too tired or distracted to enjoy it; etc.)

If you resonate with any of the yang-excess symptoms above👆, then one powerful antidote is to ☯REAWAKEN YOUR FEMININE POWER OF “SLOWNESS”¹.☯

This reawakening starts first by you entertaining the possibility that since, on some level, we are all culturally brainwashed to think “faster is better”, then there’s a good chance that you’ve greatly neglected your own sacred power of “slowness” over the years. Right??

And, if you resonate with any of those signs of imbalance above, doesn’t it also stand to reason that starting to experiment with using your “slow power” could be one simple way to create more balance and greater peace, flow, and healing in your life?

Do not underestimate the simple power of “slowness”!

Here are 3 tangible and life-changing ways you benefit from tapping into your feminine power of slowness!

#1 YOU FEEL MORE JOY, PLEASURE, & CONNECTION to loved ones

So many people I speak to feel like they are constantly rushing and striving, and not slowing down enough to actually s a v o r their “fun” time, or truly c-o-n-n-e-c-t with their loved ones when they’re with them.

In other words, you’re running through life, trying to get to some imaginary finish line before giving yourself permission to s l o w d o w n and experience the pleasure and joy along the way! One major lesson that came from the last year is that life is unpredictable and fragile. And so if you’re not actually making a point to truly enjoy moments in life, then what’s the point of all the hustle anyway?

Also, when your yin power of “slowness” is activated (and the hustle and busyness is turned off), you enhance your creativity, passion, inspiration, and intuition… all qualities that directly impact your ability to create more soul-aligned success, faster!.

#2 YOU CREATE LASTING & SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS

When you’re addicted to “fastness”, you’re attracted to quick fixes and promises of overnight success. And while these “fast solutions” may get you results, the results are superficial and short-lived.

This can look like the “yo-yo success” where you seem to create success, it feels incredibly hard and exhausting to maintain, and so you don’t sustain the results (over and over again). Or, it can look like success that is wrapped in massive unworthiness and shame, also making it unsustainable and short-lived.

When you instead give yourself permission to embrace the feminine power of slowness, you stop looking for the “too good to be true” snake-oil, quick-fixes, and you stop idolizing people who tout overnight success.

And, you start seeking more sustainable, long term healing paths (and the experts who are honest about how long it actually took to create their big changes/ successes).

Plus, you work to build a healthy ecosystem (by addressing your beliefs, mindsets, emotions, behavioral habits, and support community) that can sustain, lasting and joyful success!

#3 YOU MAKE MORE CONFIDENT & ALIGNED DECISIONS

When we’re stuck in that “faster is better” mindset (or worse, when we allow someone else to rush us), we don’t honor the time and space we need to make an aligned choice.

Rushed decisions so very often lead to regret. Regret that could have been avoided had you just slowed down and taken the time you you needed to analyze your options and connect to your intuition, until you felt confident about your decision.

The truth is, we each have our own process for making decisions, and the amount of time we need for an empowered decision varies. As an HSP (highly sensitive person), I’ve found that I often need more time than others to make a confident decision (and so I’ve found my own “confident decision-making process” and have learned to advocate for the time and space I need).

Taking a little longer to make an empowered decision, will almost always save you time, energy, money, and stress in the long run!

And now, I’ll leave you with a quote from my favorite wisdom book, “The I Ching”, which beautifully summarizes this feminine power of “slowness”.

“Work that has taken place gradually is not easily undone. Whenever we find ourselves impatient that advancement seems slow, we should take comfort in this fact. We must persevere and build our momentum slowly. Then when we are ready, we can show ourselves in our fullness. Others will be awed because we have built ourselves carefully. Anyone can begin the work, but few can last to someday rise up grand and unopposed.”²

✍️If you’ve read this far (and crave any of the above benefits), take a moment to integrate the information you just consumed by reflecting on where you can bring more of this feminine power of “slowness” into your own life right now.

✨Here are a few ideas for inspiration:

1. let yourself spend time indulging in something you love, even if it doesn’t relate to your goals (hobbies are so underrated!).

2. drink your morning cup of tea or coffee s l o w l y, savoring the taste, smell, and warmth as is flows from your mouth to your stomach.

3. recognize when you feel rushed or pressured to make a decision, and ask for the time and space you need (or if you’re not sure what you need, start to discover your own empowered decision-making process!).

4. think of one area in your life where you’re rushing growth and success, and beating yourself up for not being farther along (or somewhere you get “yo-yo success”). **Remember, anyone who created “too good to be true” success is likely either bending the truth, or didn’t do it sustainably. ❓Ask yourself, “how would things look or feel differently if I took the timeline for success away, and allowed myself to fall into a slow, and steady growth process? ❓What would I be doing differently now?”

✨Stay tuned for PART 2 of the “REAWAKENING YOUR FEMININE POWERS” series, coming soon!✨

Want to get each part of the series delivered right to your inbox when it’s ready? Sign up for my newsletter below👇!

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footnotes:

¹It’s important to acknowledge that the systems built out of an excessively yang (patriarchal) culture, make it challenging for many people to truly embrace the level of “slowing down” that your body, mind, and soul need. And, your level of privilege will impact how much you can “slow down” without it negatively impacted your livelihood. So while it is super important to reawaken our inner feminine power of “slowness”, the ultimate goal must be to work to dismantle these systems of oppression, until we can all embrace a healthy balance of “slowing down” without sacrificing our livelihoods.

3 Questions to Ask yourself this August to Ensure you Manifest that Big Vision Board Dream This Year!

Harvest Season has officially arrived! And an argument could be made that, in terms of “Manifestation”, the next three months are the most critical of the year!

Here’s why…

Between August and November many Pagans celebrate three harvest festivals, which mark a time when the seeds planted in Spring are reaching full fruition and ready to be harvested for food. The first of these festivals called Lughnasadh, is celebrated on August 1st primarily as a grain festival (and is sometimes called the “Sabbat of First Fruits”).¹ (if you’re curious, the other two harvest festivals are Mabon on September 22nd and Samhain on October 31st).

To make sure that you too have a successful harvest and bring your yearly “idea seeds” to full, tangible fruition (rather than leaving them in the world of your dreams and “new year resolutions”), you can look to Mother Earth’s growth cycle for manifestation wisdom.

Harvest Season reminds you that if you set annual intentions and resolutions for change at the beginning of the year, between August and November you should be seeing some real, tangible signs that your desire is indeed manifesting.

And if you don’t start to see some form of physical change or manifestation in your life during Harvest Season, you’ve got to get really honest with yourself and figure how you’re blocking your seeds of desire from growing to full fruition.

Normally during Harvest Season, Summer’s fiery, yang energy will fuel you to take more consistent and persistent action to physically create your greatest desire (or desired change) for the year! And between August and November you’ll experience the impacts of change and manifestation in your life, little by little.

But manifestation doesn’t always happen, if you don’t know how (or aren’t equipped) to do the intense Summer manifestation work.

Over the years I’ve noticed 3 main ways manifestation during Harvest Season can unfold for people (#3 is what we’re aiming for!):

1. You get stuck in fear, doubt, resistance, boredom, or the busyness of Summer and can’t seem to focus and show up to take consistent, persistent action towards creating your greatest desire for the year! The next thing you know, it’s December and you’re feeling guilty that the biggest dream on your vision board never quite came to life this year.

2. You use all your will-power and energy to painstakingly manifest your desire (or create the change you wanted). But afterwards you feel burnt out and discover that the change you created doesn’t last, because it wasn’t rooted in sustainable mental and behavioral habit change! (ie. you work really hard to lose 30 pounds only to gain it back shortly after; you manifest a great partner, only to sabotage the relationship months later; etc.).

3. Summer’s fire energy fuels you to take more consistent and persistent action, you laser focus that action, and you tangibly MANIFEST and MAINTAIN your greatest desire (or desired change) for the year! (**and you work to maintain the change in the following months and years, by solidifying your new, aligned mental and behavioral patterns).

As a sensitive, introvert, and empath (prone to anxiety), I tend to live in the world of my mind, imagination, and dreams. I’m highly creative and great at visioning the changes and creative projects I want to birth in my life and the world! And yet I’ve often struggled committing to one thing AND focusing my energy to take consistent, persistent action towards tangibly manifesting that one thing, during the second half of the year.

And so, for years I mostly tended towards manifestation scenario #1 above (with scenario #2 showing up when I got frustrated enough to force myself into action!). And many of my community members and clients find themselves falling into similar patterns this time of year.

So as August initiates us into this year’s three month Harvest season, it’s time to make sure your own 2021 dreams and ‘desired change’ seeds, have a fighting chance to come to full blown fruition and TANGIBLE MANIFESTATION in your life this year! Rather than living another year solely in your imagination and vision board.

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Here are 3 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF THIS AUGUST, to ensure that you tangibly manifest your biggest desire this year!

QUESTION #1: What is my ONE GREATEST DESIRE that I want to tangibly manifest by November this year?

Summer’s energy is full of potential growth power, ready to be focused for some massive manifestation work. Manifestation takes FOCUS, COMMITMENT, and consistent, persistent ACTION.

And so this first harvest festival of Lughnasadh asks you to CHOOSE ONE desire (or desired change) to laser focus on and commit to, while you shelf the other dozen ideas, projects, and desired changes you’re giving energy to… at least for the next few months of Harvest Season!

Trying to manifest or change every single thing on your vision board at once is a sure way to manifest nothing fully!

Also, while it’s great to stretch yourself, be sure to keep the one desire you do choose relatively realistic.

So, what big desire can you realistically bring to fruition, over the next 3-4 months, with focus and hard work (while also honoring the amount of time and energy you’re willing to devote to growing that desire now)?

QUESTION #2: What are 3 TANGIBLE SIGNS that my desire is actually manifesting from idea into physical form?

Remember, if you set annual intentions and resolutions for change at the beginning of the year, between August and November you should be seeing some real, tangible signs that your desire is indeed manifesting.

So how will you know your desire is actually manifesting? What are the tangible micro-changes you’ll experience on your way to fully creating that desire? How will you know you’re taking the right actions and getting closer (versus staying stuck in the same old behaviors and mindsets)?

Again, be realistic here. If you take your realistic desire from above and showed up as consistently and persistently as you can to create it over the next three months, what are three sign-posts you expect to see on your way to full manifestation?

QUESTION #3: What is one NEW, ALIGNED IMPACT ACTION that I can commit to doing this month to manifest my desire?

If you want something different, you must DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT. And so if you haven’t yet fully manifested your big desire or change for the year, now is the time to get clear on what the best new action(s) are that will help you close the gap between who you are and who you need to become to manifest that desire.

And then, TAKE THOSE NEW ACTIONS, consistently and persistently until you see the changes start to unfold.

Note that these aren’t just any old actions you can think of. The best actions are what I call “IMPACT ACTIONS”. A few simple, focused actions that will create the greatest impact in your manifestation journey (without creating overwhelm or burn-out).

I love to use an oracle system like the I Ching to get myself and clients clarity on our new impact actions. Then focus on a one new action at each new moon, during harvest season. And then, spend the rest of the monthly moon cycle refining and strengthening that action into a habit!

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Want to know how ✨Mindfulness + Intuitive Transformational Coaching✨ can help you do this life-changing work now? Apply for a free Discovery Session below!

✨Request a free Transformational Coaching Discovery Session Here✨

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¹ Edain McCoy, The Sabbats: A New Approach to Living the Old Ways, Llewellyn Publications, 1994.

How to 'Do Better', once you 'Know Better'.

As we leave the first Eclipse Season of the year and enter Summer, the energies shift drastically! And as these new energies sweep in, they’re asking us to show up very differently than we did in Spring.

To help guide us, I asked my favorite oracle system (the I Ching) how to best align with the new energies, during this first month of Summer. And she answered with the hexagram* of “SMOTHERED LIGHT”. (*like the cards of a tarot deck, ‘hexagrams’ are the language and wisdom of the I Ching!)

To really understand the energy of July, the “Smothered Light” hexagram gives us the image of earth, over fire.

Imagine you’ve just lit a bonfire and begin to add wood (which is a form of earth) to help it grow. If you just throw a bunch of wood on the new fire, mindlessly, you run the risk of smothering it, rather then helping it grow. But, if you MINDFULLY place the wood in the fire with intention, you fuel the new flames and they grow bigger and stronger!

In the image above:

• THE FIRE🔥represents your own inner light, clarity, insight, and empowered truth that has emerged (and grown exponentially) during the May-June eclipse season.

• and THE WOOD represents the “initiation situations” you’ll encounter (or perhaps are already encountering) this month, that will help initiate you into the newer more aligned version of YOU, that is ready to show up fully this year. (more on this below)

Let me explain this a bit more. The 6 week Spring Eclipse season, that just ended, was especially important in helping bring you massive inner breakthrough, insight, and empowerment around what you deeply desire this year + what’s truly been blocking you from creating it (as long as you did some inner healing work during Eclipse season).

But while the inner breakthroughs of Eclipse Season may feel really powerful, it’s important to remember that BREAKTHROUGHS ON THEIR OWN, DON’T GUARANTEE MANIFESTATION or tangible change in your life!

So if you’re serious about bringing those desires on your 2021 vision board to life this year, now’s the time to roll up your sleeves and fuel the flames of your new-found inner breakthroughs into outer transformation, by taking strategic and intentional ACTION this Summer!

And because the Universe is always helping us co-create our soul desires, she will start to give you some very synchronistic “INITIATION SITUATIONS” this month!

These “initiation situations” are circumstances that feel challenging, but that turn out to be the perfect opportunities to get some real time practice, releasing the mental and behavioral blocks you discovered during Eclipse Season, and then practice showing up as the new, more aligned version of YOU (who can easily manifest your 2021 desires)!

Here’s an example of an “Initiation Situation” playing out…

Let’s say you really want to to create deep self-love and confidence, so that you can manifest a healthy partnership this year. And Eclipse Season helped you discover that one of the biggest things blocking you from cultivating that deep self-love and confidence right now, is your lack of setting and honoring boundaries in your relationships.

And so sometime this month, you may find yourself confronted with a situation in which someone close to you really tests your boundaries! And, you’re forced to TAKE ACTION to either practice the new, more empowered (yet still awkward) “conscious boundary setting” habit… OR choose to revert back to your old pattern of self-betrayal, which then perpetuates your lack of self-love and confidence.

The most important thing to remember about these “INITIATION SITUATIONS” is that, while they may seem like they’re threatening to smother the light of your newly found clarity, truth, and power… in reality, THEY’RE HERE TO MORE FULLY INITIATE YOU into the person you need to become, to manifest your greatest desires before the end of the year!

If there was a quote that summed up the energy of this month it would be this one by Maya Angelou…

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

— Maya Angelou

For the first 6 months of the year (and pre-eclipse season), you did the best you could with the level of awareness that you had.

But, now as you exit Eclipse season and move into the second half of the year, IT’S TIME TO DO BETTER, with all your Eclipse season clarity, breakthroughs, and new knowing!

And to help you “do better, now that you know better”, here are 3 steps to take this month, to ensure that you actually create the tangible changes you crave in your life (and the world) this year!

STEP #1: INTEGRATE YOUR ECLIPSE SEASON BREAKTHROUGHS

I wrote all about this in last month’s oracle reading here. But I’m repeating it, because taking time to REFLECT on and DIGEST all the synchronicities, breakthroughs, and lessons from the pre-Summer Eclipse season is key to how much you transform, heal, and manifest in your life over the final 6 months of the year!

And so if you haven’t yet taken time to process and integrate your Eclipse Season lessons from last month, grab your journal and some tea, and REFLECT ON THESE 3 THINGS ASAP!

STEP #2: LOOK FOR YOUR “INITIATION SITUATIONS”

Once you integrate all of your Eclipse season breakthroughs, your inner awareness and wisdom is different than it was just a month ago. In other words, you now know better! And as Maya Angelou says, “When you know better, do better”!

And so, it’s now time to start SHOWING UP DIFFERENTLY in your outer ACTIONS!

To help you do this, the Universe will often deliver you “Initiation Situations”. These situations may feel oppressive and threaten to smother the light of all your new-found clarity, wisdom, and power.

But when you STAY MINDFUL and navigate them with INTENTION, you’ll see that they are actually perfect opportunities to more fully INITIATE YOU into the person you need to become (mentally & behaviorally), to manifest your greatest desires this year!

Without these initiation situations this month, you might not get to practice showing up as the NEW YOU, release the old patterns, and really anchor all your new inner breakthroughs into tangible change!

STEP #3: SHOW UP AS THE NEW, EMPOWERED YOU

So when you find yourself in the midst of an “Initiation Situation” this month, it’s so important to STAY MINDFUL and remember that you’ll have two choices:

1. the choice to show up differently, with the new more empowered mindsets and behaviors, that you discovered over Eclipse Season (that may still feel awkward, vulnerable, and scary to try out!).

2. OR, the choice to go back to your old mindsets and behaviors that you now know are no longer serving you and the changes you want this year (but also still feel so familiar, safe, and easy!).

And, if you find yourself reverting back to your old patterns at first don’t worry! This is actually a super normal part of the transformation process.

The good news is that you’ll get multiple “initiation situations” to show up as the “new, empowered YOU” this Summer! Just keep staying mindful and keep practicing “doing better, now that you know better!”.

Because the more you “do better” (even just a little!) and choose the new ways, the more you’ll strengthen those more empowered mindsets and behaviors (and release the old ones)! AND the greater chance you have of choosing the new again, and again, and again.

And, THAT 👆 is exactly how you turn your inner Eclipse breakthroughs into outer transformations this Summer! And, that is how you change your life!

If you want to talk about how ✨Mindfulness + Intuitive Transformational Coaching✨ can help you do this life-changing work now, apply for a free Discovery Session below!

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3 Things you Must Do to Integrate all Your Eclipse Season Lessons Now!

Woohoo! The first Eclipse Season of the year is over (almost 😁!!). And now that the chaos of the past month is starting to settle, you’ve got some super important work to do, to make sure you extract and integrate all the healing and wisdom you were meant to receive, during the extremely transformational season!

I know this past month of Eclipses has felt long and intense for so many of us (whether you were consciously working with the eclipse energies or not). We came face to face with our biggest fears and emotional triggers... relationships went through massive shake ups (and maybe even endings)... and some of our big goals for 2021, seem to transform overnight!

And as the intensity of the season starts to die down, and life begins to re-stabilize, the tendency is to want to just move on from it all, dive into something new, and enjoy the Summer, without looking back!

But I caution you against being too quick and eager to just move on from Eclipse season now….

Because, one of the biggest ways we rob ourselves of healing, growth, and transformation is by jumping from one cycle to another in our lives, WITHOUT TAKING TIME TO REFLECT BACK ON THE PREVIOUS JOURNEY & INTEGRATE ALL THE LESSONS!

Just as farmers take time to harvest their crops, enjoy the fruits of their labor, and clear the fields at the end up the growing season… we too must take time now to HARVEST our own “fruits” and lessons from Eclipse Season, before beginning anything new.

When you skip the work of “reflection” and “integration” (and dive immediately into something new), you end up:

✔️AT BEST, missing opportunities for healing and growth, only to have to repeat them later. While also limiting how quickly and easefully you can manifest and create changes in your life.

✔️And AT WORST, totally misinterpreting the lessons and wisdom, and walking away from Eclipse season with even more non-serving stories, patterns, and wounding.

Now, you may find yourself wondering, “So, how does one go about doing this work of harvesting and integration? 🤔”

I’m glad you asked!

Here are 3 STEPS TO HARVEST AND INTEGRATE LESSONS, after every single Eclipse Season (or at the end of any relationship, project, or experience).

1. CELEBRATE🎉

We have a tendency to obsess over our mistakes and how much further we must go to get to some ideal version of success. Meanwhile, we completely neglect to acknowledge and celebrate the hard work and progress we have made!

When you DON’T pause to celebrate all of your hard work and progress (no matter how insignificant it seems), you find yourself in a perpetual state of “not enough-ness”. It also creates a false sense that you’re in a never-ending race with no finish line… which is exhausting!!

When you DO take the time to consistently pause to celebrate and feel proud of yourself for your hard work and wins, your confidence, self-love, and energy levels start to skyrocket!!

2. SEPARATE THE WHEAT FROM CHAFF🌾

In order to harvest wheat and make it digestible, you must first separate the edible part of the plant (the wheat), from the inedible part (the chaff).

Similarly in your own harvest work, after celebrating the things that feel easy to celebrate, it’s important to also acknowledge and honor anything you feel was a “mistake”, “failure”, or didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to (the chaff).

And then, separate out the attached wisdom and lesson in that “mistake” (the wheat). Remember, there are no failures in life… only experience and feedback! SKIP THIS step, and you miss out on lessons, only to have to repeat them again and again, until you finally digest them!

DO THIS step, and you’ll learn, grow, and successfully manifest quicker than ever before!

3. FORGIVE💛

When I was a new life coach just starting to work with clients, I was shocked to see how much shame, guilt, and resentment everyone seemed to be carrying around as baggage, every single day of their lives! And I believe this is directly related to our struggle with forgiveness.

When you DON’T regularly practice forgiveness (towards yourself and others), you end up collecting shame, guilt, and resentment from every experience that doesn’t work out perfectly (which, let’s be honest, is most of them). And then you bring that heavy emotional baggage to every future relationship and experience, unconsciously sabotaging it with your unhealed shame, anger, and resentments.

When you DO consistently forgive, you release pent up shame, resentment, and anger before entering something new, which prevents you from poisoning new things, before they even have a chance to get off the ground!

And so in this post Eclipse season period, I lovingly urge you to first take some time to rest + recharge yourself (because Eclipse season has been 😳)…..

And then, roll up your sleeves and do the powerful work of REFLECTING on and DIGESTING all the synchronicities, breakthroughs, (and breakdowns!) from the past month. Because this INTEGRATION work is the key to how much you transform, heal, and manifest this year!

Want support harvesting and integrating your own Eclipse Season lessons now?!

Check out the ✨ECLIPSE BREAKTHROUGH INTEGRATION EXPERIENCE✨ which includes a ✔️workbook of powerful journaling questions, ✔️a personalized oracle reading, and ✔️a live community ritual, to help you reflect and integrate your greatest Eclipse lessons!✨

Equinox and Coronavirus Channeled Message

On the eve of this Spring Equinox, a time of the year where day and night (light and dark) are in perfect balance, I find myself contemplating the concept of BALANCE.

As I learned from years of studying Chinese Medicine and working with the ancient wisdom book and oracle, the I Ching, balance is literally the most important aspect of life. Our bodies are designed to naturally maintain a state of homeostasis (or balance), and when we get too far out of balance illness develops. And even mother earth is made up of intricately connected ecosystems that thrive when in balance, and get sick when out of balance (as we’ve been witnessing on our planet for years already).

And yet as a society, we don’t embrace or honor the true significance of balance. We take it for granted. At best, we see it as a lovely ideal that we just don’t have the luxury of, or at worst, as something that may actually hinder our success and happiness in life.

In fact we’ve grown so far away from valuing balance, that instead we seem to reward those who can push themselves the farthest out of balance while still functioning! Meanwhile, those who need more rest and self-care to function (ie. sensitives and empaths) are either shamed into feeling selfish and lazy, or punished by not being able to keep up with the expectations of society. Not to mention all the imbalances happening on a societal level, that I won’t even begin to get into here.

And as I sit here writing, self quarantined during this coronavirus outbreak, I can’t help but notice that this pandemic seems to be amplifying all the areas, in our personal lives and collectively, where we are in a state of dis-ease because the pendulum has swung too far and too long out of balance.

So what can we do now? How can we find our way back to balance and begin to heal and thrive personally and collectively?

I brought this question to my greatest teacher and oracle system, the I Ching. And it answered us with two hexagrams (hexagrams are the language of the I Ching).

“When flowing water meets with an obstacle in its path, a blockage in its journey, it PAUSES. It increases in strength, filling up in front of the obstacle and eventually spilling past it.”

-The I Ching Workbook, R.L. Wing

The coronavirus has presented us with such an OBSTACLE right now. Our lives have been blocked from moving forward as they’ve been, and many of us are frustrated, scared, and left feeling like we have very limited options open to us now.

For many, this can feel like a very challenging time. We can easily fall into panic and get stuck in “fight or flight” characterized by extreme anxiety, and lashing out in fear (ie. fighting over water and toilet paper). Or freezing up and numbing out with food, netflix, or (insert favorite distraction) waiting for the crisis to pass.

And yet, there is so much potential for this challenge to bring deeper balance, alignment, and change that our souls have been craving right now- IF we have the faith, courage, and skill to pause, lean into the chaos, and look for those healing opportunities (that are begging to be noticed right now).

As history has taught us, the chaos of this pandemic will eventually pass. But the level of growth and transformation we walk away with (personally and collectively), will depend on how much we can confront our personal challenges, fears, and discomfort right now, as this pandemic amplifies them for us to see and heal.

Our lives do not progress in spite of our difficulties, they progress as we confront them.

-The Living I Ching, Deng Ming-Dao

And so I ask you (aside from any normal fear that is directly related to this global pandemic) what deeper fears, anxieties, and imbalances has this time exacerbated in you? Money or scarcity fears? Loneliness fears? Something else?

My guess is that whatever deeper fear or issue is coming up most for you now, is something that was already present and wanting to be balanced and healed (but being ignored). I know this has absolutely been the case for me personally! And you can see this unfolding at a societal level as well.

And this brings us to the second hexagram the I Ching gave us. FEELING.

The changes that are necessary and ripe right now can only happen if we are willing to FEEL, and lean into our feelings.

No matter what difficulties are coming up for you now, the only way to heal them is to confront them. And in order to confront them, you must be able to skillfully sit with fear, anger and any other FEELINGS that are present.

What you resist persists. What you ignore grows more. But what you are willing to FEEL can heal, and go on to create great shifts in you and the world right now!

Ask yourself, what am I feeling right now? Fear, anxiety, anger, or something else?

What do you FEEL most called to lean into and shift personally or collectively right now?

And if you’re just stuck, frozen in fear and anxiety from the chaos around you, perhaps you’ve been meaning to focus on your mental and emotional health, but haven’t gotten around to making time for meditation, yoga, etc.

And so invite you to consider using this time as an opportunity to finally find tools to manage your mental and emotional health. Because without that, it will be very hard to shift from panic and fear into hope and opportunity. And it will be even harder to create any sort of meaningful change in your own life or the world around you when these times of crisis bring us the greatest opportunities for change!

If you want support with this, my Peace Practice program could be just what your soul is craving right now! The next round starts April 1st. Click here to read more about it.

2 Superpowers (You Already Possess) That Will Make You Unstoppable in 2019

You naturally possess two main powers, that when cultivated, become superpowers to creating a life of unlimited success and deep happiness.

Your first superpower is your MIND.

This is the part of you connected to your THINKING. Your mind is logical and has an uncanny capacity to analyze, rationalize, organize, and problem solve. That’s why I’m such an advocate for keeping your mind calm, healthy, and strengthening your mental focus muscle through meditation practice.

Your second superpower is your INTUITION.

This is the part of you that’s connected to your FEELINGS. It’s the part of you that can see meaning in the seemingly meaningless and unconnected parts of life. And the part of you that is always connected to spirit and keeps you feeling safe, supported, loved, and divinely guided.

Intuition rules true creativity and is always bringing you guidance and messages on how best to proceed in your life, in order to reach your full potential and purpose…..if only you would calm your mind enough to listen.

Our society has cultivated a rather unhealthy reliance on our powers of mental, linear thinking, to the detriment of causing many of us to lose touch with our innate power of intuition. Almost as if your powers of intuition are lying dormant (from years of disregard), just waiting to be reawakened.

At best, over relying on your MIND and neglecting your power of INTUITION will have you taking the extra long path to success and happiness. And at worst, neglecting your intuition could mean never truly tapping into your soul guidance system and therefore missing your potential for true happiness all together!

Once you fully awaken and strengthen your power of INTUITION and allow it to work in harmony with your mind, you will become unstoppable in life!!

But because of their seemingly dualistic natures, it often takes some effort and a bit of practice to get used to shifting from your “thinking mind” to your “feeling intuition”.

It’s time to Reawaken your Intuition Superpower.

As we move towards the Winter Solstice (on December 21st) and go deeper into the dark half of the year, there exists a beautiful energetic opportunity to reawaken and strengthen your superpower of INTUITION!

In a monthly ritual I host for my “Moon + Meditation” Group, I consulted with the I Ching (my favorite oracle system) to find out how I could best explain the intuition awakening process to you now.

And here’s the guidance the I Ching has for you now.

The secret to tapping into your superpower of intuition, lies in embodying two energies.

1. The energy of RECEPTIVITY

2. The energy of RELEASING

RECEPTIVITY

“The earth never denies anyone or anything. Whatever can no longer go on- whether it is a beam of light that has been traveling for millions of years, or whether it is a storm drenched and skittering bird- all are welcomed by the earth… To rest, to sprawl, to arrive without any judgment or rejection.”

— The Living I Ching, Deng Ming-Dao

Learning “Receptivity” asks you to emulate the earth which simply accepts all that finds their way to her, without judgement or rejection. The energy of “receiving” is a passive and feminine (yin) energy. It asks you to simply sit back and take in information through your 5 senses (like an antenna).

Learning the art of “receptivity”, that’s necessary for intuition, means being able to simply look, listen, smell, taste, touch (or feel) with childlike wonder- and without immediate judgement. In contrast, the mind’s superpower of thinking and analyzing, is a much more active and masculine (yang) energy.

And just like a mama earth nourishes her children, that feminine (passive) power of “receptivity” will often feel nourishing. On the other hand, the more masculine (active) power of of the mind, often feels more energetically draining.

Since our society prioritizes “thinking and doing” over simply “being and receiving”, most of us are way more comfortable in the active “thinking” mode. This means you may have to spend time consciously strengthening your “receptivity” muscle before you can experience your superpower of intuition fully.

Here’s one of my favorite practices to do so!

Receptivity Practice: The Mindful Walk

1. Carve out at least 20 minutes for a walk.

2. Start your walk by taking a few deep breaths and then allowing your attention to settle on your natural breathing.

3. Once you feel grounded, imagine your whole body is an antenna designed to receive information.

4. Then begin going through each of your senses, one by one, with the intention to simply receive whatever you can (without immediately judging or rejecting it). Give each one at least a few minutes of your full attention.

• Looking: “What objects, shapes, colors, textures, etc. do I see right now?”

• Hearing: “What sounds do I hear right now?”

• Smelling: “What scents do I smell right now?”

• Tasting: “What tastes do I taste right now?”

• Touching: “What physical sensations do I feel right now?” (wind on your body? the pressure of your feet touching the ground with each step? Or maybe you touch something around you-a tree, the ground, etc.)

• All senses together: see if you can walk, and focus on the sensation of your feet touching the ground. And then simply allow your attention to tune into anything your senses pick up on, in your present experience. The intention here is to really “notice what you’re noticing” as you walk.

• Overall Feelings: “How do I feel right now?” ; “What do I intuit right now?” (tune into any emotions, feelings, or messages you may be perceiving).

Remember to have fun with this! This is a practice that over time will help you cultivate your “receptivity” muscle and thus help you better use your superpower of intuition.

RELEASING

The second energy necessary to awakening your power of intuition is “Releasing”. As I said earlier, we are all born with the power of intuition. It’s your god given, sixth sense, so to speak.

This is so important to to really grasp! Many people think the power of intuition is something reserved only for an elite group of people….or that they have to go on some crazy, mystical journey to get it from somewhere (or someone) else. Not true!

The truth is, if you have trouble tapping into your Intuition Superpower, it’s not a matter of going out somewhere else to get it. It’s simply a matter of “RELEASING” the subconscious blocks you’ve put up to fully experiencing it!

The art of “Releasing” intuition blocks is the second energy the I Ching wants you to work with, to fully awaken your superpower of intuition.

Releasing Practice: Reframing your Intuition Beliefs

Here are some common intuition blocks that may be affecting you, along with some powerful reframes to help you release those blocks. Try these out, or come up with your own.

1. SELF-DOUBT: This can show up as not believing you are an intuitive being at all. Or constantly doubting the guidance you get. You may often wonder, “Am I just making this sh*t up?!”

   • Healing Reframe: I release any self-doubt that’s blocking my natural power of intuition. I AM an intuitive being! It is my birth right.

   • Healing Reframe: I allow myself to simply EXPERIMENT, PLAY, and HAVE FUN with my intuition, as I work to strengthen it.

2. CONTROL: This shows up as trying to force a specific message or guidance. You already know what you want to hear, so you only look for clues to support your theory (and block out all else).

   • Healing Reframe: I release my need for complete control. And I trust that the Divine/Universe/God can see more than my rational mind can comprehend, and is guiding me towards whatever is in my highest and best.

3. IMPATIENCE: This shows up as needing an answer now! Intuition and the Divine don’t work within the linear time constraints we’re used to living by. Truth and guidance comes in perfect Divine timing.

   • Healing Reframe: I release my need to know now. I surrender to Divine timing. And I trust I will know exactly what I need to know, when I need to know it.

4. DISTRACTION: This shows up as constant thinking and doing. When you’re always using that active power of the Mind, you’re never allowing yourself to get into that “receptive” space we talked about above. And thus you’ll never perceive the intuitive nudges that are right there, begging to be seen.

   • Healing Reframe: I release my addiction to constant doing. I trust in the healing power of receptivity. And I give myself permission to simply BE.

The key to “Releasing” is to uncover your specific intuition blocks, and then work directly to release them. Start with the blocks above that resonate, and then reflect to see if you have any other blocks keeping you from fully embracing your power of intuition. Again, have fun with this!

And remember, like most things, this is a journey.

Just reading and mentally learning about intuition isn’t enough to reawaken it. That’s just trying to use your mental powers to build your intuitive powers…which doesn’t work by the way.

You awaken and strengthen your intuition muscle by using it (like with the tools above). The more you use it, the stronger it gets, and the more confident and unstoppable you’ll feel in your life!!

Want more support awakening and strengthening your intuition?

The I Ching (in combination with some other simple tools) has been instrumental in my intuition and confidence journey over the years!

If you want to experience how an I Ching Session can help you awaken and strengthen your intuition too, check out my “I Ching Intuition Sessions” here!

Or if you have questions, you can contact me here.

Full Moon I Ching Wisdom {June 2017}

Full moons are always a potent time, ripe for bringing about great personal growth and transformation. They're also known for stirring up difficult emotions (as a way to help you see and release any blocks or non-serving patterns). And they're an especially powerful time to go deep within and gain insight to help propel yourself towards the creation of your deepest desires.

 My favorite tool to tap into the specific full moon energy each month is an oracle system called the I Ching. So here's what the I Ching has to say about how best to use this month's Full Moon energy to create the change you crave in your life!

After setting up my sacred space and grounding, I asked the I Ching,

"How can we use this potent Full Moon energy, to step more fully into our power, align more powerfully with our true-selves, and create our deepest soul desires and dreams that are ready to be manifest in this world now?".

(fyi: the I Ching speaks in a language called hexagrams)

And it answered us with Hexagram, #8 "JOINING".

As an introvert and sensitive, I have a huge tendency to isolate myself cozily in my home, especially when I feel stuck or when I'm experiencing the mental and emotional heaviness that can come along with growth. And I know a lot of you share these same tendencies!

The I Ching wants to remind us that while alone time is extremely powerful and necessary, so is leaving the cave and joining with others in community.

This is an especially powerful time to achieve your own transformation and dream manifestation, through the act of JOINING with others.

“Without joining two pieces of wood we would have neither furniture or houses. Without joining with others, it is impossible to build any great endeavor.”

— Deng Ming-Dao, The Living I Ching

So what exactly does "JOINING" mean for you? Well it's going to look differently for everyone. For me right now, it means saying "yes" more when my girlfriends invite me out (even when my introvert instincts react with excuses to go home and relax on the couch, lol). It means I push out of my shy shell to teach more, and I host more moon rituals to bring women together in spiritual community. And it also means I reach out more to connect with fellow female leaders, and I actively seek out opportunities to be interviewed by peers (I did a couple last month and they were fun!!).

"JOINING" for you may look very different depending on what you're working to heal or manifest right now in your life.

The key is to go within to uncover where you need to embody more of this "JOINING" energy in your own life now. For some of you, "JOINING" might simply be getting a cup of tea with a friend once a week, instead of isolating yourself at home because you're in a funk. Or it might be choosing to read or do work out of a coffee shop instead of from your home. For others, this could mean partnering up with someone on a project or enlisting other community leaders to help you get your work or gifts out in a bigger way. Or it could mean hiring a mentor or coach to help you reach some of your life or health goals.

FULL MOON REFLECTION PRACTICE:

Here's a simple reflection practice to help you uncover how the power of "JOINING" can help you step more fully into your power, align more powerfully with your true-self, and start to create your deepest soul desires during this full moon cycle.

1. Take a moment to ground yourself with some mindful breaths.
2. Think of somewhere you feel stuck in your life right now. Or you can think of something you deeply crave, but have had trouble manifesting.
3. Grab a journal if you'd like to write down what comes up for you. (I recommend this since writing can help you tap into that more intuitive, creative part of yourself).
4. Ask yourself "How can I invoke the power of JOINING now, to spark more flow with (insert stuck situation or desire)?" 
5. And then just allow whatever comes up to surface. Don't sensor or judge yourself. Simply allow everything to flow with curiosity. And have fun with it!

“Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.”

— Helen Keller

7 Steps to Consciously Create Your Dreams this Year

There are a lot of misinterpretations of this sort of woo woo concept of "manifestation" (I actually prefer the term conscious creation). In many cases, those who have only heard the term casually often think manifestation advocates are claiming that all you have to do is think about what you want hard enough and it will magically appear. Not quite.

I'd like to introduce you to my own interpretation of manifestation (aka. conscious creation). I see it less as simply getting what you want and more as a personal growth journey of becoming what you want. In my experience, the things I wanted most (more love and connection in my relationship, more money in my business, etc.) never ended up being the gold of the manifestation journey, but rather the motivation and fuel for it. And instead, the gold of manifestation has always been the self-discovery and personal growth that I was forced to undergo in order to manifest or create what I wanted.

If you want something and it manifests easily for you, wonderful!! But in order to manifest (create, attract, etc.) something that you're having a hard time manifesting, you've got to look deep within and see how you're blocking yourself from getting it or keeping it.

“Just because something comes easily, doesn’t mean you’ll be able to hold onto it, or that it’ll make you happy.”

I often think about those people who desire money and spend a lot of time and energy playing the lottery. You've probably heard the stories of them winning millions, only to lose it quickly and go into debt. And then they're no happier or better off than they were before they won. The point being, just because someone is able to manifest the money (love, etc.), does not mean they know how to maintain it, or that they'll be happier because of it.

You've really got to prepare yourself (from the inside out) to manifest and maintain your deepest desires. If your habitual beliefs, thoughts, and actions don't match what it takes to maintain your desires, you won't be able to maintain them. Just like those lotto winners that lose their money shortly after winning it. 

The 7 step process below is how you can not only manifest your deepest desires, but also prepare yourself to maintain them. Happy manifesting beauty!

1. KNOW WHAT YOU DESIRE

The first step to creation is to really take the time to dream into what you want.

“Everything is created twice, first in the mind [as an intention] and then in reality [as a physical manifestation].”

— Robin Sharma

The key here is to really imagine what it would be like to have what you want, and FEEL it as if it already exists. Think of this first step sort of as daydreaming or fantasizing. Your only job right now is to really allow yourself to feel and get excited about the WHAT.

One of the biggest blocks at this step, is being preoccupied with the HOW. Worrying about how you’re going to create what you want at this stage, will only serve to block you energetically from manifesting it.

TAKE ACTION:

1. Carve out at least 20 minutes to get still, calm your mind (try some mindful breathing), and really visualize what it is you truly want to manifest most right now. If you find yourself worrying about the how or fearing it’s impossible try this. Imagine you have a magic wand and anything is possible! What would you manifest then?

2. Have fun with this fantasy and visualize yourself as if you already have what you want. As you enjoy the fruits of your new manifestation, notice how you’re FEELING. Are you feeling confident, playful, at ease, purposeful, fulfilled, etc.? When you come back from that fantasy, write down your main feelings.

3. NOTE: The FEELINGS are key because in most cases what you think you desire will shift over time, but the feelings your soul is truly craving will remain the same- which means you've got a much better chance at getting what you truly want if you follow feelings vs. things.

4. Create a visual representation that will help you stay connected to your desired feelings, and keep it somewhere you’ll see it daily. I have a special table in my home where I set up an altar dedicated to what I’m currently working to manifest, and I stand in front of it to reconnect with my vision for a few moments each day (or at least a few times a week, when I feel like I start to doubt or fall off track). This “vision board” or desire altar, can be made up of words, pictures, or anything else that connects you to what it feels like to have what you desire.

2. RELEASE it, ASK for guidance, TRUST the process, and have PATIENCE

I’ve got some great news for you. 

When it comes to manifestation, you are not the sole creator of your life, but a co-creator with the universe (God, the divine, etc.).

Why is this great news? Well for one, you’re only human, so if you mistakenly ask for something that’s not in your highest and best, the universe can step in and help guide you to something more aligned. And secondly, sometimes you feel really stuck around how you’re going to get from where you are, to where you want to be (the how I mentioned above). In this case, the universe can step in and provide you with bread crumbs for you to follow towards manifesting your desires.

TAKE ACTION:

• RELEASE IT + ASK FOR GUIDANCE: This is about letting go/ surrendering your vision (from step 1 above) to the universe. This means you stop trying to force it into existence and stop trying to control every single aspect of the creation process. Because let’s face it, if you could easily will it into existence, you would already have it. As writer Paulo Coelho says,

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”.

So simply declare, “Universe, I want ____, and I want to feel _____. Please help me create that, by
giving me guidance and clues that I can interpret.” (or create your own statement
with a similar intention)

• TRUST THE PROCESS + HAVE PATIENCE: I know this is easier said than done, but again, it’s so important to trust the unfolding process and stop trying to force progress…especially if it doesn’t seem to be getting you anywhere. I’ve found that so much of my own growth, empowerment, and self-discovery have come from the experience of creating my desires (the manifestation process itself)….not from having whatever I want easily handed to me.

Ultimately manifestation is about personal growth and evolution, and this all takes time! If you try to rush it, or if you lose faith, you’ll slow the process down even more.

• AFFIRMATIONS are a simple yet powerful way to shift your mindset any time you fall into the low vibrational mindset of “it’s taking too long”, or you lose faith that the manifestation process is still unfolding at all. Try this one or make up your own: “I trust that everything is unfolding in divine timing and for my highest and best.”

3. Practice MINDFULNESS and maintain a HIGH VIBRATIONAL energetic state

Once you hand over your desire to the universe, in most cases it won’t just magically land on your lap. Remember, I said manifestation is a process to help you grow and discover yourself on a deeper level (so you can receive what you desire). Once you declare it and ask for help, the universe will give you clues to help you create what you want. The challenge is staying open and in a high vibrational state (hope, optimism, faith, etc) so you can see and act on these clues. If you’re stuck in low vibrational states (fear, doubt, desperation, etc) it’ll be very hard to recognize the clues and thus create your desires.

TAKE ACTION:

• As much as possible, stay grounded, open, and present so you can recognize clues. Practicing MINDFULNESS meditation daily will help you do this. Then, look for clues in the form of:

  1. SYNCHRONICITIES: meaningful coincidences that catch your attention and nudge you in a direction

  2. OPPORTUNITIES: things that excite, and possibly scare you. They can be random ideas that pop up or opportunities that seem to magically land on your lap. In many cases they're just slightly out of your comfort zone, but are ultimately going to help you grow and create your desire.

  3. CHALLENGES/ BLOCKS: any resistance or difficulty that arises as you work towards creating your desire. Contrary to how it may feel, these are actually opportunities also. They’re opportunities to learn a lesson and/or shed any limiting mindsets and behaviors that are blocking you from receiving your desires.

• And if you find yourself stuck in a low vibrational state (fear, doubt, loss of faith, desperation etc.), shift that shit!!

Remember, ultimately you have control over your mindset and energetic state.

If you slip into a lower, fear-based state…which is natural and will happen…notice it quickly and do something to shift it. Tools I use to shift my mindset are gratitude practice, affirmations, dance, getting outside in nature, acts of self-care, creating art,doing something fun, journaling, or even playing with oracles. Anything you can do to shift your perspective and find the faith, hope, and excitement again will work!

4. RELEASE BLOCKS

Blocks are simply a general term for anything that makes you feel stuck on your path to manifesting your desires. Basically, they occur when you’re resisting a lesson or any change that wants to take place for your highest and best (and for the manifestation process to unfold). Blocks can show up as:

• A challenging situation given to you by the universe to overcome in order to shape your character, help you grow, learn a lesson, or simply course correct.

Like school, life is trying to prepare you for what's to come (your purpose). And in many cases, lessons come through a bit of adversity.

• Emotional discomfort indicating that something within you is out of alignment and needs to be released. In many cases these are things you’re clinging to that are keeping you from receiving your desires. These “things” can be entire situations or relationships that drain you and keep you in an energetically low-vibe state (and distracted from creating your desires). Or they can be patterned mindsets and behaviors that you’ve adopted but no longer serve who you want to become or what you want to create in your life.

TAKE ACTION:

• First, simply acknowledge this block is not an attack from someone else or the universe, but actually an opportunity for you to grow. Many of us feel victimized by someone else or the universe when faced with an obstacle.

This victim mindset, where you blame others for your pain and misfortune, simply serves to disempower you from learning the lessons you’re meant to learn, and block you from creating the change you seek.

Instead, anytime you feel blocked and like a powerless victim of your circumstances, repeat this affirmation (or create your own). “All of my obstacles are opportunities. As I rise to meet these challenges that are a natural part of living, I awaken to my many undiscovered gifts, my inner power, and my purpose."

• Second, do some REFLECTION to gain insight into what this block is trying to tell you. My favorite reflection practices, to help me understand the opportunities in my obstacles, are: using oracles (like the I Ching), journaling, and meditating on simple questions like, “What does this make possible, that wasn’t possible before?; What do I need to learn in order to grow from this?; What do I need to release that’s holding me back from receiving what I desire? How am I creating my own suffering right now?”

• Finally, take action on the insight and release what needs to be released! As Picasso said,

“Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction”.

So in order to make space for what you want to create, you’ve got to destroy/ release/ let go of something(s). Remember, if you were ready to receive what you desired, you’d already have it. 

Releasing takes courage and the trust that something better is coming along!

• NOTE: Sometimes simply uncovering the cause of a block will allow it to release quickly, on it’s own. But in many cases the root of the block is a deeply ingrained thought or behavioral habit. And in this case, letting it go can be an ongoing process that takes time, patience, and perseverance. Think of it as peeling back the layers of an onion. You’ll keep doing it over, and over, and over again until you get that final layer off.

• A meditation tool I love to use for releasing is VISUALIZATION. I write down all the things I want to release and imagine throwing them into a big bonfire, one by one. Then I watch them burn as I feel them being released from my body. I also sometimes invoke the power of goddesses. Kali is a very powerful energy for letting go of things no longer serving you. There are lots of meditation tools to help with releasing, but ultimately it's all about your intention. If you need help with this, you know where to find me :)

5. ACT on OPPORTUNITIES, SYNCHRONICITIES, INSPIRED IDEAS, and JOY 

Challenges are one way the universe guides you towards the creation of your desires. Fortunately, once you put your intentions out to the universe, guidance can also come in more pleasant packages. Look for these pleasant packages in the form of:

• Exciting Opportunities: These are aligned opportunities that, after feeling stuck, seem to land on your lap as if by magic. If you set an intention and then something comes along that feels aligned with it, it’s a gift from the universe.

In many cases these new opportunities may feel a little scary. You may not feel ready for them. But growth is always just out of your comfort zone.

As they say, fortune favors the bold! So please don't waste an opportunity out of fear. Take action on it!

• Inspired Ideas: The universe can also work as a muse delivering you new and exciting ideas. Many great artists like Beethoven and Michelangelo refused to take credit for their works, instead saying they were divinely inspired. So notice what new ideas start to pop up for you, and take action on them!

• Synchronicities: These are what Carl Jung calls "meaningful coincidences". They're the coincidences that seem to catch your attention and gently nudge you in a specific direction. When you notice one, get curious and see where it leads you (aka. take action on it).

• Joy: Even if you don’t see obvious guidance, you can simply take it upon yourself to do things that bring you joy. Joy is always a great indicator you're headed in the right direction. Not to mention, joy is a high-vibrational state, which means you're much more likely to attract those other opportunities we discussed above.

So take a class, attend an event, create art, read that fiction book you’ve been saying you have no time for, visit a new coffee shop to work or read from, talk to that person that caught your attention at that event, etc.

It’s amazing how simply following the things that light you up, can lead you to your purpose and the creation of your deepest desires.

6. Have PATIENCE and ENJOY THE JOURNEY 

I know I’ve already mentioned patience in step #2, but it bears repeating. The only difference between success and failure is the ability to not give up. As Napolean Hill said,

“Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.”

Letting go of mediocrity in order to manifest your deepest soul desires, isn’t an easy journey. But it’s the most fulfilling journey for the human soul and will help shape you into the best most true version of yourself. Are you ready for this wild adventure?

7. Get SUPPORT

And finally, you don’t have to do it alone. Find a mentor, find community, get support. There are many people out there on their own journey of greatness. There’s a saying that you become like the 5 people you spend the most time with. I completely agree that the more you surround yourself with those who are also doing the work, the more empowered and inspired you’ll feel to push out of your comfort zone, and keep going too. Find these people, and keep them close!

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Full Moon I Ching Wisdom {September}

Full moons are always an energetically potent time, ripe for bringing about great transformation. They're also known for stirring up emotions, to help shine a light on your blocks, so you can release them and create more flow and alignment in your life.

This month, we've got a full moon and a lunar eclipse. So it's an especially powerful time to gain insight and more easily create any shifts you've been craving in your life! To assist us in utilizing this month's full moon energy to create shifts, I asked my favorite oracle and spiritual tool, the I Ching, what energies are most potent now, and how we can best use them. (fyi: the I Ching speaks in a language called hexagrams)

And it answered us with two Hexagrams, #16 "DELIGHT" and #17 "FOLLOWING".

I've noticed a trend with clients and friends I've spoken to lately. They've got a clear picture of what they want. They're visualizing it regularly and working really hard to achieve it. They're putting in long hours, saying no to things that hold them back, and being mindful to uncover any mental blocks that could stand in their way. They're doing the work, but something just feels off.

And when they take a moment to reflect, they realize that while they're more committed to their dream than ever, they're not actually having fun creating it.

They've forgotten a very important and fundamental truth. They've forgotten that enjoying the journey is is an important part of the life, because life is the journey...not the destination.

“You think that the goal is to be over there, and we say the goal is the journey over there. But the goal is the fun you have along the way, on your way over there.”

— Abraham-Hicks

Too often we think some goal will bring us the happiness we seek, only to get there and find we're still not happy.

So you're now reminded to come back to what truly DELIGHTS you. What was it about your original dream or goal that lit you up?

When you close your eyes and picture yourself in your dream scenario, what are the core feelings you notice?

Do you feel Free? Advnenturous? Connected? Loved? Ease? Joy? etc.

And when you think about your journey thus far to create your dream scenario, what are the core feelings you've been feeling? Do they match the feelings above? Or are they more in the realm of Stressed, Overwhelmed, Fearful, or Anxious?

The I Ching hexagram of Delight, reminds us that if we're waiting for the manifestation of our dream scenario to feel those desired feelings, we've got it all backwards. 

Instead, it's by working to cultivate those desired feelings on a daily basis, that we'll get to our dream scenario with more ease.

By doing things daily that create those desired feelings in you: 

• you'll enjoy the creation process (aka. your life) more,
• you'll be in a more open energetic state to receive guidance and synchronistic opportunities,
• AND you'll get "there" faster. Even if "there" doesn't look like how you originally imagined it would.

So get back to those desired feelings that truly DELIGHT you....on a deep soul level. For me it's adventure, freedom, and deep connection. I started this online spiritual business to connect on a deeper level with women, to create more freedom in my life so I could travel and feel adventurous. But after some time pushing forward, I realized I felt disconnected and confined sitting behind my computer working all day, and I felt bored and stale...not adventurous at all!!

Once I had that realization, I realized that I didn't have to wait until I could take regular trips to far off places to feel free and adventurous, nor did I have to wait until I was ready to lead women's groups in by business to feel deeply connected. If I chose to, I could create those feelings on a daily basis starting now!

Here's what I did, and what you can do during this full moon too.

1. Visualize your dream scenario and tap into what your main feelings are in it.
2. Grab pen and paper, and write down each feeling core feeling across the top of your paper (leaving space below each one to brainstorm).
3. Now, go one by one, and brainstorm things you can do now that would cultivate that feeling in you. Be creative and be open to different possibilities.

So for me it was a vision of me working my dream job as a spiritual mentor and traveling the world to teach and meet new people. This vision brought me feelings of adventure, freedom, and deep connection. While I'm not at my dream scenario yet and was starting to feel stale and disconnected as I worked to create that vision, I knew I could start creating those feelings right now regardless of my current outside circumstances.

To create feelings of adventure and freedom, I began scheduling myself an hour to take a walk every day. I'll drive my car to a new part of my neighborhood that I'd never been, park, and just start walking (after dropping a pin to mark my starting point on my phone!).

I love the feeling of taking in new houses, new smells, and even of getting lost after wandering for awhile. Here are some pics from my adventure today. I even discovered a creek a couple miles from my house!

Images by Brandi Grooms, brandigrooms.com

And to create the deep connection I'd been craving, I became a founding member of a new local women's networking group. I started working closely with other like-minded women to plan events and create a community of local high-vibe entrepreneurs.

It's been so much fun! And I'm now feeling that sense of  connection I craved on a daily basis!

If you stop pushing yourself kicking and screaming towards your goals, tap into those feelings that actually bring you delight, and allow them to guide you throughout your days, you'll find so much more ease, happiness, and success in your life. 

Give it a try and let me know how it goes in the comments below!

Full Moon I Ching Wisdom {August}

Full moons are always an energetically potent time, ripe for bringing about great transformation. They're also known for stirring up emotions, to help shine a light on your blocks, so you can release them and create more flow and alignment in your life.

To assist us in utilizing this month's full moon energy to our advantage, I asked my favorite oracle and spiritual tool, the I Ching, what energies are most potent now, and how we can best use them to create growth and change in our lives. (fyi: the I Ching speaks in a language called hexagrams)

The answer it gives us is Hexagram #61, "CONFIDENCE WITHIN".

Over the past few years of writing on this blog and working with clients, I've started to notice a unifying thread among those of you attracted to my work. Most of you crave personal growth and deep soul alignment. And even if you don't realize it yet, you're just not content settling for mediocrity in any area of your life. Sure, you may get stuck there from time to time out of fear or the need to feel safe....but eventually you hear your soul's longings to grow and finally seek out change.

This month's message from the I Ching is for you change seekers and personal growth junkies. Especially those of you currently hiding out in the safety of mediocrity. Like a snake shedding a skin that no longer fits, it is time to transform!

And one of the most critical traits needed for the path of transformation and achieving personal greatness is CONFIDENCE.

Not just any confidence, but that deep soul, confidence that grows through experience, wisdom, courage, and trust. The I Ching calls this, "CONFIDENCE WITHIN".

If you're serious about creating a life of deep fulfillment and becoming the best you can be, you've got to unlock that powerful quality of "confidence within". 

“We can not do anything of significance until we believe in ourselves. You have to know what you can do, you have to be confident in your core values, and you have to be willing to act. Then there is Confidence Within. Accomplishments create more confidence, and more confidence creates greater success.”

— The Living I Ching, Deng Ming-Dao

But how do you create confidence when you feel you don't quite have any yet?

This was a question I had not too long ago. I did google searches and bought books on "confidence" hoping to absorb some of that magical quality through the words on the pages. When that didn't work, I eventually realized that confidence was actually already within me.

Confidence is something we're born with that can lay dormant if we allow it to, through fear and hiding out in safe and mediocre circumstances for too long.

The path to awakening that dormant inner confidence is through ACTION. As the I Ching says, "Confidence increases when there is progress." 

THE POWER OF BABY STEPS

As a sensitive person who's struggled a lot with fear and anxiety, I realize that the idea of pushing out of your comfort zone to take action can cause even more fear and anxiety and stop you dead in your tracks.

So the key for me in awakening my confidence within, has been taking consistent baby steps over time. 

You don't have to transform your life overnight. For some of you, leaping off a giant cliff to create change may feel invigorating and exciting. But for others (like me), hopping off that stone may be all you can manage right now, and it's enough!

Any step outside of your comfort zone (no matter how small it may feel) will awaken more of your confidence within. With consistent baby steps your confidence will grow. And pretty soon you'll be hopping off boulders, and then eventually that cliff won't feel as scary!

TAKE ACTION (some questions to incorporate into your full moon ritual): 

• Where in my life am I allowing fear to keep me stuck in mediocrity? 
• Now visualize what you want instead. Ask yourself "If I had a magic wand and all the confidence in the world, what would be possible for me?" (don't forget to tap into the feelings of that picture)
• Now visualize a baby step you can take. Something just out of your comfort zone to feel like a stretch, but not too far out that it causes panic, contraction, and shut down.
• Visualize yourself doing it successfully with ease, confidence, and any other feeling you crave.
• NOW GO DO IT!! You've got this!

If you need help doing a full moon ritual then this free FULL MOON RITUAL GUIDE is perfect for you!

And if you're still feeling stuck and can't quite stir up the clarity and courage to take that baby step, check out my personalized I CHING CLARITY SESSIONS. That's exactly what they're designed for, and full moons are a powerful time to gain clarity anywhere in your life.

Full Moon I Ching Wisdom {July}

Full moons are always an energetically potent time, ripe for bringing about great transformation. They're also known for stirring up emotions, to help shine a light on your blocks, so you can release them and create more flow and alignment in your life.

To assist us in utilizing this month's full moon energy to our advantage, I asked my favorite oracle and spiritual tool, the I Ching, what energies are most potent now, and how we can best use them to create growth and change in our lives. (fyi: the I Ching speaks in a language called hexagrams)

The answer it gave us is Hexagram #16, "Delight" or "Enthusiasm".

A big part of what I teach is that obstacles and struggles are your greatest opportunities to find your way back to your true-self, your purpose, and your deepest fulfillment. But I'll be the first to admit that, while extremely powerful, using your obstacles and shadow parts for growth isn't often easy. And sometimes it starts to feel so heavy that you get burnt out doing the work.

This hexagram reminds us that there are other, lighter ways to evolve and grow into your best self (when you need a break from the heavy stuff).

Following your "Delight" or enthusiasm is another path towards your purpose, truth, and happiness.

“Proper enthusiasm opens every door.”

— I Ching (translation by Brian Browne Walker)

Simply start noticing what what lights you up. What delights you? What brings you joy? And then follow that path!

There's a small caveat to this method. The I Ching points out that there is a difference between "proper enthusiasm" and "improper enthusiasm".

Proper enthusiasm is cultivated from your soul, while improper enthusiasm is cultivated from your ego.

So the key to using your "Delight" to guide you back to your true-self, is through learning how to differentiate between your ego's enthusiasm and desires, and those of your soul. Ego delights will provide temporary feel good, while soul delights will bring deep and long-lasting fulfillment and happiness.

Separating guidance from the ego and soul isn't always easy. The ego is tricky and likes to disguise its messages as soul messages. But there is a way to learn how to tell the difference.

The best way to easily begin to differentiate between the ego's and soul's delights is through a regular meditation practice. 

When I'm meditating regularly, I feel more directly connected to my inner wise-woman who isn't fooled by the ego. She sees right through that bs! And when I neglect my practice, ego guidance starts to slip through and lead me astray.

Take Action: Play with letting your delight guide you this month. Notice when ego delight leads you off path, and when soul delight guides you back. And notice what helps you differentiate the two easier, so you can do more of that.

And if you've been wanting to start or become more consistent with your meditation practice, I invite you to participate in the new 12 Day Meditation Challenge. It's Free and it's happening right here in my "Meditate with Ease" Facebook community, starting July 21st!