A Simple Exercise to Reclaim Your Personal Power

What defines your personal power? You might best express and find your personal power in various activities, in your work environment, in social settings and/or through your sexuality or spirituality. Holding your personal power is about knowing what you want and knowing your worth. It’s about knowing what you like and don’t like and also about doing what you want, not necessarily what you think you ‘should’.  

How can you find your sense of power among the noise?

A client of mine has been wanting to find her sense of spiritual power in relationship with God/the Universe as she understands it. We talked about how there are many ways to communicate, especially in religion. There is spiritual text and praying and that’s about it, but ultimately there are so many other ways that we can engage and communicate with a higher power. What I have been exploring with my clients is determining what kind of communication will help them feel power, freedom and lightness.

Try this exercise – Grab a pen and spontaneously respond to this prompt.

If I had time or money, I would… [Fill in the blank].

You might come up with something like this: If I had time or money I would go dancing... If I had time or money I would make art… If I had time or money I would start my own company…. If I had time or money I would tell my boss to shove it. Among this list you will find something (usually the first thing) that will give you that sense of personal power.

I was chatting to a client who loved to dance but she kept saying that she has no time to dance. I asked her for her favorite song, found it and told her to dance her heart out for the next 1 minute and 30 seconds. In this short time she experienced her personal power. For this client dancing helped her to find her energetic flow and release that energy into and out of herself in order to find her power, let her hair down and claim who she is.

Yours might be picking up a book or sitting in nature, it doesn’t have to necessarily be as physical as dancing. What is it that you would do more of if you had the time or the money? How can you do this right now? My client believed that she had to go somewhere and dance, but the reality is that she could dance here, now and in this moment.  During her dance she experienced a sense of reconnection to her personal power in connection to her sexuality and her career. She released all of her blocks and was able to move forward and make quick decisions to create the life that she wants.

Try this exercise so that you can really step into your personal power and create the career that you want, take care of yourself and feel like you’re living your best authentic life! If you’re feeling skeptical or stuck, I have a few openings on my calendar for you to book a complimentary strategy session to see how I can help you break free and step into your personal power. Let’s figure this out! Book a session HERE.

Finding True Love with Joanne Sapers

Relationships are always a hot topic with my clients, so I decided to get the ins and outs of how Joanne Sapers helps women to find and keep true love. Joanne is a licensed spiritual practitioner, relationship expert and Founder of Go Deep with Love. Joanne guides those who are currently in a relationship or single. 

On the journey of finding true love, it is important to know that it is your inner self that you want to learn how to connect to. This can help you learn how to connect to your intuition and  trust your judgement.

Some people in relationships feel out of sorts, like they have lost themselves. Tossing and turning at 2 am about whether you still want to be in a relationship with someone is a very scary place to be. If you are in this space, it's important to get to your pain point in order to understand exactly where you're at. Through a process of forgiveness, visualization and limiting belief work, you can identify what it is that you want to believe now. Think about what you want your life to look like and how you want to feel inside.

If you feel that everything is your partner’s fault and not yours, a great question to ask yourself is 'Where are you losing yourself in the relationship?'. By asking yourself this, you can get back to who you really are and reconnect to your core values. From this space you'll be able to clearly look at and THEN see what’s going on with you and your partner.

“I had a client who was feeling overwhelmed by what her life looked like. She was so overwhelmed that she couldn’t get out of bed in the morning. When her partner tried to talk to her she would end up yelling and screaming but that’s not who she is, she just didn’t know how to navigate in a loving way within her relationship. The last thing that she wanted to do was spend time with her husband, yet now they have dates, they’ve gone on vacation, she looks forward to seeing him and they are best friends. So for her, I helped the two of them come back together. She did a lot of inner work on herself and is now in a very safe and secure space. The root of her issue was that she did a lot of self-work but she just couldn’t get there.  She needed someone to see her heart. We did a lot of heart talk where her heart and mine were talking to each other. This made her feel safe and know that she is worthy. I questioned what her relationship would look like if she felt worthy and what that would feel like”  – Joanne

Joanne has clients who show up with the fear of getting out a relationship and ending up alone. Scared that they’ll never meet the right person if they let their current partner go or if it can actually make it work. If this is you, positive tools can teach you how the subconscious mind works in relation to “What we believe, we become”. The freedom of understanding this helps people realize that they can change their beliefs.

“If things felt better, what would you love to feel? How would that be? What would that look like? How would all this effect other aspects of your life?”

- Joanne

If you are single and afraid to enter a relationship due to previous abuse and fear around what’s out there these days, learn how to trust again and most importantly feel it in your heart. With forgiveness work, you can begin to understand how previous abuse or betrayal happened in regards to the bigger picture. You'll also be able to open your heart and know that your heart is totally available for love to come through. Ultimately with these situations a lot of the forgiveness work is learning to forgive yourself.

If you have been single for a very long time,  the first step to getting back into the dating world is to feel good about who you are today.  Learning to trust your judgement and know who you are better prepares you for choosing the right one. Singles know how to love since they have, at various points in their life, expressed love in connection to friends, family, pets, etc.

“I help them expand this love to their true love”

– Joanne

Claim your FREE GIFT with Joanne Sapers, HERE.

It's not too late to catch my next Feeling Salty Workshop in New Jersey on the 17th of May! Figure out what you truly want while having fun doing it. Grab your ticket HERE! 

8 Things I Know For Sure

Spending time with my mentor, I was guided towards reflecting and pinpointing 8 things that I know for sure. Below, I share what I came up with. These gems serve as guiding posts towards living my most authentic self. You can try this exercise too!  It’s different for everyone. Come up with 5 – 10 things that you know for sure and use these in guiding your everyday life.

1. The Universe has my back! Yip! The only rule that the universe has for you is that you show up in your business, your relationships and with yourself. You can visualize in order to manifest but you have to take action too. Show up!

2. I need support in my journey. This support includes friends, coaches, therapists, etc. Seek Support!

3. Art and Creativity are life savers. It helps us get in touch with our soul and our creator. Create!

4. Flow – when you find flow, you experience the truest version of yourself, the version that you may have buried a long time ago. Unfortunately flow is one of the easiest things to forget. Life is quicksand with flow – if you don’t allow yourself to use it, you’ll have to uncover it again and again or sink to the bottom if you do not use it. Flow is life’s truest gift to us. Everybody has different ways of getting into flow – whether it’s through sports, art, dance, writing, meditation, etc. Find your Flow!

5. Your body is a beautiful, perfect vessel for your soul. Your body is a container for your soul and consciousness. We should be treating our body as if it is golden. What are you doing to take care of your body? What chemicals and substances are you pouring into your body, essentially pouring that into your soul? Your body is your temple!

6. Anger is a Road Map. Anger can show you what you want, where you need to go and what your boundaries are. If you closely examine the things in your life that make you angry, you will receive some very fruitful and useful information about yourself. Listen to Anger!

7. You have to take care of yourself. Changing your life in order to take care of yourself is one of the most important things that you can do. By making changes towards taking care of yourself, you may create a positive domino effect for others. Take care of yourself regularly, not just once in a while, so that you don’t have that breakdown or you don’t snap at your family or lose important people or situations in your life. Take Care!

8. We could all use a little therapy – even the therapists and caregivers! The person giving their gifts to the world and really holding space for others, where are you going for that emotional and psychological support? Learn to Receive!

I encourage you to go through this exercise yourself. List 5 – 10 things that you know for sure that are guidelines for what you stand for, what supports you in the healthiest ways and what focuses you in life. If any of these 8 things inspire you and you feel that you need support and creativity or you need guidance in pinpointing these 5-10 things, grab a FREE Complimentary Session with me to get you into the flow of finding your guiding posts.

Financial Wellness with Kristy Runzer

On a poll in my private Facebook group, The Career Revolution Community, I discovered that many of the members have one common goal: to figure out their finances. So I decided to speak with a former client of mine:  Kristy Runzer, founder of On Route Financial, about financial wellness. Kristy’s company focuses on Money Mindset work, Financial Planning & Coaching as well as Financial Education. These three components allow you to live a healthier financial life. 

Kristy has been a financial planner for 5 years and started her money mindset journey a few years ago. She was a financial planner who knew all of the skills and tools to create a financial plan for the future, but she still was not getting to her definition of success. Why? Because her negative money mindset was holding her back. Having a healthy money mindset (AKA allowing your mind to be in the right space to receive and maintain abundance) is the foundation towards financial wellness. The negative self-talk around money was self-sabotaging for Kristy. For Kristy, associating her money with her self-worth was a regular and unhealthy practice.

“My net worth and self-worth were one in the same. Basically, if I wasn’t hitting my financial goals in my business, if I wasn’t making enough money off sales…I felt like a failure and I would doubt myself”  –Kristy

The first step towards financial wellness is to recognize what is holding you back. You have an empty wallet, but what is the real issue? The wallet is the symptom, not the cause. Kristy advises that in order to identify the cause, start paying attention and notice why your wallet is empty. Do you just spend when you have money? No matter how much you make do you always feel like you do not have enough? Say you're one of those folks that always seems to be emptying out your wallet. The first step in determining your money mindset is to be present, as much as possible, in those moments. What is going on in your mind? What’s happening in your day? Are there events triggering you? Many people have tendencies to spend when they’re in an emotional state. I have a client who I had track her mood every day in conjunction with her spending patterns and we found some serious correlations between mood and spending (books were her guilty pleasure when she was feeling down)!

Kristy advises that when you’re on a spending spree the best self-care strategies are vast and dependent from person to person. You need to figure out what works for you. Some things you can explore are money stories. These are very insightful in understanding your beliefs and habits around money. We form beliefs and habits based on things that happened in our lives. Ask yourself, what messages did you hear about money growing up? What did you observe your family doing and saying about money? What messages do you receive from society and friends when it comes to money? Did you compare your family’s wealth to others around you? Some messages might have been: ‘Money doesn’t grow on trees’ OR ‘Rich people are greedy’ OR ‘I will only make money if I work hard’. What belief did you form because of these messages? It’s pivotal to understand what beliefs you formed and whether you actually believe them or not. You might not say that you believe these things, but you’re still acting like you do.

What are the action steps that you can do to re-program these beliefs? Kristy had the limiting belief: “If I don’t hit my financial goal, my business is failing” but she wanted to get to a point of believing that “I am super successful no matter how much money I make”. Going from what you actually believe and what you want to believe is really hard so it’s necessary to take baby steps and create baby step beliefs as you go along that will get you to what you really want to believe. So in this example, you might say “Okay I didn’t hit my financial goal this month, what can I do to re-tweak a strategy”. Something I emphasize with my clients is transforming ‘I should…’ into ‘I would like to…’. Using the sentence stem, “I would like to…’, instead of “I should…” is a useful way of re-framing your beliefs in pursuit towards creating healthier beliefs for yourself. “I would like to…” allows you to take ownership of what you want – it’s empowering and trumps the infamous “I don’t want…’statements. Be real with what you want.

“Some of your money messages will hold you back from what you really want.”  -Kristy

Some other useful tips to changing beliefs is voicing these beliefs - write them down or speak to someone about it. Start watching videos or listening to podcasts that can re-educate you around financial abundance and make the topic less scary.

A lot of financial planning is about starting with the end in mind. So figuring out what you want and working backwards from there. Connecting with the essence of what your financial goals are is important. If you want to buy a house, it’s not really about the house, it’s about what the house may bring which could be security, warmth, a family life…you name it! Going beyond the numbers and figuring out what your financial goals really mean to you gives your goals some clout and gives you the motivation to get out of bed every morning!

Job resentment seems to be a hot topic for people these days too! People are resenting their jobs and wanting to venture off to do their own thing. You might not like your situation but you’re staying for the money. Kristy advises to be curious about this resentment and what that’s about. THAT job can fund your passion, the side-hustle or the business. Try look at it as a short-term thing. You’re doing what needs to be done in order to fund the dream. So acknowledge this and be clear with what you want. The resentment is usually there because you are not clear on what you want.

Get clear on what you want, focus on the vision and on one thing at a time. Keep showing up, keep growing and don’t be afraid to invest in yourself.

If you’re feeling stuck about money and want to take action but don’t know where to start, Kristy is offering all my my followers (that's YOU!) a free 60 minute Coaching Session where you will gain an action plan that can jump start you for the next 3 months. Click on this link to receive your complimentary coaching session with Kristy! 

Need to figure out what your passion and purpose is so you can capitalize it? Perhaps it's time to hope on the phone for a complimentary strategy session with me as well. Click here to grab your 30 minute session with me.

Anger is a Road Map

I have noticed a lot of my clients and workshop participants expressing that they are angry and resentful about certain situations in their lives. Resentment is one of the greatest teachers and can be a really useful road map towards navigating what your boundaries are. When you start to feel resentment the road map has presented itself to you and you're usually feeling that resentment because someone (including you) may have overstepped your boundaries. You might not even know that you had certain boundaries until somebody steps on them and you find yourself feeling upset and pissed off without initially understanding why. You might lash out and perhaps overreact in a way that even surprises you.

When you start to feel the anger rising, the first thing that you can do is ask yourself, ‘Why am I angry or resentful?’. ‘Is it because I went out to this event when I really didn’t want to go?’ or, ‘Is it because I am letting this person disrespect me?’ or ‘Is it that I am working too much?’. We have all had our boundaries overstepped and, very likely, overstepped someone else’s boundaries.

Where in your life have you had someone overstep your boundaries? This is the first step towards creating a wall for yourself.  I don’t mean a wall to shut everything and everyone our permanently, I mean a wall that protects you and creates a sacred space that serves you in a healthy way. A good example is of a woman who came to one of my Feeling Salty workshops. She was always finding herself at events, feeling obligated to be there while not wanting to be there. In the process, one of her best friendships was falling apart because she wasn’t speaking up about the fact that she didn’t like being in loud party environments. Her resentment was telling her that she didn’t like being in spaces that are loud and rambunctious. So the boundary that she needed to set was to express that although she loves her friend, she cannot go to loud parties or spaces that she didn’t enjoy. We created a system to help her say NO where she would respond to her friends’ invitations by saying that she needed to check her calendar first. Maybe she didn’t even need to check her calendar but by saying that she did create the space for her to reflect on whether she really wanted to go to an event or party and whether or not this event would create a strain on her friendship. 

Choose discomfort over resentment –Brene Brown

I love this quote by Brene as it stipulates that it is better to choose to have an uncomfortable conversation before you reach the point of feeling angry or resentful.

Jealousy is another common emotion that we sometimes get stuck with, but it is a potent guide that can show us what we actually desire. For me, I get jealous when I see people travelling because I'd like to travel more. When I met people who talk about their travels, I immediately go into a place of lack and, thus, jealousy strikes. Now I see this jealousy as a clear road map that I need to take that day off, book that ticket or simply plan a road trip outside the city.

I have also noticed many people feeling exhausted lately. I encourage you to look at exhaustion as a roadmap too, and navigate what the root causes are of this exhaustion and setting clear boundaries to protect and uplift you.

Not sure what your emotions are telling you? Sign up for a complimentary conversation to move you out and onward towards your dream career and life.

Success Story Catalyzed By a Feeling Salty Workshop

Back in October 2017 Naomi Fesseha, a friend of mine who I went to college with, bumped into one another at an event at Moore College of Art & Design. At the event Naomi put her arm around me and proclaimed “I need to do something!” I happened to be running a Feeling Salty workshop the next day so I insisted that Naomi get her butt there! And of course, she did. Feeling Salty workshops provide the space for you to figure out what you want and have fun doing it.

Prior to the workshop Naomi was in a space of having to let go of some of her pride. She was at a point of feeling stagnant in what she wanted to do. Naomi shared that she has a lot of ideas but finds it difficult to sometimes separate those ideas and focus in order to take the steps towards making her ideas a reality. One of her ideas was to move out of Philadelphia and out of Pennsylvania altogether.

“I was at my wits end with myself…it was time to reach out...”

                                                                       –Naomi

Naomi needed a new approach so the timing of us meeting was indeed synchronistic. Initially, during the workshop she felt a sense of embarrassment in having to admit that she was ‘feeling salty' – a term used to describe someone feeling angry, upset, lost or out of place.

“The experience was very therapeutic…we got to communicate in a very vulnerable way. Carlee gave a lot of guidance and direction in navigating that vulnerability. You’re in a space with strangers therefore forfeiting control and releasing that” –Naomi.

Through a process of positive affirmations and ‘playing with salt’ so to speak, Naomi felt like something was lifted from her and that she walked out of the workshop feeling a sense of direction.

“I had too many things on my mind…I was cluttered. I felt like I walked out with one thing to focus on, which was really important. I came out with an actual step.”

                                                                            –Naomi.

Naomi kept following her step in order to avoid punishment for not following it! In workshops I sometimes get people to sign contracts with themselves and an accountability partner. In the contract, some actions deserve rewards if you fulfill them and other actions (or lack thereof) yield a punishment (the kind that suggests you're getting on the island and burning the boat, the life vest, the bridge and any other vehicle that will let you sink back into your old ways).

“My contract was to dedicate 2 hours a day to apply for jobs in a place where I wanted to be. So from 2pm-4pm every day, no matter where I was, my fingers needed to be typing. My accountability partner was a full-blown adult! If I did not adhere to my contract, I would have to spend all of my savings on Make America Great Again – which is NOT fly at all! ” – Naomi.

In addition to her self-imposed, bridge-burning punishment, Naomi would not have to use her entire savings on these shirts but also have to punt and ‘sell’ Make America Great Again. ...her worst political nightmare. In accordance with her contract, Naomi regularly sent her completed resumes to job opportunities, CC'ing her accountability partner on each and every email.

“It’s different when you have somebody watching you…” – Naomi.

Three weeks after Naomi continuously applied for jobs, she heard back from one and got the job in LA! Once she got the job, she continued with the same discipline, developed during the application process, to look for a places to live as well continue to applying for bigger and better jobs.

Now Naomi has healthcare, does yoga, is meeting new people and is really enjoying her new work...in her desired field, the arts!

“Know where you can afford to learn about new ways of learning about yourself”- Naomi.

Keep a lookout for the next Feeling Salty workshop to figure out what might be your next step towards living your best life and adulting like a pro!

Stop Filling Your Calendar With Fluff and Get Clear on What You Want!

Today I am getting my rant on. I am really feeling sick and tired of being a Type A personality and feeling overworked and being too tired, too drained, too busy. I am at a point where I am over playing calendar Tetris - trying to fit appointments in between every gap on my calendar.

As a Type A and even Type B nation, we need to ask ourselves what do we actually want? Do you want to quit your job? Do you want to create your art? Or do you want to be the next bodybuilder? So once you’ve asked yourself this, it only makes sense to start doing the things that align with what you want. It’s ironic and sad to a degree how you might want to be an artist but you fill your calendar with things that have nothing to do with your artistic practice, inspiration or motivation. Instead, you fill your day with things that your boss needs you to do at your day job that is not even necessary. Or you dedicate time to a friend who is merely using you for the hundredth time to be there on a shopping trip with them.

Filling our calendars up with unnecessary things is becoming like a disease. I’d like to call out the entrepreneurs in this instance. We fill our calendars with things that do not really align with our vision or mission. Why do we fill our time with people and places that do not edge us forward? If you want to be an artist, you need to have studio time or do things that inspire your art. There are so many entrepreneurs filling their calendars with fluff. Truth be told we’re like a Fast Food Hamburger – filled with fake, toxic filling. There is no nutrition in this filling and it’s not nourishing for our souls.

In order to stop getting overwhelmed in our lives and underwhelmed by our results, it’s imperative to get clear about what’s important and what’s not. It’s time to set some boundaries in order to step out of the ‘too’ space – too tired, too angry, too busy...the list goes on. Be clear with what you’re done with and be clear with you want – even if you think it sounds ridiculous. If you want to be a professional artist write it down, speak it and live it. Do the first thing that needs to be done. The first thing might be to clear out as little as a 10 minute slot in your day and fill it with creative connection and expression. Take the little micro bravery steps to propel you forward. Of course there will be distractions and you’re going to have to really be honest about whether this distraction is a good thing to serve you and your purpose in some way and express a clear Yes or No in this situation.

What is the first step to get you what you want? Say yes to things that align and no to the things that don’t. If you have any questions or you need support around this, reach out to me HERE and let’s have a conversation!

What to do When the Universe Gives You a Sign

I had some pain in my jaw lingering since about December 2018. I had a cold at that time and some sinus pressure so I didn’t think much of it. I went to the doctor, who then sent me to the dentist, who informed me that I pulled a muscle in my jaw. So I got some pain medication and hauled out my good ol’ heating pad to soothe this pulled muscle.

During my morning journaling, where I engage in stream of consciousness of writing, I was writing a lot about how I feel overwhelmed and that my jaw hurts. With stream of consciousness writing anything goes during journaling – I could be writing about how grateful I am or let my 5 year old self have a tantrum. I end each of my journal entries with an intention, leaving me with an intention for each day. So at the beginning of this specific week while I was journaling about my jaw and journaling about how I don’t understand this person, how I am overwhelmed etc., it all boiled down to me needing to listen more than I speak. Even the dentist had said that I need to limit my speaking…and cut down on the beef jerky which contributed to my sore jaw (go figure!).

Beef jerky aside,  I have been sitting with this guiding post thought that I do need to talk a little less, even contemplating whether to create the video above to share this with you. What I want to pose to you is, is there anything in your life that kind of sucks that is a possible guide post for you? If you think about it a little more, maybe sit down and write about it, it would show you exactly what you need to do to resolve most of your challenges. I found that my jaw as a guiding post has been a solution to several of my challenges, not just one. The lesson was for me to listen, relax a bit more and use my ears and eyes to really hear things in a different way.

So look around and notice what is a guiding post for you. If you feel like you do not have a guide post, let’s talk! I’d love to help you with getting in touch with your guide post(s)! I am an expert at helping people get unstuck in their lives and moving forward - Book some time with me HERE.

A Note on Falling Out of Love

Mind blowing fact: Comparison is the number one cause of unhappiness in relationships. There is a full world out there of people and things to compare ourselves too. Comparing yourself to others and, well, that's probably the end of a peaceful or happiness-filled day.  

If you feel unhappy in your relationship, there’s a possibility that you are unhappy with yourself (with all that comparing our brains have a tendency to do). If you are falling out of love with your partner, perhaps it's time to wonder if, in fact, you are falling out of love with yourself instead? Of course there are extenuating circumstances where the relationship is just not a good for you but if I can grab your ear for one second I may be able to ask you some questions that shed some light on your 'less than ideal' relationship.

If you feel like you are falling out of love with your partner, try asking yourself these questions:

• Am I doing the things that I love to do?
• When I look at myself in the mirror, do I like the person that you see (my body, my soul, my essence)?
• Am I in love with myself? If no, which parts of me do I need to give some attention?

When we are honest with ourselves, these answers can be painfully or excitingly eye-opening. Are our relationships shitty or are we actually falling out of love with ourselves?

If you are feeling less than enthused about your relationship, perhaps it's time to give yourself some love. 

When we are madly in love with ourselves after some time apart with our true nature, we can often come back to our partner, re-ignite that flame and draw more love into our relationship. So before you go and end your relationship because you're worried you’re falling out of love, check-in with yourself. Are you, in fact, falling out of love with yourself?

If this process feels overwhelming to you, don't worry. That's exactly why I'm here and want to offer you a complimentary 30-minute strategy session with me. During the session, we'll talk about where you're at, where you're going and what's getting in your way so you can move forward to create the kind of life you love.

Let 'Gladitude' Guide You

I have noticed a lull in communication and internal entrapment with a side order of resentment coming up a lot for people lately. It’s easy to feel this way, especially when you’re feeling trapped, not only in your mind but in your physical space – particularly here in Philly with the snow that kept us curled up in doors. So how can you release feelings of resentment and entrapment in your body and free yourself?

The other day I messed up what I was trying to say and ended up creating a new word: ‘gladitude’. The word made perfect sense to me at the time and hit home quite a bit, particularly around the theme of letting go of resentment. If you’re able to take a look and see all the things in your life that you’re grateful for and be glad that they are there, your mental walls will automatically be expanded and the resentment will loosen its grip on you.

A client of mine shared that she was feeling very defensive every time someone talked to her about her profession. What people were expressing to her was that she is lucky to be in the profession that she is in, especially only having to go in to work 3 days week. Her responsive was a frustrated outburst that she works 10 hour days and works 7 days a week, even if she is not going into work every day she is working ALL THE TIME. Her response was from a place of defensiveness. She holds this belief that she ‘should’ be getting more work done. For her, that belief that she should be getting more work done was like a thorn in her finger. Every day she plays with the thorn thinking that she should be working rather than watching Netflix for example. By now, playing with this thorn every day, it is bound to be infected. So when somebody else ‘insinuates’ that she is not doing enough work, it feels like somebody is squeezing and irritating the thorn. Even if the other person didn’t mean anything by their comment, she got upset because she had been irritated by this thorn for years. Then somebody else just came along and irritated the wound even more. Why didn’t she just take the thorn out?

The thorn represents a belief about yourself. When you become conscious of this belief (usually limiting), you can pluck the thorn out and shift this belief about yourself. Thanking the thorn for the time it served and saying ‘I am done with you’ and getting to a place of ‘gladitude’ can be liberating. In a space of ‘glatitude’ my client might respond that her job is great and she is happy to work from home and watch Netflix once in a while. Coming from this space of excitement and ‘gladitude’ is a thornless way of being.

What I did with my client is that every time a thought came up where she was tempted to play with the thorn instead of picking it out, she would change her ‘I should statement to ‘I would like to…’ statement. For example, rather than saying ‘I should be doing more…’, ‘I should be going to a networking event or working out more’, change it up to – ‘I would like to do more’, I would like to go to a networking event or work out more’. Try it! You will feel lighter because saying ‘I would like to… [Fill in the blank] takes a whole lot of pressure off of you and gives you space to feel ‘gladitude’, releasing the cloud of resentment or irritation.

Have you caught the resentment bug recently? If you feel defensive and uncomfortable more times than not, it's time to book a complimentary session with me. During the session, we'll talk about where you're at, where you're going and what's getting in your way (those darn thorns).

Why do I Love Myself?

A question that I ask a lot of my clients that seem to stump them is, ‘Why do you love yourself?’ From the responses that I’ve received, I have come to see how we need to start flexing our self-love muscle that much more.

Day and night we’re thinking about all the reasons of why we don’t love ourselves, why people don’t like us, why we shouldn’t be liked, why we don’t like ourselves. The way we respond to the question, ‘Why do I love myself?’ speaks volumes to our relationship with ourselves. It’s so easy to look for love outside of ourselves from other people, but the truth is you are looking for love from yourself.

‘Why do I love myself’ is a healthy compass question to guide us in the direction of self-love. I love myself because I am goofy, I dance randomly and when I talk about my plants I use a baby voice. I am lucky to have had the experience of answering this question on a regular basis – it’s not an easy question to answer initially. I have even had my days where I cannot think of a single thing of why I love myself. But by flexing this muscle on a regular basis, this question does become easier and can guide you towards a deeper, more connected journey of self-love. That kind of self-love where you’ll find yourself staying away from crappy relationships because you will clearly feel that you are betraying yourself and take steps towards self-love instead of betrayal.

If you are reading this, I want you to take a moment to ask yourself what do you love about yourself? Are you caring and kind or quirky…do you enjoy being with yourself when you are free and dancing in the kitchen? If you are struggling with this question, you are welcome to book a COMPLIMENTARY SESSION with me HERE. Through a range of other questions, I will be able to guide you towards developing a comfortable relationship with this pivotal question so that you can connect in a more loving way with yourself.

Flexing your Positivity Muscle...Flex, Flex, Flex!

After finishing up with a few clients the other day, I noticed a theme that was relevant to all of them – it’s so easy to slip into seeing our lives in a negative way but upon a closer look, is your life really a chaotic mess.

Yes, we can talk about all the reasons why our lives suck, why we should feel anxious, why we should feel unworthy, unattractive, etc. Essentially, the more we do this, the more we end up flexing our negativity muscle. The negativity muscle is the muscle that we flex when we keep telling ourselves that we are unworthy, not good enough, an idiot, not smart enough etc. We’ve gotten so  good at telling ourselves all the reasons why we are unworthy that when someone asks us, ‘Why are you smart?’ or ‘Why are you sexy?’, we don’t know how to respond because we are not used to flexing our positive muscle(s). Like any gym bunny, you can’t avoid working leg day or else after awhile you might look a little strange The same goes for your positivity muscle, you might not want to flex it, but you need to in order to have a truly balanced and fulfilling life. Think about what’s positive in you and your life right now. It might be as simple as feeling lucky or happy that you have a pet and that you just had food to eat. This muscle might be hard to flex at first but the more you flex it, the more you’ll you see the good in you and your life. Your mind will start to flow with more good vibes, creating a balance between positive and the negative thoughts and feelings. Of course you need the negative or fear-based thoughts as those might serve to protect or humble you in some way.

So I challenge you to flex the positive muscle more than the negative muscle. We need an optimistic mind set to see that our lives are genuinely more positive than negative. Why not show others and the world that life can really be great? If you feel resistant towards flexing this positivity muscle you might be experiencing an overload of strength in your negativity muscles, so I urge you to make haste and take your mind for a positive workout. The more you build strength in positivity, the healthier you and your relationships will be. Once the positivity muscle is strong, you will experience the magic of living in an abundant mind set where you will keep on attracting an overflow of amazing people, things, etc. into your life.

Uncertainty – how it affects your life and what to do about it?

Uncertainty – how it affects your life and what to do about it?

Recently I chatted to Shama Dhanani, soul coach and success shaman, about how uncertainty affects our lives and what to do about it. The one thing about uncertainty is that it is certain. So with this in mind, how can you find flow within the idea that change is constant?

Back in October last year, I experienced a strong feeling of uncertainty with a friendship and where I stood with the people I have been closest to. I wanted my friends to throw me a birthday party and because nobody was throwing me one, I felt a lack of confidence of where I stood in connection to my friends. And because nobody was really saying anything, I started filling in the blanks and making assumptions about my friendships, thinking that nobody wanted to celebrate with me. When you experience uncertainty in your life, it’s so easy to start to fill in blanks with assumptions – it’s like our brain takes uncertainty and turns it into a huge dramatic story. But the more and more we approach uncertainty, the more we learn how to not let it become a destructive force.

Shama shared her story of uncertainty of when she was working in corporate America and she had to transition from this space into a more entrepreneurial space. For her this was a forced choice at the time. 3-5 years ago the universe threw her into a space of needing to make a choice, which obviously created a lot of uncertainty.

No matter what role you play in the world – whether you’re a manager, employee, working mom or someone who has been in a consistent space for a long time, there have still been changes during those times…and like we’ve said – where there is change, there will be uncertainty. But with each time we manage through change, we evolve and the way we approach change becomes more sophisticated as we learn more tools to deal with change. These tools also help us leap-frog the monkey mind that fills in the blanks, and get to what’s really going on.

Uncertainty can also lead us into freeze mode if we let it. But if you listen to what’s underneath uncertainty, you can realign yourself with what’s true for you and not make decisions that ultimately don’t align with you. Freeze mode comes in many forms – procrastination, doubts, and excuses. It’s helpful to notice when you’re starting to freeze so that you can locate where it is happening in your body and NOT let it spread. Listening to your body can help give you a road map of where to go – especially listening to emotions! For example, if you’re angry that someone is achieving x, y and z in their life and you feel anger, this anger is showing you a mirror of what you actually desire. In a sense the anger helps you get real with what you want.

If you’re expanding in your life in any way, this expansion opens up space for a lot of uncertainty! Then of course there is more space for uncertainty to get in and poke at you and that’s when freeze mode is likely to kick in. The more you listen to your body and feelings, the more clues you will get to guide you in an authentic direction. The poking and uncertainty are in essence messengers to help you move through the uncertainty.

Shama and I will be running workshops in New York and Philadelphia, focusing on providing tools to guide you through uncertainty. Shama will be giving us a taste of hypnotherapy and soul coaching while I will be using a moving meditation in salt to get deeper into what’s going on for you.

Click to join a workshop this February in New York (25 February) or Philadelphia (26 February)

Putting Yourself First with Shama Dhanani

I was delighted to have a conversation recently with Shama Dhanini recently. Shama is a hypno-soul coach who helps people overcome procrastination and self-doubt to move into clarity and confident action. Our conversation was around how we sometimes get pushed lower and lower on our own priority list. Occasionally we prioritize our own to-do lists over ourselves. When this happens, how do we put ourselves first in a way that serves you and those around you?

Shama’s story: Burnout 2017

I like to keep on top of things as it energizes me to some degree - a part of me likes being on the ball, but there is also another part that doesn’t. At the end of last year I found myself chasing my to-do list, trying to prioritize social gatherings and my birthday that was coming soon – forgetting to carve out some relaxation time in the process. Eventually, doing too much at once led me to getting sick, burned out and unable to even make the fun social gatherings. Once I realized what I had been doing to myself, I used hypnosis in order to set up tools and practices that would help me maintain a routine of prioritizing me. When one is in a hypnotized state (homeostasis) or in deep meditation they are calm, which is the perfect space to make rational, healthy decisions. In this space, you are not constantly keeping up with a list. From a more relaxed place, I found that I could make better decisions and actually get more done than what I thought I was doing before. Because my body is relaxed in this state, it ends up working with me, not against me. I ended up reducing stress, getting the same amount of work done and enjoying my life experiences just by changing the way I physically and emotionally approach my work.

Hypnosis is basically a focused meditation where patterns of thinking and feeling can be changed by bypassing the ego and working within the subconscious mind, which influences 95% of the actions that you take in life. Homeostasis is when your body is deeply relaxed – it is the opposite of the ‘fight or flight’ mode of operating. When you’re stuck in fight or flight mode it’s difficult to see beyond your current circumstances and unfortunately it’s easy to get stuck here. A simple conversation or a trip to the grocery store can easily put us in a fight or flight state – showing just how powerful our subconscious can be.

Carlee’s story: The Birthday Disaster of 2017

I wanted to do everything for my birthday last year as I was turning 25! It felt like a big deal. I got upset because nobody was throwing me a birthday party, and from this place I started feeling like nobody loves me. At the time I ended up seeing a Facebook post that basically depicted that, ‘If you want somebody to love you, love yourself in the same way’. So with bravado I thought let me throw myself my own friggin’ birthday party! I had spent two months leading up to my birthday working really hard with helping people, managing a relationship and putting in a lot of effort for friends’ birthdays so when it came to my birthday, I felt entitled to really HAVE a birthday. I was in a place of feeling a sense of scarcity of love and connection. I was basically in a desperate space of fight or flight. When I was confronted by loved ones about what is going on, I came to a realization that I was giving from an empty cup. I'm not much of a fan of the cup analogy as it implies that one should fill their cup only once in a while. Up until this birthday disaster, I was living my life with a massage once in a while and a day off every few weeks. Putting yourself as priority is envisioning your life as a funnel, rather than a cup, where things are constantly coming in and going out so it’s important what you put in. So from now on I have ‘Sloth Sundays’ where it’s compulsory for me to not do any work or activities that I don’t want to do!

Tips to put yourself first from Shama & I:

1.       You have permission to put yourself first because if you don’t nobody else will. It is also your responsibility to put yourself first.

2.       Engage in hypnosis and/or a morning meditation practice to prevent the fight or flight response from taking over you. Doing this in the morning starts the day off in a peaceful way, setting the standard for the day.

3.       Take care of your body. Prioritize ‘me time’ every month. Whether you take a day off for the spa or to have a chill day, take the time to rejuvenate your body.

4.       Reward yourself – treat yourself to something as a way to encourage self-acknowledgment and to keep going.

5.       Be Creative. Fuel your soul with something creative. You don’t have to be an artist to paint or a musician to write songs.

Shama and I have collaborated and come up with a 3 hour workshop on putting yourself first, managing your to-do list so you’re not overwhelmed and getting yourself out of any limiting thoughts and beliefs that keep you stuck. The workshop will include hands on work, a moving meditation and hypnosis. Join this workshop to create new patterns and actually move forward with your dreams and desires. Also experience and differentiate between what you think you want from what you actually want.

Click to join a workshop this February in New York or Philadelphia.

Simple Tips to Turn your Mood around

Turning your mood around can prove very difficult when you’re in a dark and negative space. You might feel like your life has turned to shit and you don’t know how to get out of this space. On a cognitive level, you probably know what you need to do to move out of this kind of space - eat healthy, apply for new jobs, etc. but all you can feel is weight, dread and heaviness in your body. If you can identify with this, I would like to offer you two simple tools to help you move forward.

It’s a simple tool that I learned at the Wanderlust Festival, a mindful Triathlon. The best way to shift from those feelings of dread is to get into your body and move it from there. The specific tool that I learned at this festival is full blown belly laughter! So when you’re feeling a little crazy and can’t get out of your dread, get into your belly and just laugh! Now I am not talking about a meek little haha laugh from your mouth, I am talking about serious belly laughter. This way of laughing helps you to shift negative thought patterns. All you do is conjure up a haha from your belly up to your mouth-combining sound with breath. Keep repeating it until it becomes organic – and trust me it does! You can start with a simple Ha that comes from your belly and build it up to a Hahaha. You might find this a bit of a quirky, weird out-there tip but I can guarantee that you will feel results.

If the belly laugh is not for you try my next tip…

If you find yourself in a low space, repeat a specific word over and over again. This a psychologically tested method that proves that you can shift your mood instantly with this simple tool. When your thoughts are going around and you’re repeating past situations or conversations that are pulling you down, say the word Boing. What this does is shift your mind from a place of ‘fight or flight’ into a place of calm, abundance or the place where you want to be. Try It!

If you feel stuck, anxious and uncertain of where to go next with your life, let’s have a conversation to see how I can guide and help you get your mojo back. Book an appointment with me HERE.

Making friends with your Inner Drama Queen

We have all had experience with that inner drama queen or king that constantly plays in our minds, saying things like: ‘I am not attractive or smart enough’ or ‘Why would anybody like me?’ The theme of having this ‘unstoppable’ negative inner voice has come up a lot in my workshops and with some of my clients. Many people want to know how they can make it stop or go away, but in reality wishing it away is not the key to making you feel better.

There’s this analogy often used in the world of personal development to help people better understand and minimize or even heal this crappy inner voice- the voice I like to call my inner drama queen. Imagine this voice as a child that needs to be comforted and told that everything is going to be okay. If you picture this voice as a child, would you yell, scream or get frustrated with her or him? Not likely. If a child came up to you on a playground and said that the other children don’t think they’re pretty or smart enough, how would you respond? Likely you wouldn’t say, ‘You always say this or do this and you’re not pretty or smart enough!’. Unfortunately, more times than not, this is how we sometimes respond to ourselves.

Next time you feel down and start to hear this negative inner voice, try respond to it as if it were a child. Tell her/him that it’s okay and find a way to comfort and reassure the child in a positive way. You can add that it’s okay to make mistakes so just keep going and don’t beat yourself up. These days many of us beat ourselves up – one thought can trigger a whole spiral of internal torture. The tool of using a child as a representative of your inner voice creates some healthy space and perspective between you and this inner drama queen or king. If you imagine this voice as a child, it’s simpler to comfort and nurture this part of you. The more you do this, the less loud this voice becomes. If a child came up to you screaming, you wouldn’t scream back to console the child – you would most likely hold, comfort and soothe the child. So, instead of screaming or shouting down this inner voice, find a way to encourage and uplift this voice in order to cut any possibility of escalating self- torture.

Good-Luck! Check out when my next Feeling Salty workshops are to step into your best self and live the life you dream of!

Teaching Others How To Love You

On my 25th birthday last year I had a bit of a crisis - I hadn’t had a birthday party in a long time and was really longing for someone to throw me one. I felt really lonely, negative and down because nobody was throwing me a party! Eventually, after spending some time throwing myself a pity party, I was able to get back into a space of gratitude where I realized something important.

If we want someone or people to love us in a certain way, you first have to be the person that shows them how to love you. People are not mind readers so you cannot expect someone to just know how to love you. My best friend has almost hit the nail on the head but not even she knew that I wanted a birthday party. Instead of moping around and assuming that people don’t love me because they’re not throwing me a birthday party, I decided to show my people how to love me. Not only was I going to show them how to love me, I was going to show MYSELF how to love me…so I threw myself a birthday party. Okay, I was still a little bit sulky, but the experience taught me a lot about myself!

Teaching yourself and others how to love you is a process of communicating this in the moments where you feel the love. For example, one of my love languages is physical touch so when I give someone a hug and tell them that I love them, they learn that that’s how I express love. By expressing how you want to be loved you empower others with the capacity and capability to love you. So if you’re feeling lonely, then it’s time to love yourself first and challenge yourself to communicate with your people about how you want to be loved.

At the end of the day I threw myself a birthday party and decided to spend sometime throughout the week nurturing my relationship with myself. For you, it might be something similar or completely different. What is it that you need or want to feel loved? It could be a bouquet of flowers, some time in a bubble bath or more support in certain areas of your life. Ultimately you are the guide!

Get your life together without all the drama

I recently had my last call with a client who just completed my private coaching program and, boy, am I so excited for her. In just a few months she has managed to transform every area of her life. If you look at the wellness wheel, you can see that she has transformed in every category of the wheel. What struck a chord for me is that each person that I have worked with took time to transition to where they want to be. It has not been an overnight quick fix or a big dramatic change, but rather a subtle shift in thinking, doing and being that has brought about authentic transformation. In my last blog, “Challenging Yeah, but…’ Excuses”, I spoke about making two second micro-bravery decisions in order to make the changes that you want to see in your life. This is all it takes – a brief moment of deciding that this is what I can change and I am going to do it (gosh dang it)!

There is so much to be said about having a to-do list. We all have a to-do list, some are longer than others. But this list can sometimes get overwhelming if you haven’t crossed enough things off your list, leading you towards beating yourself up about the fact that you haven’t done enough on your list. The difference between people who get their life together and those who don’t is that the person who chooses growth takes time to stop and celebrate the ‘small’ tasks and victories that they have accomplished. The more you celebrate the little things, the more you reinforce and catalyse positive growth. My client regularly celebrates the little tasks and steps that she has taken and doing this over the past few months has dramatically shifted all areas of her life for good.

It’s all about growth a little bit at a time. Take some time to celebrate when you complete something on your to-do list. Basking in celebration creates more positivity and ability to continue living your heart’s desire and letting your soul thrive. If this resonated with you, please do share it as it will likely resonate with others.

Join my next Feeling Salty workshop to step into your best self and let go of the baggage!

Challenging 'Yeah, but...' Excuses!

Many of us experience whirling thoughts around the idea that we can never have our dream life. You might find yourself saying: I want to do this but I can never do it because X, Y & Z, [insert fears, comfort zone, excuses]. We all have dreams but sometimes we’re actually afraid of them. We’re afraid of quitting that job to be an artist, we’re afraid to take our business to the next level or we’re afraid to tell someone how we really feel. This has come up for me many times and my clients have expressed the desire to live the life that they crave but not knowing how to get there. Ultimately, our excuses and ‘yeah, buts…’ are preventing us from living the life that we really want. From mine and some of my client’s experiences, what it boils down to is a 2 second decision.

What came up for me the other day is that I want to be able to help more people but I don’t have the time, my excuse being that I just don’t have the time. I have been using this excuse for quite a while, but if I look closely I can actually create the time. My 2 second decision was to re-arrange my schedule and make the time. There is no such thing as not enough time, it’s all about our priorities and what we choose to prioritize. There is no such thing as not enough money too! The 2 second decision is a micro-bravery step that we can take to help shift our lives so that we can step into the person that we want to be. My story was that I don’t have enough time, but all I had to do was shift one thing on my schedule and voila, there was more time!

What stops us from living our ideal is getting caught up in our fear and anxiety! When we’re stuck in this space, it’s difficult to see the 2 second decision or solution that’s in front of us. I challenge you to look at what your excuses are: what is your ‘Yeah, but…’ and what could be your micro-bravery step to help you shift into the life that you want for yourself.

If you feel that this blog resonates with you, share it with your friends who might benefit from it too!

How to Receive Compliments

In society it seems like it’s the norm not to accept compliments. When someone pays us a compliment it generally feels weird, wrong, and awkward to accept it. Why aren’t we accepting compliments? What is in our upbringing, our past and society’s past that doesn’t allow us to receive compliments? I have been thinking a lot about this and reflecting on how one can get to a place where you’re comfortable with accepting compliments. So when someone tells you that you’re really smart or you did a good job, how can you accept this without being self-deprecating?

I experienced an ‘awkward’ compliment the other day where someone told me that I was wise.  I froze for a moment and responded ‘Oh you should see me in front of a taco bar!' - What a ridiculous response! I could have said ‘thank-you’ or ‘you’re so kind’, but no I went straight for the taco bar. I realized afterwards that I could have accepted the compliment with so much more grace. I know this happens a lot to people. Someone will tell you that you’re beautiful or intelligent and the immediate response is to say something really horrible about yourself.

The first step to really accept compliments, and being okay with being great, is to start practicing complimenting yourself. Our inner voice can really trick us sometimes by telling us that we are not anything great – ‘you’re not smart, you’re not intelligent, you’re not beautiful, you’re not wise’. It boils down to looking at yourself and admitting that ‘Yeah, I am smart!’ and accepting that it’s part of your essence. Committing to NOT self-deprecating when someone pays you a compliment is the next step towards receiving one. When you hear your critical voice playing up, count down from 5 to 1, give yourself a compliment and accept it with as much ease and grace as you can. This will get you into a space where when a compliment comes from the outside world, you can begin to fully receive it and feel good about it.

We all have goals that we want to reach and when we reach our goals it might feel like an anti-climax. It’s kind of the same with compliments. You might want compliments but when they actually are being given, you want to run away and hide from the attention. Developing a practice of complimenting yourself and falling in love with yourself will give you the grace to believe the compliments when you receive them.

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