How we breathe in circles.

“I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.”  ~ Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

I am warm spiced surprise.

I am the opulent lip.

I am passion rising.

I am sweet morning.

I am built with artistry, feeling, wonder and soul.

I am possible. I am champagne bubbles.

I am finding inspiration everywhere.

I am the sacred spirit.

I am song of devotion.

I am rewriting what's expected.

I am the strong sensitive type.

I am fire and crystal untold.

I am love and lust.

I am the high and low.

I am displaying layers of meaning.

I am evolving one wild and precious life.

I am luminous in the dark.

I am hungry for change.

I am open for fun.

I am tender.

I am integrating new ways.

I am Phoenix Rising...with a touch of self adhesive.

I am the evolution of connection.

I am found.

I am unbroken.

I am kaleidoscope alchemy.

I am soulflower.

I am a new degree of possibility.

I am ready to make it happen.

I am a cake for every occasion.

I am radiant nude.

I am the hungry traveler.

I am finding creative freedom.

I am a traveler of delicious comforts.

I am a part of it all.

I am absorbing delicious self discovery.

I am destined to be dazzled.

I am a magical place.

I am room for a miracle.

I am the co-existence of light and shadow.

I am beginning.

I am tender warrior.

I am intense and light at the same time.

I am glitter and glass.

I am a player of light.

I am first, gooey, sensitive.

I am a soul of light, all aglow.

I am the only centerpiece.

I am today.

I am (fill in yours here).

(Compiled from the circle of women in Spirits of Joy, A vision book course running through January. Can you feel the breath, the pulse, the safety and the penetration into a deeper spirit? This is how we breathe in circles.)

Often the best way we can see ourselves is through the reflection not in a mirror but in the eyes of compassion, empathy and fierce magic. Someone who has walked in our story. And then we become that for another. And the breath we exhale becomes their inhale and we need not push or judge because we find ourselves in safety.

And the 'I am' that surprises us from found words. Another's words becoming where we are traveling to next or holding us in a pause that is about to transform into tomorrow.

In a circle is where breath can expand and flow from one to another and words are held by the hands and hearts of community of choice. It is where space can be held to listen. Space where you are heard and no one is trying to solve you, just see you.

Soulwork is how we commune. Story is how we gather. Prompting is where we grow. Listening is how we feed. Prayer is how we ask and accept. Surrender is what leads us to change. Showing up in our now is how we embody all we desire.

 

“There is a community of the spirit.

Join it, and feel the delight

of walking in the noisy street

and being the noise.

Drink all your passion,

and be a disgrace.

Close both eyes

to see with the other eye” ~ Rumi

***

Questions keep floating in about Magic Making Circle ::

The number I hold inside of a circle always carries an energy for me. 100 is my sweet spot. When the group is given boundaries and accountability and freedom and modeling it thrives.

Magic Making Circle will be capped at 100. There seems to be a lot of fear around this number. We may or may not get to 100 but that is the number I am visioning as the maximum of sweet spot energy and community. I love 100. It also will be the only group you'll be able to work with me inside of for 6 months, so my desire is that for those who love prompts and soulwork and the circling with women, that they choose to take this journey with us. My goal was to keep the investment affordable and open the access to a powerful circle to those who believe in the work and the practice. Masterminds with 20 or less tend to average in the thousands and I want to create a model that works for me and my life, and what I know is your life. So I am creating circles, rather than masterminds. I am finding ways to keep the mastermind option open but not vital to the circle.

A circle holds power because it is a community of choosing. This cannot be underestimated.

Can 100 people be intimate? Well, I decided to ask my circle of 409 women, who have all been part of one or multiple programs I have run over the last few years, to talk about this. Here is what some had to say.

"The unique power of Hannah's circles, even the very large Alumni group, feels as though I'm sitting in a cozy living room with my most precious, loving friends, with their arms around me." ~ Lisa

"You are a beautiful soul, through and through authentic and you have the gift of bringing women together to make magic in their lives and hearts . It is felt so viscerally no matter the size of the group." ~ AnaLisa

"There is something so important and so soul-filling about having a strong circle of love, support, and stretch." ~ Xandra

"There is something very different about how Hannah's groups form. There is an unspoken congruence that is felt within this safe space. Hannah is not in your face every single moment, seeking attention, in fact she has the balance right, she passes it over to us. She's there to guide, facilitate, prompt, nudge and cajole us. Everyone is incredibly supportive in ways that are hard to describe. These are a band of women who want to create good in their worlds to turn around their thoughts and perspectives, and ultimately be surrounded by love and joy rather than be faced with negativity and hate. What I have experienced here is that when you begin to flourish, the group holds you and prods you to move even further into your light, stretching yourself without breaking. All of this refers to a group of approximately 400! With Hannah at the Helm, it will be magic." ~ Julia

"We are all walking a different path and whenever i have reached out to this group i have received an abundance of unique responses. it's like drawing on the deepest, most beautiful and loving wellspring of knowledge and experiences! when i circle with these women i can be my true self. there is no criticism, judgement or negativity. i have only ever received love, understanding & constructive feedback. i can go deeper with my vulnerability within the open arms of this group and grow even more from witnessing the journey of others." ~ Jenny

"Wherever you are in the world, whatever time of day , if you need to talk, someone somewhere will answer. We are global." ~ Mary

I hope these voices help you to glimpse what this circle will feel like.

Other questions ::

Can you explain the monthly calls?

Yes!!! We will do the 6 monhtly calls via a Spreecast. Spreecast is a video feed that allows me to either talk and receive questions via a live written feed or I can bring someone on with me in person. Most of the Spreecasts will be with me addressing the written feed, but there may be times I arrange to have someone come on as a guest if appropriate. These will be recorded.

Often a question from one is a question from many. That is what these Spreecasts will hope to achieve, a way to in live time address where you are, what is coming up, what questions you have. You will be able to chat with eac hother over on the side in live time. If you miss the feed live you can watch and then come to the group page later and we'll still be talking about all of it.

How much time will we need to commit to the circle?

What you put in is what will be returned. For some that will be a large investment, for others it will be smaller. We all land and show up in different places. There is no wrong or right, there is what you need, what you desire. I cannot create this investment for you, you must decide this.

Some of you may be inside a 'cave' right now in your lives or a highly sensitive bubble of protection, as I was for years. You may be inside of raising multiple children while wanting to foster a passion or desire or skill. Some will be inside of already thriving businesses and looking to have a place they can go to for support and perhaps a new direction. There are some who may be quietly reading and processing inside of the group while others are out there, asking, probing, sharing. We all are able to gain such insight and movement from those who have more time or are more open to posting in the group.

I will ask of you that if you feel shy or quiet that you push your boundaries just a bit and spend some time learning to connect in this way that will draw you to the story of others and they to you. I will ask of you to learn to hold space for each other without trying to fix or compare, but to listen and create safety. I will ask that you show up. I will ask that you learn to land outside of comfort zones into desires.

For those who are ready to commit even further to their work or passions there will be gathering weekends at the Loft in Rhode Island for seriously fun and productive masterminds. You'll get all of me for a weekend to explore, question, hold space and prompt you forward. This is a beautiful opportunity to gather a friend or colleague or two and create a fantastic weekend together. (These will be announced in February.)

Having a circle like this to hold you, the talkative or the shy, the open or the cautious, is a gift. One that we will adventure inside of for half of a year. I am beyond grateful to have this time together.

This circle will become a network of women lifting you up, seeing you, listening to you, pulsing along with your unique vibration. You will discover how we breathe in circles.

And it will be beautiful.

#MeetMeAtTheLoft

To be clear, I am making this all up with each vision. The Loft, my best 3am wake-up, the decision that would begin my process of healing and rediscovery and give me physical space to hold others inside of healing and rediscovery.

I remember sitting inside her walls on the one piece of furniture and praying that The Loft, this leap of faith would not be a fuck up. I prayed that I realize all that I visioned and for surprises and trust and adventures.

In a sort of surrender to the next move, I find myself in her embrace. She is magical.

I hope that one day you will #MeetMeAtTheLoft

A weekend called, "Lift Up" where I gathered my friends, my soul-team and we dined on gorgeous plates, went out adventuring, co-worked on the living room floor and had our rather epic skinny dip. The "Lift Up" details I'll keep private but I believe that we each left the weekend feeling more loved, whole, real, right, playful and beautiful than when we arrived.

I have visioned living like this. Now I do. Now I can invite others to and inspire women to create their own circles of joy and lifting. It ripples. It pays forward in the most healing of ways.

Turning my attention to the downstairs, a desk set up and an entire wall to tape inspirations and press on sticky notes. I am in heaven. There is space enough for a small yoga class or a large circle. The bed feels like a cloud and the twinkles go on and on and on.

I have been visioning the space and slowly am finding the treasures that it will hold. I want you to feel seduced when you walk into this space. Seduction towards falling into yourself. Learning something that comes from the eyes or the yes of another. To circle, to expand visions for yourself. To know that ease and simplicity are underneath your feet.

I am learning to celebrate. In the past I get to the 'place' and then am quick to move on, suffering in many ways later for not pausing to acknowledge what I've created. A fear of being in my light. Of being open with my successes. A fear that I can't really feel this right now.

So now I pause. I celebrate. I stand in the mirror on the days that I work so hard to get to and I raise a glass. To myself. To this gorgeous space. To the hundreds of women who are claiming their light.

And the women who are coming to lend their voices. They are trusting. We don't know if people will come but we know that they will not leave the same. So we make these amazing nights happen. We circle. We sing. We vision. We lift.

Coming up::

More vision nights starting with "I am" night this month. (August 22nd)

#operationselfcarelikewhoa. (Early October)

Art classes. (Sept 14th)

More singing. (I mean, see that picture!)

Chocolate night.

A private weekend with my mastermind circle. (Early September)

More co-working.

An allowing of the visions to keep coming, to lead the dance. A trust that this is where I need to be. And an open invitation to you. To meet me at The Loft.

Dates and registration for events will be open in a few days.

The Loft Workshop Series:: Tastes of Spring

 

When: Thursday, June 6th  7-10 pm

What: A cooking class led by Persephone Brown

Where: The Loft,  workshop and retreat space for women in Rhode Island, Hope Artiste Village

Cost: $75 (We are currently filled, if you are interested in a space, please email hello@hannahmarcotti.com to be put on the wait list. xo)

 

Please join me in The Loft as I host one of my dearest friends and the most amazing whole foods chef I know, Persephone Brown. We will be sipping wine, learning her techniques and tricks, sitting at the table enjoying the gorgeous food and everyone will be taking home something special they create themselves.

 

One of my dreams has been to have a space that can bring communitiy together over food, using our hands, visioning and tribe building. I am so excited that Persephone is my first guest at The Loft. Will you join me for a night that will make us want to gather and circle more because we leave lifted and filled and glowing?

 

 

From Persephone:: A perfect recipe starts with flavor, then color.  A perfect dish grabs hold of all of your senses, you smile at the sight of its beauty, the textures dance on your tongue.  A perfect meal nourishes you beyond healthy nail beds and belly, with story, and laughter, and soft colorful cloth napkins.  A perfect meal is messy, and simple, and lovingly prepared.  The first bite you dance, the last bite you sigh, and every moment in between all that exists is love.

Cooking for my family, I create dishes that are simple, lovingly prepared, beautiful, and delicious.  Whole body nourishment is our platform to living the gorgeous life.  In this unique kitchen experience you will learn to make some of my favorite dishes while we clink glasses, share stories, and feast.

On June 6th, as we slowly start to feel summer's approach, we will be exploring some of the beautiful foods that Spring offers us for just a short time more. You will learn how to make and then gather around the table to enjoy 6 dishes that will dance with your tastebuds and excite you to go home to your kitchen and prepare for a gathering around your table.

I can't wait to meet you and join you at the table.

 Tastes of Spring Menu

red pepper~walnut crudite

avocado stuffed portobella with tomato and arame

roasted spring vegetables with lemon & greek yogurt

citrus marinated scallops

raw banana pie

chocolate almond truffles

*All dishes are gluten & grain free.  If this feels like it is right for you but you have an allergy or food restriction, please ask, accommodations may be made.

I am a firm believer in you are what you eat.  I am a healthy living coach and chef who teaches and inspires women to feed themselves beautiful meals that nourish through their simplicity, color, and flavor.  Food can distort and distract from our experiences or ground and connect us to them.  To find out more about cooking classes, guided cleanses, or to read about my life and experiments in the kitchen, visit www.PersephoneBrown.com

Beautiful Faces. Magical Places.

I am eager for the lists that make their way out on sleepy Friday mornings. Today I am a snow you can suck it kind of woman.

Love this woman. Love even more that she wrote this post and unknowingly to me I found the book a few weeks later. Bam.

One of my stunning clients who breathes life into herself through her words.

My gorgeous VA sent this to me, and yes. Just yes.

So honored.

More honor. Seriously, this still takes me by surprise that people ask me to answer their questions. Blessed.

Grab tissues. Just sayin'.

I adore her work, her style, her all.

Just a few spaces left...

My newest obsession...love language like whoa.

Only slightly jealous. I am adoring this woman and the work whe is bringing to the world.

More tissues, and I am in love with light. Shine baby, shine.

I remember the first time I said fuck on my blog, I was so scared, but that was being truly me. Now, no fears.

Michelle wore these in NYC for her gorgeous event, and look at this!!!

Thank you sweet one, so blessed to have your friendship!

Love, love, love the poetry.

So, yes, these are the scarves I've been wearing, love them.

The way I see community.

Four years ago I was a stay at home mama, pregnant with my third baby, wondering what more there was for me. I felt lost. I knew that I had something special to give this world. I had tried so many careers and I couldn't make anything stick. What I felt deep down was that I wanted something that was mine, that I could control, design, create, develop.

I wanted to tap into my gifts, my light.

Four years later I have a business that is flowing in abundance, beauty and grace. I also have a new budding business with a most amazing woman and a circle of women who believe in each other. I haven't been 'lucky' (though I'll take any luck that wants to flow my way). I've been working hard, doing the beautiful work; creating connection, building community and trying to show up with a combination of truth and grace.

Somewhere along the line I fell in love with the joy of building community around my work. Partly it came intuitively for me and the rest I had to learn. I combined reading, studying and a whole lot of playing around to see what worked and what didn't work.

Our community is not me talking/writing and you just listening. It is also me listening and hearing you back. It is the flow of our energy and the sharing of our gifts together. I set the table and you bring the wine. Community is shared purpose, goals and explorations. The communities I am part of are warm and cozy, sunshine through the windows warming us when we need it most, lifting and truth telling. Lots of truth telling.

Community Grace is a way to play with community building and creating connections to bring energy behind your words and offerings. Gathering those around you that you want to talk and share with and those that you learn from and could listen to for hours as they share their stories or guidance with you.

What I know is that our words are powerful, our story is where we connect. We make choices in how to use our words to connect, to grow, to show up. There is no formula and once you realize that you can fully step into your light and start to use your words to gather energy around you and your work.

Your community is forming, they are a vibrant gorgeous community, ready to spread out the picnic blanket, uncork the wine, serve the food while the music is played and come together inside of your own special magic.

What will you bring? How will you share? What passion do you bring to this community table? How do you show up as you, in your truth and flowing with your passions?

Gathering is ceremony, celebration. Knowing your own special gift, voice and compassion and setting them free sets you free.

We all have a story to be told. We have a community to gather with. We have joy unfolding before us, compassion spilling.

And so we continue. We build. We play.

***

Learn more about Community Grace, my group program for November.

Highly Sensitive Unpacking

I return with vintage cowgirl boots, memories of hugs and laughter, magical moments in auditoriums and holding a glass of wine, chipped nail polish, frizzy hair and the deep desire to start something brand new.

Traveling light was not learned this trip, though now I know you really don't need heels in Oregon. Weird to this East Coast girl being at a conference with the most casual footwear ever. I eventually ended up in my walking shoes. Doing lots of walking. Only one blister.

The conference was one where I could tweet, cried my way through the conference, and have people tweet back, me too - there should be a HSP section in the seating to share kleenex. This is where we connect. Every now and then you need to be in a place where you don't once have to explain yourself or your work because 1,000 people know and get you. Just because you are standing in that hallway with them.

I am unpacking thoughts and inspiration of how to create more of this in my work. More community, unity, that sense that you are understood just by showing up.

Brené Brown will do her part to make the tears roll down. If you think she is awesome, she is actually a million times more awesome than that. Her story telling is where I will spend time studying because it is magic.

Sitting in a room next to Michelle Ward and Rachel Cole we listened to Danielle LaPorte do a Q&A session. She talked about how standing on stage was her persona, how her writing and her work were all part of that. In her kitchen she is different. I needed to hear this. You need to hear this.

Our online world is persona no matter how hard we strive for transparency or truth. The people who have been at the birth of one of my children or the neighbors who hear me lose my cool when the dog tears up my meditation garden know this. Persona is part of our gifts. Use it beautifully.

As Chris Brogan said on stage, we all poop, there is a book to prove it.

I was humbled by the people who came up to me, excited for my hug. I was there for them, how did I step into bizzaro land? I will never forget how incredibly gorgeous it feels to be noticed, admired and loved.

My travel wings have spread. After years and years of having babies and nursing, years that hold so much love and nurture and whole lot of exhaustion, I am flying off into a new world. One where I know how to spend time with myself. Where I acknowledge that I am allowed to because it makes me better.

To make my way on 5 modes of transportation in one day from coast to coast. Dream of the retreats I will someday guide. Feel space in new ways.

Each year I feel like a better person, growing more into how I want to show up. (This is where I get to insert that I got carded in Oregon for a glass of wine. Yep. Love that place.)

I am unpacking the lights, story and joy from my conference. I'm feeling the growing pains of re-entry after having been gone for more than a week. I'm planning outfits around my boots.

Yes, I rearranged the living room when I got back, Patrick patiently helped me, knowing that this was how I process, how I unpack, how I rejoin the pack.

Thank you Oregon for your beauty and grace. I can't wait to meet you again.

***

To all my new friends - thank you for the honor of knowing you, squeezing you and sharing time with you. Thank you for how much you truly wanted to be with me.

The conference was The World Domination Summit, in its second year, sold out each year with thousands on the waiting list. I am blessed to have attended.

Photo credit on second photo: Armosa Studios

Sponsor Tribe Highlights ~ Gratitude

Huge love and gratitude to the sponsors of Mama Space. You are such a beautiful part of this tribe. Today I send a blessing of gratitude to these beautiful women and their businesses. Hope they can feel it! 

March will be the last month for Sponsorship for a bit. Any interest please email hello@hannahmarcotti.com.

***

I will be serving Jen's Om Time Tea during our first Joy Circle which will be March 30th (details to come). Get reacquainted with Jen and find all of her links here.

Nicole is offering gorgeous work to the world, if you missed reading her words, you can check them out here. She has that energizing tickle inside that she talks of!

Christyna's work lights me up! If a compassionate and intuitive financial coach sounds intriguing, it is! Christyna shares more about her life and work here.

Meet Kathryn Postulka and Leap!

After yesterday's post, thank you all so much for the beautiful emails you have sent about it, I'm beyond thrilled to share one of my beautiful clients, Kathryn Postulka with you. Kathryn and I have spent the last few months working together and nurturing her business, Inspired Healthy Life. Kathryn is also one of the voices on Mamacoach Circle, a group of holistic women and business owners who are supporting, inspiring and taking action together!

Please enjoy Kathryn's voice and the beautiful gift she has created for designing a personal manifesto!

Kathryn, thank you for all the joy you have brought to my world for the last few months and for all the energy and passion you share through your work and the way you live your life!

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It’s when you’re at the top, on the platform and looking out that the fear sinks in. Only a few moments ago, from the safety of below, it felt so doable. Fun even. But isn’t that always the way? Part of you never believes you’ll get there, all the way at the top, first in line and about to fly.

We don’t believe it, because it feels safer not to. But here you are, toes to the edge of the platform, only air as a cushion that doesn’t really look so cushiony. The instructor yells out what seems impossible – ‘lean over, lean forward, grab the bar with two hands.’ You are so far forward, you’re past the point of being able to pull yourself back.

So, you go.

Grab the bar, and jump off the platform. It’s the right choice, and you know immediately. You are rewarded with an incredible free fly through the air. It’s glorious, it’s beautiful! You have released the fear and you’re literally soaring!

I love the trapeze. It’s exhilarating and terrifying and way more fun that any adult usually has. It requires you to stretch yourself and your mind. It requires total trust when you can’t remember why it seemed like a good idea in the first place, and then it rewards you by sending you up higher and faster than you dreamed possible. That’s the beauty of it.

When Hannah pushed me to find my voice as a coach, I felt instant fear. It’s scary putting yourself out there, especially when your instinct is to stay private and hold back. It’s an easier decision to stand with the crowd, blend in and decide not to climb that ladder to the platform above. But I knew she was right. If I wasn’t willing to embrace all that I am and put myself out there in the world, how could I ever expect my clients to do the same?

Fear is a crushing thing. It can stop the unstoppable and you can easily miss out on the best ride of your life.

Frankly, it feels just like my trapeze experience. To me, it represents taking chances, leaning out further than feels comfortable, taking a risk and jumping. I strive to always challenge myself like that. That’s why ‘flying on the trapeze’ is in my personal manifesto.

I’m a big believer in visualization. I used this trick all the time in my younger sports days, and I’ve used it throughout my life. If you can see it, feel it and believe it, you can do it. This is why creating a set of statements that inspires, energizes and helps to create a mental picture of who you are and what matters to you is one of the most useful personal tools you can have.

Think positive. Be an active participant in your life. Eat real food. Indulge in good chocolate, a glass of good wine, cozy sweaters and awesome coffee mugs. That’s how my personal manifesto begins. It’s filled with things that I want to surround myself and fill my life with. On those days when everything is going wrong, I try to sprinkle some of these into my day to make it better. On better days when I’m feeling optimistic, I think about how I can move forward and achieve all that the manifesto is and represents to me. It’s my visional guide and my personal mission statement. If I can see it, I can believe it. And if I believe it, I can do it.

I don’t think I’m alone in that. What will be on your personal manifesto?

I’m really excited to share with you my free workbook for creating your personal manifesto. You can use your manifesto like a personal vision statement – a set of guiding statements of who you are, who you want to be and how you want to live. Fill it up with you and use it as your inspiration to live the best life you can imagine for yourself.

Sign up for your own personal manifesto workbook here...

Find Your Spirit. Dream Your Style.

I am a scientist of emotions, choices, the why. While I have never considered myself to be particularly 'book smart,' I am emotionally wise. I first heard Jen Louden say this on a call, that she had always been wishing to be smarter and then realized that her gift of intelligence was in the emotional world and I instantly understood myself in that deep way, when things start to come together. Pieces of the puzzle lining up.

One of my joys is working with women who are starting a new business, a business of the heart. When you are creating a business out of nothing, as so many of us bloggers/coaches/entrepreneurs are, something can happen before you discover your why. You see the work of someone else and love it, perhaps they even are your mentor.  Words, picture, style all become someone else's and the business you are inside of does not reflect your creation or your voice.

This could be using anything that looks just like someone's elses or it could be as serious as using someone's words without their permission. All of a sudden you are no longer inside of your own spirit of creation, you have missed out on something so intensely beautiful, the moment of creation that is all yours.

The moment when all the inspiration floating around suddenly inspires you to make something new, something bold and genius. That click of brilliance, even if only you think so, it is still your brilliance, it is yours. It looks new and fresh because it is.

We've all been there. Scared to be who we are, not knowing our own voice and eager to use the spirit of another.

I've been on both sides of this. I've been new in my business and obsessed with the spirit and style of others -every other day obsessing it seems. I felt a lack. I was living in scarcity mode and it felt yucky. I wanted to be Susannah Conway or Soulemama or all the other bloggers and entrepreneurs I admire. I struggled to find my voice because I wanted to be someone else, I wanted their success or fame or brilliance!

When you adore something someone else is doing, you crave doing that too. There is that moment of not being inside of your spirit. Of having no dream for your style. Of just wanting to be them, and there is this weird time when your mimicking can confuse you into believing it is you. But it is not. Look closely, I've had to do it, a lot. Look and see who you really are seeing.

We fall into the copying because we don't think we are moving fast enough, getting enough page views or likes or comments. We do it out of jealousy, insecurity, impatience, desire to be where we aren't.

Imitation is flattery, there is no doubt about this. None at all. But I know it can hurt.

I've been on the side of watching things I have created be used by others. It feels a bit like someone has taken something that can never be replaced, a piece of who you are. It makes your heart hurt and you get angry. The more your work resonates with others and starts to change lives, the more this will become part of the story.

The hurt and anger are part of the ego feeling. The truth is that our spirit is ours.

It is tough stuff to work through to know this. When I first encountered it I thought I would never find my voice again, seeing it somewhere else, watching it as though through a strange lens. I developed writers block and I cried a lot. I thought I must be so average if my work was so easily copied. I got angry, I couldn't understand. But I can. Often it is a legal issue, but usually it becomes a lesson in learning to release, let go and create even more amazing work. And eventually stop worrying about it. This is part of the journey.

Here is my truth. I want to shine. To shine my light. And I want to cheer you on as you flow into yours. Your light is the one you need to step into. Don't confuse it as your own as you 'copy' another. Inspiration is not imitation.

We must all step into our beautiful spirits.

No, jump, fly into them when it comes to making these businesses of ours. Or raising kids. Or making our homes beautiful. Or feeding our bodies.

Know that your spirit guide in creating your business and your life is inside of you. She is no where else.

What inspires you? Use it, create late into the night.

Love your mentors. Love them, credit them, acknowledge them, thank them to the point of being obnoxious. Embrace gratitude for all of those who influence and help you be your amazing self. They are an enormous part of what makes you, you.

My spirit guide can leave me in awe. When I give her space, she shows up and twinkles and there is fairy dust and magic wands. If you haven't given yourself time to get to know yours, it is time to do some connecting.

Open the space to be you.

Dream your style. Make sure that no one would ever look at what you do and see someone else. This is icky. Blah, you don't want that. Go to multiple sources of inspiration and then close it all down. Go inside of yourself, find your style. You must dream your style.

Create using inspiration from so many sources you fill a notebook. A dash of Oprah, a sprinkle of Kris Carr, a twinkle of Danielle LaPorte, a whisper of Louis Haye, a kiss on the cheek from Mike Dooley...you get the idea. Mike Dooley, I'll take that kiss, really!

Find your spirit. Create your story.

Remember the gratitude. Say thank you. Jump, fly.

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Build Your Tribe Tuesday - Creative juices flowing

Inspiration hits.

You are giddy from the rush of ideas.

You go from not knowing what to do into having 12 ideas.

How do you start, there is so much to sort through, to plan out.

Claiming one of those ideas and riding it, going inside and looking at it from the finale to the moment the curtain is raised. Why this? Because you can't not do it. This is the one for now.

Look at your tribe, the one that you are building doing it joyfully. What are they ready for, asking for? Is this the one that will start to gather your tribe in your circle?

The other 11 beautiful ideas also need a place to go while you are diving into your one big project. A document, a folder, a file. Give them a home to slowly grow and be nurtured when inspiration hits. Often the one project needs more and one of these others may end up providing inspiration and information. Don't get lost in the 12 ideas, your tribe won't find you there.

When your juices are flowing, make space for them. Capture them all. Give them a home.

Build one, take it on the adventure your mind is creating for it, ride it, nurture it, see where it is taking you.

This one thing, this creative moment inside of clarity, this just may become what you have been waiting to discover inside of you all along.

Build Your Tribe Tuesday - Do it with joy

I was at a marketing conference once with some big names and a woman with a very large tribe and successful business stood up. She admitted she didn't love her work, it didn't bring her joy, light her up.

Yes, she built her tribe. She was making money, well known, and not loving any of it. But she was so good at what she did.

Are you building your tribe around something that does not light you up? Close your eyes. When you stand in the center of your tribe, and feel why they are gathered around you, does it bring you joy? Are you doing it because you can or you can't not?

This is your business, your choice, your chance at connecting with passion. Build your tribe around that. When you start to shift away from that, close your eyes again. Feel your tribe around you. Ask them how you can serve them through your joy?

Then listen.

Build Your Tribe Tuesday - Where your story meets theirs

I am about to go and edit the My Story page on my site. Why? About every 3 months I go in and make some changes. My story evolves as my work does. Right now on that page my story is leading you towards my work in health coaching. Now that I am also doing creative marketing coaching and The Joy Up programs, those parts of my story are missing. If you only read about my mama life and my past with food and diets, I am not connecting with all of my tribe. The ones I want to invite for tea. My tribe has expanded and grown as I have.

Where does your story meet theirs? Look at your about page and try to not feel attached to anything on the page. What is that story telling you, asking you? Is it too long and you don't want to read it or is it lacking some honesty and layers?

If you have only a few moments to capture someone, draw them in to the work you do, you must share the part of your story that intersects with theirs and the work you do.

Take an hour or so and go to each of the sites you love. Read their about page. Look at where the story meets yours. Use that inspiration to create a page that is inviting your tribe, the one you deep down want, to stay. Allow your story to evolve as you do. You are building a tribe and a business; building is evolution and growth and you keep adding layers as high as you want to go.

Let your story meet theirs. And your tribe will grow.

Build Your Tribe Tuesday - The power of free

The karmic energy of free is powerful stuff. Free does not mean less than. Free should have power; it is an extension of your best work, your clearest voice, your true desire to make a difference, touch a life, change a world.

We are all cluttered by stuff, from the physical to the free stuff in our inboxes. Free should never feel like a burden. Free without being used or appreciated has no karmic return.

Free is your gift from the heart. Nothing less.

Build Your Tribe Tuesday - Failure pep talk

Cliff Notes: there will be failure. I want you to decide how you will use it. Will it be the reason you give up or will you dig deeper and use the blessings that are inside of it?

Build Your Tribe Tuesday ~ Show me your face gorgeous!

Say Gorgeous

One of the most powerful exercises towards practicing self love and making peace with our bodies is to take self-portraits. While not one of my more popular exercises initially in my women's groups, it remains one that makes the most powerful impact. Learning to trust yourself enough to take a picture of you, creates a bond and an awareness of just who you are and how you feel about yourself. The real fun comes in the sharing of the photos. It is not an exercise in creating vanity, it is an exercise in self love.

I remember being 16 and just looking at a picture of myself would send me into tears. Body issues tearing at me and yet knowing that inside of me I was glorious but trapped inside of this strange depression.

As a business owner whose face is her brand, I feel joy looking at my smile and my wrinkles around the eyes because that joy is what I want to deliver. My love for me matches the intensity of love I have for my work. (More on that another time.)

Say Connection

When growing a business the most beautiful way to start creating connection is through your face. If you aren't used to sharing and getting pictures taken of you, starting a business online will be the dive into that out-of-comfort zone.

From your website to Facebook to Twitter, and don't forget your Gravatar (please, please don't forget this) you have some face time. On twitter you can learn so much about a person from their picture. That tiny box can hold so much weight and instantly gives a first impression of you. Choose it wisely and change it from time to time.

Ever go to a person's Facebook page and instead of the person's face you see a logo? How connected do you feel to that logo? Do you want to go out to tea with it? Learn from it?

A logo can be the right fit as the face of the business. A product may use a logo or a picture of that product to brand itself. The Mogul Mom is a great example of a logo working the right way as Heather has many contributing writers for her site. If you want to meet her, simply go to her about page and see her beautiful face.

When you are in the business of building a tribe and community around a brand that is you, your face is the first place of connection. Your eyes, your smile, your softness or your edge. You and your style shine through each picture you place of yourself. A logo is no substitute. No one wants to talk to a logo about changing their life.

Say Hello

The first thing I want to see when I go to your website or your blog is you. I look for you. I go to your about page. If you aren't there I search for you. Often I run into stock photos and various other faces. Sometimes I can't find a picture of you anywhere. How can I say hello to you if I can't find you?

When I see you, I instantly feel a connection, a desire to know a bit more. When that picture says hello to me, invites me in, asks me to stay and learn more or read more I will. I do. Looking at me in the eyes or gazing away both carry different messages and meanings, lovely and different.

Notice how you feel when you are in the tribes where you hang out. What makes you feel connected and a part of that tribe? How do the photos, the faces, create that space and that connection for you?

I'm ready to see your face and you are ready to build your tribe. Show me you, the you that is now and who wants to start connecting.